Former KBS announcer gives a new turn to her career

When the light was turned off, audiences focused on the stage of “The STUMP,” a theater near Hongik University in Seoul at 5 p.m. on Friday. It was a play titled “See You Again,” which was directed by actor Choi Bool-am. The play starts with people gathering to a cart bar after work.

There was a familiar face. It was Kim Kyung-ran, a freelance announcer who took a role in a play for the first time. Her impression to the public is her feminine appearance and neat way of her speaking probably because of KBS’s “Love Request,” which she hosted for a long time. On stage, she played “Mi-jin,” a baseball commentator in her thirties with a short hair and a blunt way of speaking like a man. This reporter asked her what made her try out for a play.

“When I was a high school student, I dreamed of playing at a theater. While working as an announcer, I had a secure job and a predictable future. Now, as a freelancer, the difference is starting everyday with feeling thrilled.”

The year of 2010 was special for her. She said it was a watershed moment in her life. As she serving as an honorary ambassador of the NGO Child Fund Korea through “Love Request” since 2010, Kim goes wherever she can spread the culture of contribution and sharing. “In this regard, “Love Request” sort of helped me to quit my job,” she said.

After quitting her job at KBS, she headed for Africa, Haiti, Sri Lanka and Cambodia for her volunteer work, where she learned that children would not fail despite a disaster in their country if they can be educated. She decided to set up schools in places where there is no school. As she announced publicly at her wedding 10 months ago, she recently donated 100 million won (88,260 U.S. dollars) to Child Fund Korea for the establishment of schools in South Sudan. She visited South Sudan last month and donated 1,000 school kits, which she made by herself, to children at an elementary school in the capital city of Juba.

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