Oscar Winner Youn Yuh-jung's Quiet 80th Birthday at Home Came With a Very Special Live Performance

No red carpet, no ballroom, no press. Just friends, good food and a song played only for her.

Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung celebrated her palsun, the traditional Korean 80th-birthday milestone, with a small party at her home, Sports Chosun reports. KAIST professor Jeong Jae-seung shared photos from the gathering on social media on Saturday, Oct. 17.

"Just among ourselves"

"Ms. Youn's palsun party, held modestly just among ourselves at her home," Jeong wrote, according to Sports Chosun. (Quotes in this story are translated from Korean.)

The photos show guests sharing a meal around her table in a warm, cozy setting rather than a formal event, Sports Chosun reports. Youn greeted everyone in a gray top and comfortable trousers, looking relaxed and completely herself.

Wait, is she 80?

It depends how you count. Youn was born on June 19, 1947, which makes her 79 by the international count, according to Wikipedia. In traditional Korean age, she turns 80 this year, Newsis notes, and the palsun is the big celebration for that milestone.

The twist: gifts you can't buy in a store

Jeong's caption listed the evening's highlights: "Delicious food, a fantastic guitar sanjo celebration performance by Kim Soo-chul hyungnim, a meaningful painting gift from Jung Hyun seonsaengnim. And conversation full of laughter, never once cold."

(Hyungnim and seonsaengnim are Korean terms of respect, for an older brother figure and a teacher or elder.)

The best gifts of the night were art. Singer Kim Soo-chul performed a guitar sanjo in her honor, and artist Jung Hyun gave her a painting prepared especially for her, Sports Chosun reports. Paintings were set out around the dining table, and guests were pictured looking at them and chatting.

That performance is a special one. Sanjo, literally "scattered melodies," is a style of traditional Korean instrumental solo music, according to Wikipedia. Kim, who began as a rock singer in the late 1970s, is known for releasing modernized traditional Korean music and composing film scores, Wikipedia notes. A rock-star-turned-traditional-music-innovator playing sanjo on guitar at an intimate birthday dinner is about as personal as a gift gets.

And yes, the Oscar made an appearance

One photo caught fans' eyes: Jeong posing with an Oscar statuette, which Sports Chosun says appears to be the Academy Award Youn won for Minari. Sports Seoul also identifies it as her best supporting actress trophy for Minari.

Youn won best supporting actress at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 for Minari, becoming the first Korean actor to win an Academy Award for acting, Sports Chosun notes.

Eighty years (Korean count) of trailblazing, and she chose to mark it the way she seems to do everything: on her own terms, with the people she loves. Happy palsun, Youn Yuh-jung.