PUBLISHED ONFebruary 26, 2024 7:08 AMByDrima ChakrabortyIt seems that playing a dashing lawyer really suits South Korean actor Kang Ki-young.
After acting as senior attorney and mentor Jung Myung-seok in 2022's Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the 40-year-old is back in K-drama Queen of Divorce as former prosecutor-turned-divorce lawyer Dong Ki-joon.
In an interview with AsiaOne, Ki-young called his character a "passionate and tenacious lawyer" who, like a German shepherd, never lets go after biting.
Sharing the similarities between himself and his character, he said: "I personally find resemblance in living as justly as possible although I live in a society that cannot always be just.
"The part that I did not study hard enough (in the past) to become a prosecutor or a lawyer is something that is different between me and my character."
He also found it easier to play Ki-joon compared to Myung-seok.
"For Extraordinary Attorney Woo, there were many courtroom scenes, so there were also many legal terms. However, with Queen of Divorce, there were more everyday conversations, making it easier to familiarise myself with the script," he said, laughing.
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He added that his current drama focuses more on "the aspect of a problem solver navigating through unconventional methods" than legal cases.
His co-star Lee Ji-ah agreed in a separate interview with AsiaOne: "My courtroom scene appeared briefly in the early stages, and that was it; there were almost no legal terms.
"In our drama, there were more scenes of 'conveying situations and emotions' than 'lengthy dialogues with legal terms'."
She plays Kim Sa-ra, former daughter-in-law to the owner of the largest law firm in South Korea. After a betrayal by her husband Noh Yul-seong (Oh Min-suk), she starts the divorce settlement office Solution with Ki-joon as her business partner.
Together, they work to help those going through difficult divorces and target the so-called "bad spouses" (including Sa-ra's own).
When asked about what viewers should look out for, the 45-year-old said: "Anticipation for what punishment the Devil Noh Yul-seong will face would be highly appreciated."
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Ji-ah is no stranger to playing vengeful spouses. In The Penthouse: War in Life, she played Shim Su-ryeon, the wife of a wealthy businessman who discovers her husband is hiding a secret from her and plots to enact revenge.
"While Shim Su-ryeon was a character who intelligently set traps and engaged in complex psychological warfare from behind, Kim Sa-ra, on the other hand, is a character who directly leaps into revenge without hesitating about means and methods," she shared.
"I focused on portraying the contrasting aspects of her personality."
Despite dealing with hard-hitting stories of failing relationships, Queen of Divorce also manages to weave in lighthearted moments.
"Kim Sa-ra's ability to resolve cases that divorce lawyers cannot or should not handle, along with her boldness, was captivating," she said.
"Dealing with heavy cases, she unexpectedly discovers herself laughing. This lightheartedness and satisfaction set it apart from my previous works."
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The levity permeated through the cast, who shared some of the funny moments they had on set.
"When actor Oh Min-suk came to the Solution office set, he ended up breaking the set," Ji-ah laughed. "In fact, I recall teasing him as the 'destroyer' because he not only did it that day but broke the set multiple times."
Ki-young recalled: "There is a scene where flour is spilled, and Ji-ah and I looked at each other and laughed for a while."
He added that it was mostly he who was being laughed at after being "hit by most of the flour".
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Queen of Divorce streams on Viu.
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drimac@asiaone.com
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