Kang Myung Joo, an actress who appeared in the Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines, has passed away after battling cancer. She was 53.
Park Se Young, Kang Myung Joo’s daughter, announced her mother’s passing on February 28th. “My mother departed on a long journey yesterday afternoon. I would be grateful if you could remember the stage she loved and how she shined on it together,” she wrote in tribute to the deceased.
That same day, Kang’s fellow actor Nam Myung Ryeol mourned her passing, saying, “I really thought she would overcome cancer courageously and return to the stage, so receiving news of her death is bewildering. I will remember actress Kang Myung Joo as a person of truth and pure devotion.”
Kang Myung Joo passed away on February 27th, just one day before her birthday, making her death all the more heartbreaking.
In 2022, she received praise from viewers for her role as Judge Park In Young in ENA’s Extraordinary Attorney Woo and more recently for playing Bu Yong, Young Beom’s grandmother, in the currently airing Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines.
When Life Gives You Tangerines became the late actress’s final work. In what appears to be a touching tribute, during the scene where Geum Myung (IU) meets Bu Yong, “Marcello: Oboe Concerto in D minor – 2. Adagio” plays in the background.
One internet user noted the significance: “I was puzzled that funeral Mass music played during their meeting scene, but rather than a coincidence, it must have been the production team’s way of commemorating and mourning her.” The subtle musical choice takes on deeper meaning, considering Kang was Catholic, with the baptismal name Agnes Hyo-ju.
폭싹 제작진.. 음악 잘 쓰는 팀인 건 알았는데 이 정도일 줄이야 ㅠㅠ pic.twitter.com/qe7iSvhmTQ
— 쇼메아메선메💎 ㅅㅓㄴㅇㅣ (@vkdskdlqslek) March 16, 2025
Source (1)
