By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Composer Lee Young-hoon, 48, famous for his work with singer Lee Moon-sae, died of colorectal cancer Thursday.
Lee Moon-sae expressed his sorrow over the death of the composer and friend while hosting his radio program Thursday morning.
``(Today is Valentine's Day but) instead of receiving chocolate, I lost my partner,'' said the grief-stricken singer.
Lee originally composed music for plays. Then he teamed up with Lee Moon-sae for Lee's third album in 1986 and they kept working with each other releasing hits like ``When Love Passes By'' and ``A Poem for a Poem.'' He also wrote the music for the movie ``Season in the Sun'' (2003).
Lee was struggling with colon cancer since 2006 and went through two operations but stopped receiving anticancer treatment. However, he kept pouring out his musical talent.
``We didn't bring a keyboard to the ward as he asked for, but he didn't give up and wrote songs on manuscript,'' said a representative of Lee.
He released ``Yetsarang Plus (Bygone Love)'' a remake of his hit songs in January and was working on the musical ``Gwanghwamun Love Song,'' which is based on his songs.
He is survived by his wife and a son.