Choi Soo-jong to play next Korean President

By girlfriday

Interesting how dramas always come in pairs, right? There's "Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho" and "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho", "The Fugitive Plan B" and "ATHENA", "Road No. 1" and "Comrades". Now "The Subsitute" vs. "President"?

Veteran actor Choi Soo-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].

It looks to be a different take on the presidency as Daemul, because this one is set a few decades in the past, and focuses on one man's journey toward BECOMING the president, rather than a portrayal of a sitting one. But if President gets its act together faster than "The Subsitute" (which should be a piece of cake, considering all the production woes) then it's got a chance to steal some thunder if it's good right out of the gate.

Choi Soo-jong will play President-to-be Jang Il-joon, who starts off as a top-university law school graduate. He gets involved in student protests during the time of the overthrowing of the Yushin regime (President Park Chung-hee, assassinated 1979) and meets the greatest challenge of his life, instilling a new dream in the idealistic young man.

He becomes a civil rights lawyer, then a congressman, and then throws his hat into the presidential race, with the dream of moving the nation toward change. His will be a tale of overcoming all odds to become president, and of course, the intense love story that fuels him.

This? Sounds A-MAZ-ING.

"President" will follow "The Fugitive Plan B", which follows "Bread, Love and Dreams". It premieres December 8 on KBS.

Via Hankyung