The Songwriter Hated How He Sang It. It Made Him a Star.

Part 13 of 16 in Kim Kwang-seok: The Dead Singer K-pop Can't Let Go

No. 4, “Love Has Gone,” is the song that first made Kim Kwang-seok a mainstream star, and it is still sung today because of the exact syllable its writer kept telling him in the studio not to sing that way. He begged for the song and got it for about $410.

Kim Kwang-seok – “Love Has Gone” (Official Audio, 2022 Remastered) — 570,000 views

Its combined views come to about 58.3 million. Every time that “mu-an” arrives, my heart caves in. All of Kim Kwang-seok is in that one syllable. Singer Han Dong-jun wrote the words and music, and it appeared on Kim’s second album in February 1991 (Busan Ilbo, July 1, 2015; Melon).

A song just born in an empty studio

Han wrote it one night while finishing his own album, alone with an acoustic guitar in a studio everyone else had left. Just as he finished it, almost too perfectly, Kim walked into the studio. Kim heard the song and begged for it, and Han finally gave in. He was paid 300,000 won, about $410 at the time (Busan Ilbo, July 1, 2015).

The Busan Ilbo wrote of that moment, “Back then, neither Han Dong-jun nor Kim Kwang-seok, nor anyone around them, knew the song would become such a hit.” Its success secured his place as a singer. A video of Kim singing it on SBS’s Inkigayo in 1991 still has more than 630,000 views.

Kim Kwang-seok – “Love Has Gone” (Inkigayo, SBS, 1991) — 630,000 views

Also read: "Just Throw It Away!" The One Note Kim Kwang-seok Refused to Fix

“Please don’t sing ‘saranghaetjimu-an‘”

At the recording, Han insisted on one part being sung a certain way. Dongmulwon member Bae Young-gil told the story at the 30th-anniversary concert: “Dong-jun hated the singing style too. After the take he’d go, ‘Ugh!’ kind of annoyed, ‘He sang it like that again.'” Park Ki-young chimed in: “He kept saying, please don’t go ‘saranghaetjimu-an.’ But he went ‘mu-an‘…” (SBS D-Report, Jan. 7, 2026).

사랑했지만 그대를 사랑했지만 / 그저 이렇게 멀리서 바라볼 뿐

I loved you, oh, I loved you, / but all I can do is watch from far away.

— Lyrics and music by Han Dong-jun (1991), excerpt

On a day when it has rained since morning, her voice comes to him through the dust and then disappears into the rain. He knows his eyes will fill with longing and his chest will ache with loneliness. He wants to stay beside her, worn out as she is, but he can’t step closer and can only leave. That confession is the whole song.

The way he stretched the final syllable of “saranghaetjiman” (“though I loved you”) into “mu-an” and scraped his throat on it, the one syllable the songwriter wanted gone, is now the whole song. Kim Chang-ki in Part 9, Kang Seung-won in Part 12, and now Han Dong-jun: all three songwriters behind his signature songs disliked how he sang. All three songs survived exactly the way he sang them. Friends and younger singers who performed at his 30th-anniversary concert agreed that the singing style is what they miss most now (SBS D-Report).

Kim Kwang-seok – “Love Has Gone” (Hakchon Theater, Jan. 3, 1995) — 54,000 views

Chen’s tribute stage, ZEROBASEONE’s Kim Tae-rae live

The K-pop star who sang this song biggest at an awards show is EXO’s Chen. At the 2015 SBS Gayo Daejeon’s “legend tribute” stage, he sang it in front of Kim’s image on screen (Korea Economic Daily, Dec. 28, 2015).

Chen (EXO) – “Love Has Gone” (2015 SBS Gayo Daejeon) — 150,000 views

In the next generation, ZEROBASEONE’s Kim Tae-rae picked it on M2’s live show, and INFINITE’s Nam Woo-hyun sang it on KBS’s Immortal Songs in 2011.

Kim Tae-rae (ZEROBASEONE) – “Love Has Gone” (M2) — 120,000 views

Nam Woo-hyun (INFINITE) – “Love Has Gone” (Immortal Songs 2, KBS, 2011) — 250,000 views

The most-watched performances are K.Will’s stage dedicated to his ailing mother on JTBC’s Till the End (3.08 million views), Son Seung-yeon on Immortal Songs (2.1 million), and Roy Kim’s cover (1.69 million).

K.Will – “Love Has Gone” (Till the End, JTBC) — 3.08 million views

Son Seung-yeon – “Love Has Gone” (Immortal Songs 2, KBS) — 2.1 million views

The songwriter told him to drop the “mu-an,” and Kim didn’t. Thirty-five years later, every younger singer who covers it sings the “mu-an” too. As a fan, I applaud him for holding on to his own voice to the end.

Previous: Part 12 — He Recorded “About Thirty” at 30. He Never Saw 33.

Next, No. 3: “A Story of a Couple in Their Sixties.” A 31-year-old sang about a goodbye at sixty, and it started with a song on a bus radio.

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Sources: Busan Ilbo (July 1, 2015); Melon (Kim Kwang-seok 2nd, Feb. 20, 1991); SBS D-Report (Jan. 7, 2026); Korea Economic Daily (Dec. 28, 2015). View counts as shown on YouTube, Oct. 25, 2026. Exchange rate: 1991, $1 ≈ 730 won.