"Descendants of the Sun" is so popular that even Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha mentioned it during a recent interview. Starring Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, the South Korean drama series has been sold to more than 30 countries, including Thailand and the United States.
In an interview with Korea Times, Chan-o-cha explained that he particularly admires "Descendants of the Sun" it not only tells a love story but also instills senses of patriotism, self-sacrifice, and citizenship rights and responsibilities. At this point in time, these things are very relevant to our society, the Thai leader pointed out.
Chan-o-cha praised South Korea with what the country has done with hallyu or the Korean wave. For him, hallyu has become a model for many countries in Asia and in Thailand in particular, Thai people's daily lives are affected extensively in culture, academia, politics and many other things.
Thai watch Korean dramas and eat Korean food almost as often as they do Thai, the prime minister said. He added that there have been many Thai students studying Korean and vice versa recently and there should be more students and academia exchange programs initiated from both sides.
In the Thai PM's view, Korean drama has done much research and the shared values and merits of all that it brings made it very popular. These values from these Korean drama series are also the core values of Thai society and define who the Thai people are.
"Descendants of the Sun" was written by Kim Eun-sook and Kim Won-seok and directed by Lee Eung-bok and Bark Sang-hoon. Joining Joong-ki and Hye-kyo in the cast are Jin Goo-seo, Kim Ji-won, Jin Ku, Ji Seung-Hyeon, Alex Kabel, Zyon Barreto, Jasper Cho and David Lee McInnis, among others.
In other news, Hye-Kyo was in Tokyo, Japan, on March 1, Tuesday, a Korean national holiday that commemorates the Korea's liberation from Japan. Along with Sung Shin Women's University professor Seo Kyung Duk, the "Descendants of the Sun" star distributed 10,000 pamphlets about the history between the two countries in the city, Soompi reported.
Watch a video about Hye-Kyo talk and Joong-ki here: