Dae Jang Geum

Old News….. Don’t think Lee Yeong Ae ever made it to US…

“Make sure you bring Lee Yeong-ae.” They’re crying out for Lee Yeong-ae in the United States.
Locals are asking one after the other that MBC invite Lee Yeong-ae, the star of the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum, to a performance the station is planning to encourage Koreans living in the U.S.

Following the festival put on by MBC in New York last September marking the 100th year anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States, the station plans to put on another performance this year for Korean immigrants in Los Angeles. MBC plans to hold it at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. on October 16, and is currently trying to get in touch with major Korean stars. Koreans in the U.S. are clamoring for Lee Yeong-ae to be invited as a guest.

An official from MBC said, “As requests continue to come in from the United States, we plan to soon make an official invitation request ti Lee Yeong-ae.” With a burdened expression, the official also said, “Even though we have no plans to do a show in Chicago this year, we keep getting requests from the city for both a performance and Lee Yeong-ae.”

One can see just how popular the drama “Dae Jang Geum,” currently being broadcast on U.S. cable TV, is in the United States. In early July, the Chicago Tribune ran a long, exceptional piece on Dae Jang Geum, and not so long ago, Chicago’s Korean-language broadcasting station that broadcasted Dae Jang Geum made known its desire to invite Lee Yeong-ae and Ji Jin-hui to the city.

However, it is unknown whether Lee will be able to hop aboard a plane to the United States, as she will be making a film with director Park Chan-wook starting this autumn.

Source: Digital Chosunilbo August 17, 2004

A Chinese woman has thrown herself into a river after her husband denied her the pleasure of watching “Daejanggeum (the Jewel of the Palace)”, the Korean historical soap that has become explosively popular throughout Asia.
The Jinling Wanbao daily reported Monday that a woman in Nanjing wanted to watch “Daejanggeum” at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, but ran into opposition from her husband, who was watching a football match.

The newlywed husband told the paper his wife handed him an ultimatum, saying if she could not watch “Daejanggeum,” she would drown herself. When he told her to go ahead, she left the house and tried to make good on her threat. The husband kept watching TV until a neighbor came running to tell him his wife had jumped into the river, whereupon he rushed out and was able to save her.

Police at the scene advised the husband to change the channel, and the wife was able to catch the end of her favorite show, the paper reported.

“Daejangeum” is broadcast all over China on satellite TV from 10:00 p.m. every night. It is No. 1 in the time slot.

Source: Digital Chosunilbo 26th September 2005