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| Bae Hye-ja, the owner of the restaurant "Old Noodle House," greets customers in Yongsan District, Seoul, in 2017. Screenshot from tvN's YouTube |
By Lee Yeon-woo
Bae Hye-ja, the founder of a noodle restaurant that has been in operation for 42 years and which became famous after President Yoon Suk Yeol stopped by for lunch in May last year, died on Sunday. She was 83.
Her oldest son, Kim Yong-joo, said that his mother died of a chronic illness at a nursing home. Bae was buried in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday.
She opened the restaurant, "Old Noodle House" (direct translation), in Yongsan District, Seoul, in 1981 to help raise her four children after her husband died of cancer. Her affordable noodles became popular among many office workers.
The eatery shot to fame last May when Yoon went there to eat with his aides, just days after he was inaugurated.
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| President Yoon Suk Yeol has lunch with his aides at "Old Noodle House," on May, 2022. Courtesy of the presidential office |
Above all, Bae is remembered for showing compassion to a homeless man during the Asian financial crisis.
On a winter day in 1998, a man dressed in shabby clothes entered the restaurant and ordered a bowl of noodles, which cost just 2,000 won at the time. Bae later recalled that she sensed instantly that the man was homeless. So she refilled the bowl after he finished it. After the meal, the man asked for a cup of cold water and ran away without paying.
Instead of chasing after the man for money, Bae was concerned about him getting hit by a car and shouted at him in front of her restaurant, "Watch out! You don't need to run. Walk all the way down. I am afraid you will fall and hurt yourself."
Her caring words caught the public's attention.
This episode was broadcast by local media 10 years later. The man, who was able to recover financially and became a businessman, sent a letter to the producer of the program and said Bae was the one who gave him "hope and the courage to live" during hard times.
"I was treated with such generosity simply for making some noodles for a hungry man. I am very thankful that he didn't forget me," Bae said at the time.
The restaurant offers unlimited refills. Bae's oldest son has taken over the restaurant.
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