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10th President of the Republic of Korea Choi Gyu -ha's spouse .

March 3, 1916, Chungcheongbuk -do Chungju -gun Judeok -myeon ( Chungcheongbuk -do Chungju City Juduk -eup ) Father Hong Byung -soon and his mother Andong Kwon Jae -hee[3] Born in between.

His grandfather was known as a Chinese scholar, and he cultivated his culture by learning Chinese characters from his elders, but he did not attend a formal educational institution. However, it is said that her husband, former President Choi Gyu-ha, studied Japanese for eight years while he was working at the Japanese mission and spoke it fluently.[4] It is said that he learned English at the Korean Embassy in Malaysia .

There was already an exchange between Choi Jae-min, a doctor at Sungkyunkwan and Choi Gyu-ha's grandfather, and Hong Gi's grandfather, a Chinese scholar, and through this, through the matchmaking of her grandfather, she married the younger Choi Gyu-ha in 1935, when she was 19 years old . When my husband, Choi Kyu-ha, was studying abroad at the Tokyo Higher Normal School (currently the University of Tsukuba ) and Daedong Academy in Manchuria, I did not accompany him and went to my in-laws' home in Gangwon-do. I lived with my parents-in-law in Wonju City .

Because Choi Kyu -ha served for only 8 months and 10 days, Hong Ki also had the shortest active period among former presidential spouses. She has a quiet personality that is not revealed the most in her external activities, and she was praised for possessing the virtues of a traditional Korean woman.

He is known to have a simple and commoner demeanor. As an anecdote, in a press conference held at the Prime Minister's official residence in December 1979, after former Acting President Choi Gyu-ha was elected President, when asked by a reporter about her future plans for the first lady's duties, Hongki simply said, "I will pay more attention to Your Excellency's health." I answered. When reporters asked about women's participation in society, she trailed off, saying, "Because I'm an old-fashioned woman..." When a Blue House official changed the topic and introduced that the First Lady personally made all of the Blue House kimchi, she proudly replied, 'I personally made 30 heads of kimchi in the Gangwon style.'

Reporters also turned the topic around and when asked what they do in their free time, they reportedly answered, ‘I watch TV.’ It may seem too thoughtless for a president's spouse, but while the former president's spouse was famous for his good intentions and the successor president's spouse for his bad intentions, Hongki's relatively simple, simple, and common people atmosphere left a fresh impression on the people at the time.

In fact, Hongki only took the lead in supporting nursing homes and orphanages during his time in the Blue House and refrained from external activities. However, on September 1, 1980, Chun Doo-hwan At the former president 's inauguration ceremony, contrary to her usual quiet image, she showed a sharp appearance, showing irritability at her husband, former president Choi Gyu-ha. At the inauguration ceremony, when Chun Doo-hwan received flowers from flower girls, she even wiped away tears in her hanbok and jeogori and shook hands with Lee Sun-ja on the podium. Sometimes, I would hold hands for a moment and then let go.

The house in Seogyo-dong, former President Choi Gyu-ha's private residence , is said to be shabby because Hongki refused to fix it, saying it was enough as long as it was livable . In fact, it is said that at the time of Honggi's death, the crockery cabinet he had used for more than 10 years, the glasses he used during his time as a diplomat , the stone mortar and cucumber pressing stone he used during his life, the briquette boiler , and the pump for drawing water for laundry were still there.

It is said that he wrote the household account book every year without skipping anything. In the household account book written by Hongki while she was staying at the Prime Minister's official residence as the Prime Minister's wife, there was a handwriting on the outside page titled < Seoul Metropolitan Government. It was written as "106 Samcheong-dong , Jongno-gu, Prime Minister's Residence, Prime Minister's Wife Hongji", and if you turn the pages, you will find a list of purchases of bean sprouts and other side dishes. This is where you can see the simple side befitting former President Choi Kyu-ha, who lived a frugal life with the demeanor of a scholar.

In his later years , he suffered from dementia like former U.S. President Ronald Reagan . In June 2004, one month after the death of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, she passed away before her husband, former President Choi Kyu-ha, and was buried in her hometown. Two years later, in 2006, her husband, former President Choi Kyu-ha, also passed away and was buried with her husband at the Daejeon National Cemetery . She was also the spouse of the second President of the Republic of Korea after Yook Young- soo to die before her husband . Unlike Yook Young-soo, who died at an early age after being caught up in an attempted assassination of President Park Chung- hee, she lived a long life.