[Sportschosun Reporter Park Ara] Hee-sun Kang, the voice actress loved for her work as the voice of Bong Mi-seon, Shin-chan’s mother, in the animated series Crayon Shin-chan, as well as for subway announcements in Seoul and Busan, died at 2:10 a.m. on the 4th at Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital after battling a chronic illness. She was 65.
According to her family, Kang, who was born in Seoul, graduated from Chunggyeong High School and the Department of Broadcasting and Entertainment at Seoul Institute of the Arts. She had originally dreamed of becoming an actress, but entered the voice acting field after encouragement from a professor. She made her debut in 1979 as part of the 10th class of the TBC Voice Acting Division, and continued her career the following year as a member of the 15th class of KBS after the merger of broadcasters. She later served as head of the KBS Voice Acting Division from 2013 to 2016 and as executive vice president of the Korea Voice Performance Association.
Her first dubbing role was in the animated series Anne of Green Gables, which aired on KBS. She later built a reputation as one of South Korea’s leading female voice actresses through work on a wide range of productions, including The Rose of Versailles, Ghost in the Shell, and Captain Planet.
During the 1980s and 1990s, when foreign film dubbing was hugely popular, she voiced Korean-language roles for Hollywood stars such as Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, and Nicole Kidman, leaving a lasting impression on viewers. Appearing on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block last year, she also shared behind-the-scenes stories about dubbing, saying she studied each actor’s unique speech patterns and breathing to shape her performances.
From 1996, she was the voice behind subway announcements in Seoul and Busan. She recorded announcements for Seoul Subway Lines 1 through 8 and Busan Subway Lines 1 through 4, and her voice could also be heard in advertisements for the Daegu subway. In a broadcast appearance, she recalled that subway announcements, which required a consistent tone, were actually the most difficult work. After some lines switched to machine-generated voices, she said she was disappointed because they lacked a sense of human emotion.
For younger generations, she was especially familiar as the voice of Bong Mi-seon and Mang-gu in Crayon Shin-chan. Many of the lines she delivered with warmth and maternal affection remain in fans’ memories to this day. She also worked extensively as a narrator for a variety of programs, including Infinite Zone Q! and Vitamin.
Kang received the Best Foreign Film Performance Award at the 2002 KBS Voice Acting Awards and the Best Performance Award in 2005. In 2018, she was also recognized with the Prime Minister’s Commendation at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards.
In 2021, she was diagnosed with colon cancer that had spread to her liver and was given two years to live, but she never let go of the microphone. Even while undergoing 47 rounds of chemotherapy, she continued recording for Crayon Shin-chan films, and while hospitalized, she even recorded subway announcements from her hospital room. Although commuters could detect subtle changes in her voice, she remained committed to her responsibilities as a voice actress until the very end.
Her son, Ahn Eun-seok, CEO of Bon Film, said, "My mother always had a deep belief in and affection for her work as a voice actress."
Her funeral altar has been set up in Room 31 of the funeral hall at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital. The funeral procession will take place at 7:40 a.m. on the 6th, and the burial site is Yongin Park Honerstone.
tokkig@sportschosun.com
