New TV Drama Gains Popularity In South Korea, China

A new South Korean TV drama is gaining great popularity both in its home country and China, being poised to surpass the stronghold of the 2014 big hit “My Love from the Star.”

“Descendants of the Sun,” the first South Korean TV drama series to be broadcast in South Korea and China simultaneously, has dominated the Wednesday-Thursday nighttime slot since it premiered on February 24.

The KBS 2TV show’s viewing rate continued to gain from 14.3 percent in South Korea for the first episode to 23.4 percent for the third, according to local viewership tracker Nielsen Korea.

It surged to 28.5 percent for the sixth episode on March 10, topping the highest viewing rate of 28.1 percent recorded by “My Love from the Star,” a science fiction-romantic comedy SBS TV drama that became a mega hit in China and South Korea.

South Korean actor Song Joong-Ki, who plays the army captain Yoo Si-jin, told a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday that he hasn’t realized his popularity in China yet though he just guessed it based on text messages sent by his friend staying in China.

“Descendants of the Sun” has garnered great support from Chinese fans. It reportedly attracted more than 440 million views in China with six episodes, surpassing the track record of “My Love from the Star.” The show is released in China through the video streaming website iQiyi.

On March 10, Chinese fans searched for the drama at least 2.5 billion times through China’s Twitter-like microblog Sina Weibo.

Asked about the reason of popularity, Song told reporters that a love story between a doctor and a soldier was seen as being “novel” to viewers as a solider is an occupation that can be rarely found on TV dramas.

“Descendants of the Sun” tells a love story between an army captain Yoo Si-jin, played by actor Song Joong-ki, and a doctor Kang Mo-yeon played by South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo.

They accidentally meet in a fictional war-torn country, called Uruk, as Yoo is deployed for a peacekeeping mission and Kang is sent for voluntary medical service.

Actress Song Hye-kyo said that many people loved the romantic-comedy drama due to what she called a balance between serious and light stories, noting that she was happy about being able to display the power of the Korean drama.

The drama, composed of 16 episodes, was pre-produced completely before being aired. It was unusual for Korean drama series, as South Korean producers tend to make shows on an episode-by-episode basis to leave room for adjustments according to reaction from viewers.

New episodes will be broadcast every Wednesday and Thursday at 10:00 p.m. local time. (PNA/Xinhua) BNB/CDN