On February 7, Yum Jung Ah sat down for an interview to discuss her latest drama “SKY Castle.”
In the JTBC drama, Yum Jung Ah stars as Han Seo Jin, the wife of Kang Joon Sang (Jung Joon Ho) and mother of Kang Ye Seo (Kim Hye Yoon) and Kang Ye Bin (Lee Ji Won). Han Seo Jin is a woman who puts her children first, even hiring a university entrance coordinator to make sure her daughter is accepted to Seoul National University’s prestigious medical school.
During the interview, the actress was asked if she heard differing opinions about the finale of “SKY Castle,” which broke all-time cable TV ratings in Korea. She responded, “I did. Honestly, I think we made the best choice. I’m satisfied [with the final episode].”
She continued, “The director told me how the drama would conclude, and because I had to change the course of my acting to fit the conclusion, I fully know what viewers were frustrated about. I also think about what it would’ve been like if it were a tragic ending, but I think we did our best.”
The actress then talked about her “SKY Castle” co-stars. Picking Kim Seo Hyung, who played the mysterious college coordinator Kim Joo Young, as her first acting partner, Yum Jung Ah stated, “Seo Hyung and I met many times at Kim Joo Young’s office. Every time I’d go there, it’d be dark and strange. I saw Seo Hyung’s interview where she said that even sitting there would be exhausting, but it was hard for the both of us. When I sat there and Seo Hyung would look at me, it’d be so scary. It would feel like I was being sucked up and brainwashed when I’d hear her stories. I could only see Seo Hyung’s face, not even the staff around us. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. I felt like I was alone in a place far from reality.”
She then praised Kim Hye Yoon and Lee Ji Won’s acting in the drama, saying, “Because the kids are so good, there are times when the feeling becomes broken on set due to the child actors. Of course, it’s because we have to wait [for them]. But I just had to focus on my own acting because they were so good. Their attitudes on set were also great. They were perfectly prepared, both Ye Seo and Ye Bin, and Hye Na as well.”
Yum Jung Ah then talked about her own life in relation to the drama, as she is also a mother of two and married to an orthopedic surgeon. When asked if there were any changes in how she viewed education, she said, “Of course there will be some changes. I didn’t know when I was acting, but I realized [the education system] was wrong while watching [the drama]. But that’s the way reality is. I wondered how mothers could be like this, and I thought of the source of where it went wrong.”
She added, “I thought I was an extreme mother. I followed my children until kindergarten, did everything with my own hands, and even when [my children] went to an art academy, I’d wait in the waiting room for parents. I thought I should do all of that. [Those days] weren’t a time where I was acting in many projects. At one point, I watched them do all these things themselves, so now I only plan out their schedules, and I don’t even check their homework much. But they do everything well by themselves. At one point, I knew that children would do [what they need to do] if you just lead them to that direction.”
“SKY Castle” aired its finale on February 1, and will soon be available on Viki.
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