Crash Landing on You

Crash Landing on You: Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	2019
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean; English;
Label	Stone Music Entertainment

Crash Landing on You
	Promotional poster
Also known as	Emergency Love Landing; Love's Crash Landing; Crash Landing of Love;
Hangul	사랑의 불시착
Genre	Romantic drama[1]; Romantic comedy[2]
Created by	Studio Dragon
Written by	Park Ji-eun
Directed by	Lee Jung-hyo
Starring	Hyun Bin; Son Ye-jin; Kim Jung-hyun; Seo Ji-hye;
Opening theme	"Sigriswil" (Opening Title ver.) by Kim Kyung-hee
Composer(s)	Nam Hye-seung & Park Sang-hee
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	16 (list of episodes)
Production
Production location(s)	South Korea; Switzerland[3]; Mongolia[3];
Running time	70–110 minutes
Production company(s)	Studio Dragon; Culture Depot;
Distributor	tvN; Netflix (international)[4];
Release
Original network	tvN, UXN
Picture format	2160p (UHDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital
Original release	December 14, 2019 –; February 16, 2020
External links
	Website

Crash Landing on You[4] (Korean: 사랑의 불시착; RR: Sarangui Bulsichak; MR: Sarangŭi pulshich'ak; lit. Love's Emergency Landing) is a South Korean television series directed by Lee Jeong-hyo and featuring Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, Kim Jung-hyun, and Seo Ji-hye. It is about a South Korean chaebol heiress who, while paragliding in Seoul, South Korea, is swept up in a sudden storm and crash-lands in the North Korean portion of the DMZ.

It aired on tvN in South Korea and on Netflix worldwide from December 14, 2019, to February 16, 2020. It is the highest rated tvN drama and the third highest-rated South Korean TV drama in cable television history.

Plot

Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) is a South Korean (SK) chaebol heiress to the Queen’s Group. Disliked by her family, she founded her own riches through her company: Se-ri's Choice. When the Queen’s Group needed a new CEO, Se-ri’s father chose her over her half brothers. Before she can take over Queen’s Group, she goes paragliding to promote the company's new product; she's caught in a sudden cyclone. She was blown across the DMZ and crash landed into North Korea (NK).

Se-ri encounters Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin) on patrol. She tries to flee but Captain Ri finds her stumbling upon his village. She threatens to expose his team's incompetence in capturing her and he allows her to stay at his place, agreeing to help her get home. Eventually, the village discovers Se-ri and they pretended to be an engaged couple to avoid suspicion.

Captain Ri failed to smuggle Se-ri by boat on the first try and failed to send her by plane by the second. State Security Officer, Cho Cheol-gang (Oh Man-seok), is on to them and tries to have them killed but they survive. Captain Ri nearly lost his life while saving Se-ri on their second attempt and the two realize that they have feelings for each other. However, Jeong-hyeok is engaged in an arranged marriage with Seo Dan (Seo Ji-hye) and Se-ri needs to go home.

When Dan learns about Se-ri's origins, she reports it to the Director of the General Political Bureau, Captain Ri’s father. Director Ri captures Se-ri to understand the situation better and discovers the two are in love; Se-ri's relationship to Jeong-hyeok is a threat to everyone involved. Director Ri takes advantage of a border patrol alert and has Jeong-hyeok escort Se-ri to an unsecured path to send her back to SK. The two say their goodbyes and Se-ri returns to Seoul.

During her absence, Se-ri's family declares her dead. Se-hyung becomes CEO of Queen’s Group and Sang-A is about to merge Se-ri’s Choice into Queen’s Group when Se-ri makes her return. Se-ri takes back her company and ousts Sang-A. In a family dinner, Se-ri resumes the topic of chairmanship of Queen’s Group; Se-hyung refuses to give up chairmanship and Sang-A plots to keep Queen’s Group away from Se-ri.

In NK, Captain Ri had Cheol-gang arrested for illegal activities. Although found guilty, Cheol-gang’s men helped free him and he escaped to SK to get his revenge on Se-ri. When Captain Ri learned about this, he followed Cheol-gang to protect Se-ri. Fearing for his son’s life, Director Ri sent Jeong-hyeok’s team to SK to retrieve him.

Captain Ri would reunite with Se-ri and later his team. Se-ri arranged Jeong-hyeok as her personal bodyguard while his team is given unlimited funds to enjoy the city. Cheol-gang tries to get revenge on Captain Ri and Se-ri; Cheol-gang he failed to capture or kill either of them. Se-hyung and Sang-A assists Cheol-gang to get rid of Se-ri, but Captain Ri and his team protected her. When Cheol-gang tries to shoot Jeong-hyeok, Se-ri takes a bullet for him. While she recovers in the hospital, Jeong-hyeok has a final showdown with Cheol-gang that results in Jeong-hyeok's arrest and Cheol-gang shot dead by the NIS.

Se-hyung’s and Sang-A’s misdeeds are exposed and their father plans to remove them from the company. Sang-A tips off NIS that Se-ri was secretly in NK and harbored spies in hopes it would get her arrested and get back on good terms with their father. This got Jeong-hyeok and his team arrested. Captain Ri took full responsibility for his team's actions and lies about manipulating Se-ri to exonerate her from any crimes.

NIS finds that Jeong-hyeok and his team haven't committed any major crimes and their governments agreed for a quiet prisoner exchange. Se-ri rushes to the border to bid Jeong-hyeok goodbye one last time. NIS later arrest Se-hyung and Sang-A for aiding Cheol-gang against Se-ri. A year later, Jeong-hyeok's engagement with Seo Dan is called off and he is discharged from the military to resume his musical career. Se-ri is now CEO of Queen's Group and became a kinder leader to her subordinates. While touring in Switzerland, Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok see each other again. The story ends with the two making annual trips to Switzerland to spend time together.

