Beloved singer, once down to 41 kg and given weeks to live, returns to stage with overflowing passion as ambassador for organ donation Singer Yoo Yeol speaks at the Global Biz Forum at Pullman Ambassador Seoul on Wednesday. (The Korea Herald) Yoo Yeol, a Korean singer who in 2024 received a lung transplant, said Wednesday at the Global Business Forum, organized by The Korea Herald and Herald Business, he is living life anew since his battle with a rare cancer.The 65-year-old singer was diagnosed nine years ago with pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis, a rare progressive lung disease with no known cause or cure. By May 2024, his weight had dropped from 65 to 41 kilograms, and a bout of influenza pushed him into respiratory failure. The hospital where he had received treatment for six years told his wife to prepare for his end of life.What followed, Yoo said, was a relay of prayer and intervention.His church arranged round-the-clock intercession in 30-minute shifts for three months. His wife and fifth grade son went to dawn prayer every day. Friends drove home-cooked meals from Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, to the hospital in Seoul.The first set of potential donor lungs turned out to be unhealthy. A second offer was withdrawn after the donor's body was assigned to a forensic autopsy. His mother died on July 17 while he was in the intensive care unit.On the night of July 28, 2024, the third set of donor lungs arrived and Yoo underwent a seven-hour operation. The surgeon prayed before the operation that the patient would sing again. Yoo regained consciousness 36 hours later and waved at his wife through the ICU window.He was discharged Oct. 31, 2024. He has since returned to broadcasting and in March was named a public ambassador for South Korea's organ donation program."We all carry a flame of hope in our chests," Yoo told the audience. "It is a flame found through endurance and refinement."This marks 40 years since Yoo debuted as a singer. He closed the talk by performing "Just the Way You Are Now," the song that won him the grand prize at the 1986 MBC College Song Festival, accompanied by Ji Sung-chul, his friend who composed it four decades ago. Uzbek Ambassador to South Korea Alisher Abdusalomov delivers congratulatory remarks at the Global Biz Forum at Pullman Ambassador Seoul on Wednesday. (The Korea Herald) Earlier in the program, Uzbek Ambassador to South Korea Alisher Abdusalomov told the audience that Tashkent and Seoul have entered "a vibrant new era" of cooperation grounded in mutual trust and expanding economic ties. He previewed the Uzbekistan–Korea Business Forum scheduled for June 16 in Tashkent — an event initiated by the Herald Media Group — which will run alongside the Tashkent International Investment Forum from June 16 to 18 and spotlight opportunities in textiles, green energy, digital technologies and logistics.The ambassador also flagged the first C5+Korea Summit, to be held in Seoul in September with the participation of the presidents of the five Central Asian states, calling it a chance to elevate cooperation in manufacturing, energy security and human capital.