Every South Korean man between the ages of 18 and 30 has to serve in the military for about two years.

For fans of these actors or K-pop stars, this means two long years of no new movies, TV shows or song releases. Needless to say, their comebacks are much anticipated.

Here are five K-celebrities who are making their comebacks in 2022 following their discharge from the army.

Lee Jong-suk

Although Lee Jong-suk was discharged from the military in January 2021, he has kept a low-profile since. The new Disney+ K-drama Big Mouth is his first show since 2019's Romance is a Bonus Book.

In it, he plays talkative lawyer Park Chang-ho, nicknamed Big Mouth, who has a low winning rate of 10 per cent. He gets framed and mistaken as a genius swindler with the alias of Big Mouse.

Lim Yoona plays his wife Go Mi-ho, who investigates the conspiracy to clear her husband's name.

In a press conference this morning (July 29), Jong-suk, 32, told reporters about his experience on set: "My character goes through many difficulties and he struggles a lot but I, as an actor, had a thrilling experience (on set)."

On what he paid the most attention to, he said: "The emotional journey of Chang-ho is quite drastic so I wanted to be sensitive about that."

Big Mouth also stars Kim Joo-hun, Ok Ja-yeon and Yang Kyung-won, and it debuts on July 29 on Disney+.

Zico

After being discharged from the army in April, Zico released his single Seoul Drift with a music video on July 19, discussing the chaos of the pandemic.

The Block B rapper then released his new solo EP Grown Ass Kid and the music video for Freak on July 27.

This marks the 29-year-old's first release since 2020 and there is no confusion as to what he's singing about: "Bring it back / Two Christmas eves / Flight to Europe cancelled / Solo concert and fashion week / Just a red X on the problematic calendar."

Lee Hyun-woo

Lee Hyun-woo was discharged from military service in 2019 but he finally made his comeback in June 2022 with Money Heist: Korea — Joint Economic Area. His last K-drama was 2017's The Liar and His Lover.

In the spin-off of the original Spanish TV show, 29-year-old Hyun-woo plays the role of Rio, originally played by Miguel Herrán, who is the maknae (youngest member) of the heist team and a skilled hacker.

The Korean spin-off has the same general storyline as the Spanish original, but with a twist: it takes place in a unified Korea, with the heist taking place in the new country's mint.

Catch Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area on Netflix.

Yang Se-jong

Yang Se-jong, 29, and Bae Suzy are currently filming the Netflix original K-drama The Girl Downstairs, based on a webtoon of the name, Korean media outlet Joy News reported on July 29.

The drama marks Se-jong's return to acting since his role in Dr Romantic 2 in 2020, after which he enlisted in the military until his discharge in November 2021.

The Girl Downstairs tells the story of Lee Won-joon (Se-jong) who moves into an apartment on his first day of college and discovers that former idol Lee Doo-na (Suzy) is living downstairs and avoiding her past life.

The release date for the show has yet to be announced.

Woo Do-hwan

Another actor who recently got discharged from the military and is now working on a Netflix series based off a webtoon is Woo Do-hwan. 

His last show was 2020's The King: Eternal Monarch, which was ironically Lee Min-ho's comeback performance after his own military conscription. Discharged in January 2022, Do-hwan was cast in the action noir drama Hunting Dogs.

It tells the story of Gun-woo (Do-hwan), a former promising boxer who works as a bodyguard for Mr Choi (Heo Joon-ho) after being embroiled in the world of loan sharks to pay off his debt.

"I made a lot of effort to look like a professional boxer. I wanted to run like one even when I was running on the streets," the actor told magazine Arena Homme Plus.

The release date for the show has yet to be announced.

ALSO READ: Ji Sung, Lee Dong-wook, Hyun Bin: K-drama hunkles in their 40s who still rock

drimac@asiaone.com

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