It seems that China’s warning on women not to watch too much of Korean drama is falling on deaf ears. Although “Descendants of the Sun” slipped to number 2 position in real-time searches by single Korean women on Wednesday, losing to BTOB, a prime minister of an Asian country has endorsed the show that has broken viewership and ratings records in China and South Korea.
Agence France Presse reported on Thursday that Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is a fan of “Descendants of the Sun.”” He is even urging Thai’s to watch it.
The PM’s thumbs up for the drama is understandable since Prayuth is a former army chief who seized power through a coup d’etat in 2014. More than just a power grabber, he paints himself as an officer who felt it was his duty to save the country from years of political turmoil.
A believer in the power of media, Prayuth has written two pop songs and commissioned a series of short movies that would disseminate patriotic messages. He told delegates at a government function on Thursday morning to watch “Descendants of the Sun.”
“What I have seen is that they have inserted a sense of patriotism, sacrifice, obeying orders and being a dutiful citizen,” the prime minister said. Officially, the 16-episode drama, which just aired its 7th episode on Wednesday and Thursday, airs on KBS 2TV in South Korea and video streaming platform iQiyi in China.
Prayuth did not say how he follows the Korean drama when it does not air on Thai TV. Perhaps he is watching copies of the show made after the broadcast or has powerful satellite facilities that could pick up Korean and Chinese air signals.
A Japanese company has just purchased “Descendants of the Sun” for $100,000 per episode. Prayuth even offered to finance the production of a Thai drama with patriotic messages. If he does that, he would probably be casting an actor not as dashing as Song Joong-Ki - not because he believes Thai women would be obsessed with the actor who would portray the lead role – but because he finds Song, who had served two years in South Korea’s military, too boyish for the role of army captain. “In real life, a captain must shoulder a lot of burden and would look older,” the prime minister explained.
China’s warning, though, is not without basis. IBT-UK cited the case of a 20-year-old Chinese woman who was just diagnosed with acute glaucoma after she watch Korean drama for 18 hours straight. When the 2014 show “My Love from the Stars” aired in China, a pregnant Chinese woman almost had a miscarriage because she ate a lot of Korean fried chicken and drank beer, which was what the female lead in the series did.