The battle of the presidents has begun! Only, it wasn’t much of a battle with SBS’s Blue House drama Daemul leading the pack by a wide margin, drawing a 25.7% rating against KBS’s premiere episode of President, which had a 6.3%.

The numbers are a bit of a drop-off from the finale of Runaway Plan B, which signed off last week with a 13.6%. Despite the slow start, though, it seems like President is drawing initially favorable responses, and it’s still early days for the show. With Daemul nearing its end, the real question is how well it’ll perform once the big rival is out of the way.

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Read the rest of KBS’s President off to a slow start (285 words)

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Post tags: Choi Su-jong, drama ratings, Ha Hee-ra, President, Wang Ji-hye

Real-life married couple Choi Su-jong (Comrades) and Ha Hee-ra (Give Me Food) will be acting together as onscreen husband and wife for the first time. Upcoming KBS drama President will pair them as President and First Lady, setting the stage for a pretty epic first onscreen meeting.

The couple married in 1993 and have never acted together in a project, despite both having mile-long resumes in film and tv.

Choi Su-jong will play Jang Il-joon, an idealistic civil rights lawyer turned congressman, putting him on the path toward the Blue House. Ha Hee-ra will play Jo So-hee, daughter to a chaebol family who’s whip-smart, and beautiful to boot. My guess is that their love story will span several decades, as the drama is described as Jang’s journey toward becoming President.

I like the trajectory of the story as it’s described, because I think the campaign will be such great drama fodder, with scandals, reversals, and a hard-earned victory. Plus, I adore the idea that husband and wife will be playing husband and wife.

President follows Runaway: Plan B and premieres December 8 on KBS.

Via IS Sports

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Post tags: Choi Su-jong, Ha Hee-ra, President

The Seoul International Drama Awards were held on September 10 and hosted by KBS, awarding the winners from a pool of 172 entries from 43 countries.

Sort of an odd list of winners, I thought. (I mean, Chuno alongside The Last Days of Lehman Brothers alongside NCIS?) Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those projects, but who’d've thought they’d ever make it to the same awards show. Random.

But no matter: On to the winners!

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Read the rest of 2010 Seoul International Drama Awards (672 words)

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Post tags: awards, Cha Ye-ryun, Choi Su-jong, Chuno, Gu Eun-ae, Han Ji-min, Jang Hyuk, Ji Hyun-woo, Kim Ji-hoon, Lee Chae-young, Lee Seung-gi, Nam Gyuri, Oh Ji-eun

Interesting how dramas always come in pairs, right? There’s Gumiho Fox Child and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Runaway and Athena, Road No. 1 and Comrades. Now Daemul vs. President?

Veteran actor Choi Su-jong (most recently of Comrades, and for those of you who remember the nineties, Jealousy) has just been cast as the lead in the upcoming KBS drama President [프레지던트].

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Read the rest of Choi Su-jong to play next Korean President (221 words)

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Post tags: Choi Su-jong, President

Admittedly Road No. 1 and Into the Fire have garnered most of the attention among Korean War projects, but KBS also has a drama premiering this weekend, Legend of the Patriots. (Its Korean title, Jeon Woo, translates literally to Comrades.) It’s actually a remake of a hugely successful series that aired from 1975 through 1978, which was then re-produced in 1983-84.

I’ve been hearing bits about the 20-episode Legend of the Patriots for a while but it has slid under my radar, but now that I take a look I find myself favorably inclined. The production team is a little iffy but the general plot appeals to me more than Road No. 1. (I admit that I find Road‘s story a little contrived — it’s got that typical melodrama excess going, carrying itself as the ultimate love warring with the ultimate friendship in the ultimate war story of all time. That makes me ask: O rly?)

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Read the rest of War drama Legend of the Patriots premieres this weekend (984 words)

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Post tags: Choi Su-jong, Comrades, Im Won-hee, Kim Roi-ha, Lee Chae-young, Lee Deok-hwa, Lee In-hye, Lee Seung-hyo, Lee Tae-ran, Legend of the Patriots, Park Sang-wook, Ryu Sang-wook

Another remake of an old kdrama is in the works, this time the 1996 series that brought Bae Yong-joon to fame, First Love. The new drama will be a joint Korea-China production, and adapt the story for Chinese audiences.

This is the first time a project of this nature is being done, with Chinese actors and Korean production (to be aired and distributed in China). As such, one rep expressed his hopes that this marks a new type of cultural interchange between the two countries.

This Chinese version of First Love will star top Chinese stars — the role originally played by Bae Yong-joon is set to be filled by Huang Xiaoming, while Choi Su-jong’s spot goes to an actor identified only as “Chen” (I can’t figure out which Chen this refers to, sorry! Chen Kun, perhaps?). In the original kdrama, Choi and Bae played brothers who fell for the same woman (Lee Seung-yeon). The wildly popular series also featured brief appearances by several budding actors who would later come into their own as Hallyu stars, such as Choi Ji-woo and Song Hye-gyo.

