Obituary: Film director Shin Seong-hoon, who spent his life alone after growing up in an orphanage…he chose to abandon adoption himself but was ultimately buried as an unclaimed person
It was reported belatedly that film director Shin Seong-hoon passed away in May. He was 40.
According to OSEN reporting on the 26th, Shin died in May, and because no relatives could be confirmed, funeral procedures were carried out as for an unclaimed person. There was no separate will, and it was reported that he had no known chronic illness.
Thinking about Shin Seong-hoon's life leaves a more bitter aftertaste. He appeared on a broadcast in 2022 and confessed that he was from an orphanage and that after he became an adult, his adoptive mother fell into gambling addiction and accrued debts in the hundreds of millions of won, which he repaid on her behalf. He used event fees and all his income to reduce the debts, and the amount he repaid reached 160 million won.
But when the weight became unbearable, he applied to revoke the adoption himself, and even after severing the relationship he left a video message saying that he felt concern more than resentment and expressed thanks and well-wishes. His heart, which endured without being protected, seemed to have long been caught between loneliness and responsibility.
The news that his life ended with an unclaimed-person funeral makes the situation feel even more heavy. In particular, a person close to him told OSEN, "During his life he often posted photos on social media calling them 'mom' and 'family,' but they were not actual family; he tended to call older people around him 'mom' and follow them," which evoked sorrow.
Meanwhile, Shin debuted as a singer and continued his activities, and in 2022 his directed work Jjajangmyeon, Thank You won best director and best picture at the Hollywood Bluebird Film Festival, drawing attention. Afterwards, through works such as Minors and God's Choice, he achieved good results at overseas film festivals, raising expectations for his future as a director.
Faced with the traces left by his short but intense life, the entertainment industry and the public are offering belated condolences. There is a continuing wish that the last moments of someone who longed for love more than anyone else would not be lonelier.
[Photo] Broadcast screen capture, the late Shin Seong-hoon
[OSEN]