Lee Joo-Sil, star of Squid Game, The Uncanny Counter and more, has died at the age of 81. As reported by The Chosun Ilbo in Korea, Lee passed away at her family home in Uijeongbu at the age of 81 due to stomach cancer. Lee had been diagnosed with stomach cancer last November, and revealed that she had fought cancer many years before. As reported by Deadline, Lee’s funeral service is currently scheduled for February 5th at Sinchon Severance Hospital in South Korea. In that report as well, it was detailed that Lee was previously diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer over 30 years ago and was only given a year’s worth of time life, but overcame that.
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Lee Joo-Sil will likely be recognized by fans who watched quite a lot of live-action Korean dramas on Netflix. The streaming service is host to many of her starring roles such as Squid Game, in which she plays Hwang Jun-Ho’s mother, or The Uncanny Counter, where she starred as So Mun’s grandmother. But that’s only scratching the surface of her many decades long career which includes multiple TV shows, movies and more before her passing.
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R.I.P. Lee Joo-Sil (1944-2025)
Lee Joo-Sil can be seen in Squid Game as Hwang Jun-Ho (Wi Ha-Joon) and Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun)’s mother, Park Mal-soon. She was revealed to be quite the caring mother who was worried about both of her sons as they have been caught within the chaos of Squid Game‘s two season run thus far. She has plenty of experience with these rougher kind of experiences in live-action dramas, however, as fan can also see her in The Uncanny Counter, where she plays So Mun’s grandmother, who has a degenerative mental illness.
She’s got a ton of experience playing notable mothers in Korea media too as she was also briefly heard as the mother to fellow Squid Game star Gong Yoo’s Seok-Woo in Train to Busan. This is likely one of her most notable to fans outside of Korea as well, and fans can also check it out on Netflix along with episodes of Squid Game and The Uncanny Counter in order to celebrate her long life and career with breakout roles such as these. But there are plenty to enjoy.
ComicBook would like to extend our condolences to Lee Joo-Sil’s family, friends and loved ones in this very difficult time.
