KBS to feature 46-year bond between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law

KBS 1TV will broadcast the lives of Kim Chil-deok and Mok Hae-gyeong from November 2 to November 6, 2026, following their 46 years of mutual empathy in Pocheon after both women lost husbands and children.

The lives of Kim Chil-deok (95) and her daughter-in-law Mok Hae-gyeong (67), who have shared 46 years of mutual empathy after losing children, will be featured.

The broadcast is scheduled to air from Monday, November 2, to Friday, November 6, 2026, at 7:50 AM on KBS 1TV.

In a rural home in Pocheon that holds the weight of many years, Kim Chil-deok lives as a natural farmer. Despite using a sickle as a walking stick to move her steps, she insists on going to the fields to cut jujube trees, pick beans, and even mow the grass herself. At home, she is a meticulous woman who sweeps and cleans the floor while sitting. Beside her is Mok Hae-gyeong, who protects her. Together, they tend a vegetable garden, harvesting sweet potatoes, peppers, and perilla seeds, and even grinding beans to make tofu. Mok also prepares every meal to suit her mother-in-law's love for meat and personally helps bathe her. At night, they share a blanket and talk, becoming best friends beyond the bond of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Kim Chil-deok and Mok Hae-gyeong have lived together for 46 years. There is a special story behind their long time together: both women had to take responsibility for their households alone after losing their husbands in their 40s. Because those years were so weary, they hoped for no more trials, yet Mok Hae-gyeong also had to endure the harsh pain of losing a child. With lives so similar, they see each other's pain like looking into a mirror and always feel sympathy for one another.

However, there is someone who helps fill that void: Mok Hae-gyeong's boyfriend, Kim Jong-man (67). On his days off, he visits to help with heavy work and acts as a companion for Kim Chil-deok. Having lost his own mother last year, Kim feels a deeper desire to treat Kim Chil-deok well whenever he sees her. He visits without fail on his days off to take her out for fresh air and buy her jajangmyeon, which she enjoys. Because of this, Kim Chil-deok feels as comfortable and reliable with him as if he were her own son. One day, while Mok Hae-gyeong was talking to Kim Jong-man at the house, her voice rose at a comment he made.

Mok Hae-gyeong must raise her voice until her throat aches because her mother-in-law's hearing is impaired. Despite the communication difficulties, Kim Chil-deok refuses hearing aids because they are difficult to manage, leaving Mok Hae-gyeong to struggle. The stubbornness of Kim Chil-deok does not end there. She goes to the fields to pick greens to take care of her children, and even when there is no one to eat them, she makes dried pumpkin strips because she hates wasting food. This leads to frequent bickering with Mok Hae-gyeong.

Nevertheless, to Mok Hae-gyeong, her mother-in-law is the person with whom she has shared the tightest friendship while enduring harsh times. Even when she gets angry out of frustration, she soon offers a roasted sweet potato to soothe her mother-in-law's heart. Mok Hae-gyeong is simply grateful that her mother-in-law, who has a good appetite, eats well and is by her side. Kim Chil-deok feels the same affection for her daughter-in-law, constantly worrying that the physically weak Mok Hae-gyeong might fall ill.

On the day they finish the year's farming by threshing perilla seeds, Mok Hae-gyeong asks, "Are you going to farm again next year?" Kim Chil-deok laughs it off, saying, "Who knows if I'll be alive or dead." Mok Hae-gyeong reaches out her hand to her mother-in-law, saying, "Let's live through another year like this together." Sometimes quarreling and sometimes comforting one another, the two promise to cultivate the coming year together.

Read the original (Korean)