According to police, Kim was found unconscious at her home by her son early in the morning and was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Kim, who is known for her signature TV role as a warm-hearted rural grandmother, had been hospitalized several times since May this year.
She was advised to rest for a while due to accumulated fatigue from her busy work schedules and TV appearances, which temporarily halted her activities.
Born in 1949 in North Jeolla Province, Kim made her showbusiness debut in 1970. After a long period of obscurity, she eventually gained recognition for her role in terrestrial broadcaster MBC's primetime drama "Country Diaries," where she played an elderly woman despite being in her early 30s, enjoying popularity for her candid jokes, infused with local dialects and slang.
The country's longest-running drama, which tells the touching stories of families in a rural village, aired for more than two decades until it concluded with its final 1,088th episode in 2002.
Her latest works include last year's light-hearted movie franchise "Marrying the Mafia: Returns," and she also appeared on several reality shows from time to time, where she showed off her cooking skills.
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