Remembering Kang Gye-Yeol: The Beloved Star of ‘My Love, My River’ Passes Away at 101

Translation result

Kang Gye-yeol, the central figure of the documentary ‘My Love, Don’t Cross That River,’ has died at the age of 101.

On the 10th, director Jin Mo-young announced on his Facebook page that Kang passed away that afternoon.

Jin said he visited her on the 31st of last month to say goodbye. Although her memory was fading, she clearly remembered them and offered a parting wish that everyone \”take care of one another.\”

Jin recalled that when he first met her on Sept. 9, 2012, she struck him as youthful—\”like a girl\”—and that same woman, at 100, has now \”crossed the river\” to be reunited with the man she loved, Jo Byung-man.

Kang was born in 1925 in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province. As a teenager, she married Jo Byung-man, who was nine years her senior.

Their about 70-year marriage drew public attention after a local newspaper profile in 2010. The documentary ‘My Love, Don’t Cross That River,’ released in 2014, became a sleeper hit, attracting 4.8 million moviegoers.

Jo Byung-man died in 2013, a year before the film’s release, and Kang lived alone for about a decade before passing away at 101.

The wake has been set up in Room 4 of Wonju Medical Center’s funeral hall, and the funeral will be held at 7:45 a.m. on the 12th. She will be laid to rest at the family burial site in Cheongil-myeon, Hoengseong County.