Via Segye

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Post tags: Bae Yong-joon, Choi Su-jong, remakes

Stars came out on November 1 to the 2008 Korea Drama Awards in the South Gyeongsang province city of Jinju, although there were a few notable absences (Bae Yong-joon, Kim Rae-won).

The top winner of the night was Kim Myung-min for his portrayal of Maestro Kang (affectionately, Kang-mae) in currently running hit drama Beethoven Virus. Kim Myung-min rocks, so this is no surprise and is certainly deserved. (Also, whether you love or hate Beethoven Virus, we can probably agree that he is the best thing in it.)

In the next “tier” of acting awards below Kim’s Daesang were the Best Acting award winners, consistently solid sageuk actor Choi Su-jong for Dae Jo Young and Kim Haneul for playing a difficult actress in On Air. In the next tier for Acting Excellence were Kim Rae-won of Gourmet and Han Ji-hye for Likable or Not (who may pull in yet more awards this time next year for her performance in East of Eden).

Musical acts included performances by R&B ballad duo Fly To the Sky, balladeer Shin Hye-sung, and members of idol group Super Junior.

SONG OF THE DAY

Fly to the Sky – “혼자하는 약속” (A promise with myself) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Awards ceremony at Korea Drama Festival 2008 (684 words)

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Post tags: awards, Bae Yong-joon, Choi Su-jong, Han Ji-hye, Kim Bum, Kim Haneul, Kim Myung-min, Kim Rae-won, Lee Jin, Park Min-young, Shim Eun-kyung

Lame, lame, lame. I’d kind of figured that the newish Seoul Drama Awards would be bland (it’s their third year) based on the voting and nominees, so the results weren’t as disappointing as they would have been if I’d taken the Seoul Drama Festival seriously. As it was, there was a total lack of drama.

First off, the actual awards themselves were kind of… wonky. With dramas from all over the world competing (33 countries, 152 entries), the actual Korean series entered for judging (and which advanced) were hardly Korea’s best work of the past year.

Secondly, and perhaps for the above reason, there was a serious absence of stars — aside from the ones who were either presenting or receiving awards, that is. I wouldn’t call the red carpet and pre-carpet events “beyond pitiful” as one paper did, but when the only way to get actors to come to your event is to bribe them, you know you’ve still got a road ahead to being taken seriously.

I can understand awarding the online popularity award to Nam Sang-mi (adorable) and Lee Junki, above, both of the thriller drama Time and Dog and Wolf. But Golden Bride? Jungle Fish? Erm……

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Read the rest of No drama at the 2008 Seoul Drama Awards (557 words)

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Post tags: awards, Choi Su-jong, Eugene, Kim Sung-soo, Lee Jun-ki, Lee Tae-ran, Lee Young-ah, Nam Sang-mi, Oh Man-seok, Time of Dog and Wolf

Nominees are out for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival awards, and the list is rather ho-hum. For example, the nominees for Best Drama are: Legend (MBC), Mom’s Dead Upset (KBS), Dae Jo Young (KBS), and Gourmet (SBS).

At first I was disappointed in the list of nominees, but then I thought back to the year and realized it’s just been a ho-hum year for dramas overall. Although, if we’re nominating Legend for Best Drama, which premiered over a year ago in September 2007, surely there are other series that have been overlooked.

The Korean Drama Festival runs from November 1 through 5 in Jinju; see the nominee list beyond the jump.

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Read the rest of Nominees for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival Awards (315 words)

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Post tags: awards, Beethoven Virus, Choi Su-jong, City of Glass, East of Eden, Han Ji-hye, Hong Gil Dong, Jang Geun-seok, Kim Bum, Kim Haneul, Kim Myung-min, Lee Jin-wook, Legend, New Heart, On Air, Sung Yuri, You're My Destiny

Stars came out in full force, from A-listers and all the way down, to the opening night of the 2nd Chungmuro International Film Festival, held on September 3. The celeb list boasted some big-name actors and even a few kpoppers (Girls Generation) who turned out in fine feather on the red carpet. (Well, minus a few sartorial misses.)

Attendees included the likes of Chae Rim (above), Jang Dong-gun (below), and event representative Kim Jung-eun, for starters.

The festival, headed under the theme “Discovery, Restoration, Creation,” runs over the next week and closes on September 9.

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Read the rest of 2nd Chungmuro International Film Festival (524 words)

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Post tags: Chae Rim, Choi Su-jong, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, film festivals, Girls Generation, Ha Hee-ra, Ha Ji-won, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Min-joon, Lee Hana, Lee Ji-hoon, Lee Jong-hyuk, Lee Mi-yeon, Shin Ae, Shin Hyun-joon, Yoon So-yi