First posted here on April 29, 2011
This photograph showing Marilyn with another screen beauty, Choi Eun-hee, at Seoul Airport in February 1954, is featured at the Korean Film Museum (KOFA.) The South Korean actress was joined by another star, Paek Song, to greet Marilyn as she flew in from Japan on a 4-day tour of U.S. Army bases.
Born in 1926 – the same year as Marilyn – Choi Eun-hee began her movie career in 1947 with A New Oath, and soon became one of Korea’s biggest stars. From 1955-85, she appeared in 81 films, and was named Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival for her role in Sogum.
However, in 1978, Choi Eun-hee and her former husband, film director Shin Sang-ok, were kidnapped to North Korea by order of future dictator Kin Jong-il, who forced them to remarry and produce propaganda for his cause. After eight years in captivity, the couple escaped during a state trip to Vienna in 1986.
UPDATE: Choi Eun-hee passed away in 2018, aged 91. Her final screen appearance was in The Lovers and the Despot (2016), a documentary about her abduction; and her encounter with Marilyn is also featured in Ji-min Lee’s novel, Marilyn and Me (aka The Starlet and the Spy.)
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