Seo Se-won's sudden death in Cambodia still left suspicion of bereaved family members..Father's death is the 2nd anniversary of mysterious death, Seo Dong-ju's tears

By SuHyun, Kim

Apr 20, 2025

Seo Se-won's sudden death in Cambodia still left suspicion of bereaved family members..Father's death is the 2nd anniversary of mysterious death, Seo Dong-ju's tears
The mortuary of the late Seo Se-won was set up at the funeral hall of Asan Medical Center in Seoul on April 30 last year.



The second cycle of the late comedian-turned-businessman Seo Se-won is back.

Seo Se-won died of cardiac arrest on April 20, 2023, after receiving an IV injection at a hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He was 67.

At that time, Cambodian police tentatively concluded that Seo Se-won, who had been suffering from diabetes, died suddenly while receiving nutritional injections, but there were several suspicions about his death.




Regarding many suspicions surrounding Seo's death, the bereaved family also issued a statement of position. The bereaved family received a death certificate from Cambodia local police on the 24th stating that Seo Se-won died of cardiac arrest due to diabetes"However, he said he could not easily understand the reason for his death under various circumstances.

In order to accurately identify the cause of death, through the Korean Embassy, we asked the Cambodian police to analyze the components of the IV collected at the scene at the time, to meet with Cambodian police officers and managers who investigated the case, to return the items found at the scene, and to list the collected items. However, the Cambodian police said they would hand over the collected items at any time through the Korean embassy, but every time they requested, they delayed it for a different reason.'

Seo Se-won's sudden death in Cambodia still left suspicion of bereaved family members..Father's death is the 2nd anniversary of mysterious death, Seo Dong-ju's tears
Seo Se-won's sudden death in Cambodia still left suspicion of bereaved family members..Father's death is the 2nd anniversary of mysterious death, Seo Dong-ju's tears
In addition, the bereaved family first entered Cambodia with the intention of transporting the deceased to Korea. However, the frozen resting room of the Cambodian temple where the deceased had been laid to rest was too poor" he explained.

In addition, the procedures and methods involved in Cambodia's local situation and transportation were very complex, so it had to take as little as 10 days or as long as a month. In this environment, our bereaved families decided that it was difficult for the body to be fully preserved as time went by, and eventually, they gathered the opinion that they could no longer delay due to the feeling of vomiting blood" he said.

The daughter Seo Dong-ju spoke about the sudden death of her father Seo Se-won through various broadcasts.

Last year, Seo Dong-ju said "My father passed away, but he didn't die normally. From my point of view, it was a mystery."




At that time, Seo Dong-ju kept Seo Se-won's last path, and his daughter Seo Dong-ju, his three children, his wife Kim (44), his younger brother, his half-sister, and his maternal nephew were listed as residents.

Seo Se-won's last path was attended by Um Young-soo, president of the Korean Broadcasting Comedian Association, and comedian Kim Hak-rae hosted the ceremony and paid tribute to the deceased.

Seo Se-won's sudden death in Cambodia still left suspicion of bereaved family members..Father's death is the 2nd anniversary of mysterious death, Seo Dong-ju's tears
Meanwhile, Seo Se-won, who debuted in 1979 with TBC 'Gag Contest', was widely known for MBC TV 'Youth March song'Sunday Sunday Night' and KBS 2TV 'Se-won Show'.

Afterwards, he married Seo Jeong-hee in 1981 and had one son and one daughter. In 2015, he was sentenced to six months in prison and suspended for two years for assaulting Seo Jeong-hee, and later divorced by agreement.

Since then, Seo Se-won remarried with a 23-year-old Haegeum performer in 2016, a year after his divorce, and had an 8-year-old daughter.

In 2020, it was reported that he won a large-scale real estate construction project worth 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in Cambodia, including hotels, residences, casinos, golf courses, and general hospitals, including media businesses, and was recently seen worshiping at a show in Cambodia and offering prayers to believers.



shyun@sportschosun.com