Assassin and mother: Korean thriller explores extreme work-life balance

BERLIN - South Korean star Jeon Do-yeon drew on her own insecurities as a parent to play a single mother and professional killer in the upcoming action thriller Kill Boksoon, she told Reuters ahead of the movie's premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

Jeon plays Boksoon, a highly skilled contract assassin in the Netflix movie. She has managed to keep her profession a secret, but with her teenage daughter growing up fast, balancing work and home life becomes an increasing challenge.

Distracted and caught in a double life, the once razor-sharp Boksoon's career starts to show signs of strain and she is forced to reassess her priorities.

"I relate to the character a lot," Do-yeon said on Saturday.

"As a mother and raising a whole person, a human being, it's very tough because you yourself are unstable, insecure, and there's so much that you just don't know," she said.

At one point, her character says killing is simple compared to raising a child.

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"Being a mother really makes you see your shortcomings," Do-yeon added.

"Kill Boksoon" was written and directed by filmmaker Byun Sung-hyun, 42.

"What I wanted to show through our film is how a woman who plays the two very contradictory roles of killer and mother grows to learn how she should live her life from her daughter," Byun said.

Kill Boksoon, which is screening in the sidebar Berlinale Special section at the Berlin Film Festival, is due to be released by Netflix on March 31.