Veteran actress Kim Young-ok, 88, has shared the philosophy behind her famously harmonious household: she never asks her daughter-in-law to prepare ancestral rite food — a principle she says she inherited from her own mother-in-law.
In a video uploaded October 7 to her YouTube channel “Kim Young-ok KIM YOUNG OK,” the actress traveled to Ganghwa with fellow actress Ban Hyo-jung and her managers. During the trip, she recalled her own mother-in-law with warmth. “When I was struggling, my mother-in-law did everything. Even at 85, she stitched blankets by hand,” Kim said. “It pained my heart, but I learned something from it.”
That lesson, she explained, is why she now refuses to pass work onto others. “On the other hand, it might be a bad habit,” she laughed.
She also shared a holiday anecdote: her daughter-in-law offered to cook the ritual food herself. Kim turned her down, telling viewers she didn’t want to burden someone who “works hard even on holidays.” “I think of my daughter-in-law as high-value talent,” she joked. “We don’t make much ritual food anyway, so I told her to sleep in and come over late.”
Netizens responded warmly to the clip, calling her “a 100-point mother-in-law” and commenting, “There’ll be no in-law conflict in that house” and “what a cool relationship.”
Born in 1938, Kim Young-ok has appeared in “Sunny,” “Picnic,” “Coffee Prince,” “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha,” “Squid Game,” and “Pachinko.” She is currently starring as Hwang Geum-soon in the KBS1 drama “Mom Has Gone Crazy,” which has aired since September 28.
No further family details were shared in the video.
