"From Now On I'm Your Dad": Choi Kang-hee Recalls Director Who Turned Up at Her Home After Her Father Died

When her father died, actress Choi Kang-hee says, director Park Chan-hong turned up at her home without warning and told her to call him "dad." The story comes from a 2022 video on YouTuber Park Wi's channel WERACLE, titled "The Reason She Is Washing Dishes at a Barbecue Restaurant and Working as a Housekeeper," which has resurfaced in online communities. Park Chan-hong, 66, is Park Wi's father and a former KBS drama PD, and Choi's account has put his unusual bonds with actors back in the spotlight.

"I felt like I'd gone from black-and-white to color"

Choi recalled a moment on set when she performed the expression she had prepared and the director called "cut," then said nothing for about three seconds. "It was so scary," she said, adding that it felt as if a harsh scolding was coming or the director might suddenly rush over to her. His reaction was not what she expected. He said, "That's amazing!" and Choi described the moment as feeling like "I went from black-and-white to color." She added, "I came all the way here because I wanted to hear that again. That one line made me want to live."

Looking back on the time they worked together, Choi said she kept feeling he was dissatisfied and that she was so poor that she wondered whether she had been cast by mistake. She described him as "spicy, but not in an unpleasant way, the kind of spice you keep wanting more of." She also said she has known Park Wi since long ago, telling the show, "The Wi I know is a middle schooler." Asked whether she had ever thought of appearing on WERACLE, she answered that when Park Jin-hee appeared, she wanted to go on too.

A father to many, and the question of how many

Choi said the director's words at her father's death were not the usual ones. "Usually people say, 'It's okay. He must have gone somewhere good,'" she said, "but the director said, 'From now on I'm your dad. Call me dad.'" Later, when she met Park Jin-hee and saw her call him "dad," she said she thought he must truly be "everyone's dad, like the head of an orphanage." The anecdote suggests the director kept emotional ties with actors he met through his work even after filming ended.

The story has also revived the names of Park Jin-hee and Yoon So-hee, who have been referred to as his adoptive daughters. Online reactions included "No adopted sons, only daughters," "How many adoptive daughters are there?" and "It's amazing how the connection runs from Park Jin-hee to Yoon So-hee to Choi Kang-hee." The relationships between the three actors and the director do not all mean the same kind of family tie, so each should be viewed separately.

The attention rests on more than famous actors treating him like a father. A bond that began between director and actor continued after the work ended and grew close enough that he claimed the role of family at a moment of personal loss. Choi's account shows both that a brief word of recognition on set can stay with an actor for years and that professional relationships can sometimes grow into something close to family.

A past controversy resurfaces

Online opinion is divided because Park Wi's earlier controversy is being mentioned again alongside the anecdote. In August, he posted CCTV footage on his YouTube channel showing his wheelchair tipping over as he got off a KTX train, and drew criticism. The accident reportedly happened when the wheelchair wheel caught on the foot of a social service worker who was holding the ramp in place, and the worker reportedly apologized right after.

The criticism focused not only on the accident but on how it was shown on a channel with a large subscriber base and the fallout. Park Wi later posted an apology and set the related video to private. Some scheduled lectures were reportedly cancelled and his subscriber count fell. He also voluntarily resigned as a Seoul Metropolitan Government goodwill ambassador and has temporarily suspended his YouTube activity. Interest in the long-running personal ties between the director and the actors is one matter; the assessment of a controversy from public activity remains another.

Read the original (Korean)