Cast

Cast of Crash Landing on You

Main

Hyun Bin as Ri Jeong-hyeok[5]

A proficient but emotionally reserved captain in the Korean People's Army who is stationed along the North Korean DMZ. He is well-respected by the unit he leads and the locals of the rural village he resides in. While he comes from a powerful political family (his father is the director of the General Political Bureau), he prefers to keep his lineage secret. A piano prodigy, he was studying to become a concert pianist in Switzerland before being forced to join the North Korean military after his older brother (with whom he was very close) died in a mysterious car accident. He hides and protects Se-ri after she accidentally crash-lands in his patrol territory. As he tries to help Se-ri find her way back into South Korea, he begins to fall in love with her.

Son Ye-jin as Yoon Se-ri[5]

A South Korean chaebol[5] heiress with a troubled family history as she is her father's illegitimate child (while her father loves her, she is the target of resentment from her half-brothers and their wives, as well as neglect from her step-mother). She is nonetheless an independently wealthy businesswoman who runs her own successful fashion and beauty company, Se-ri's Choice. She is known for publicity stunts, being a tough boss, a picky eater, and having a keen business sense. She meets Ri Jeong-hyeok after accidentally crash-landing in North Korea due to a paragliding accident. She begins to fall in love with Jeong-hyeok as he tries to help her return to South Korea.

Kim Jung-hyun as Gu Seung-joon / Alberto Gu[6]

An intelligent, charming, but poor South Korean conman with British citizenship. After his family went bankrupt, he ingratiated himself with Se-ri's brother, Se-yung, in order to embezzle from their family's company. Se-yung attempted to organize a marriage between and Sung-joon and Se-ri, but Se-ri sensed Sung-joon's ill intentions on their first meeting. After this rejection, Seung-joon successfully cheated a fortune from their family's company under Se-yung's watch, and fled to North Korea to avoid arrest.

Seo Ji-hye as Seo Dan[7]

A North Korean department store heiress and aspiring cellist who is also Ri Jeong-hyeok's fiancée through an affianced marriage arranged by their parents. While she has been infatuated with Jeong-hyeok since they were high school classmates, he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, but agrees to the betrothed marriage out of a sense of duty to his parents. She later fell for Seung-joon.

Supporting

People around Yoon Se-ri

Nam Kyung-eup as Yoon Jeung-pyeong, Se-ri's father, South Korean Chaebol and chairman of Queen's Group. After serving time for financial malfeasance, he looks to name one of his children heir to his chairmanship.
Bang Eun-jin as Han Jeong-yeon, Se-ri's step-mother. She struggles to reconcile her resentment towards Se-ri as a product of her husband's infidelity with Se-ri's sincere love and affection towards her.
Choi Dae-hoon as Yoon Se-joon, Se-ri's immature and dimwitted eldest half-brother.
Hwang Woo-seul-hye as Do Hye-ji, Se-joon's materialistic but supportive wife.
Park Hyung-soo as Yoon Se-hyung, Se-ri's greedy elder half-brother, whose naiveté allowed Seung-joon to embezzle funds from the Queen's Group.
Yoon Ji-min as Go Sang-ah, Se-hyung's intelligent and ruthlessly ambitious wife.
Go Kyu-pil as Hong Chang-sik, Se-ri's over-stressed team manager.
Lim Chul-soo as Park Soo-chan, Se-ri's insurance agent, who becomes obsessed with proving that Se-ri survived the paragliding accident.

People around Ri Jeong-hyeok

Jun Gook-hwan as Ri Choong-ryeol, Jeong-hyeok's father, director of the General Political Bureau and vice-marshal of Korean People's Army.
Jung Ae-ri as Kim Yoon-hee, Jeong-hyeok's mother. Like her husband, she still grieves Moo-hyeok's death.
Ha Seok-jin as army captain Ri Moo-hyeok, Jeong-hyeok's deceased older brother, killed in a staged accident.
Oh Man-seok as Cho Cheol-gang, a corrupt member of the North Korean Armed Forces' Security Bureau who runs criminal operations, and is the principal villain of the story.[8]
Yang Kyung-won as Pyo Chi-su, a master sergeant major in Jeong-hyeok's unit, who enjoys drinking and antagonizing Se-ri because of his paranoia against South Koreans.
Yoo Su-bin as Kim Ju-muk, a staff sergeant in Jeong-hyeok's unit, who uses his fascination with bootleg K-Dramas to explain South Korean culture to his team.
Lee Shin-young as Park Kwang-beom, a first lieutenant in Jeong-hyeok's unit, oblivious of his model good looks.[9][10]
Tang Joon-sang as Geum Eun-dong, a lance-corporal in the Jeong-hyeok's unit, who is the sole provider of his family and youngest member of the unit.
Kim Young-min as Jeong Man-bok, a North Korean wiretapper coerced by Cheol-gang to facilitate criminal activities, which has made him feel guilt about his work. He knows the truth behind Ri Moo-hyeok's death and is ostracized as "The Rat" by members of the village due to his job.[8]

People around Seo Dan

Jang Hye-jin as Go Myeong-eun, Dan's wealthy mother who owns Pyongyang's largest department store, and is eager to see Dan married.
Park Myung-hoon as Go Myeong-sok, Dan's uncle who is also a high-ranking officer in the State Security Department and supportive of both Jeong-hyeok and Dan.
Hong Woo-jin as Director Cheon, a corrupt North Korean government official who helps people illegally enter and stay in North Korea.

People in the North Korean village

Kim Sun-young as Na Wol-sook
Kim Jung-nan as Ma Yeong-ae
Jang So-yeon as Hyeon Myeong-soon, Jeong Man-bok's wife.
Cha Chung-hwa as Yang Ok-geum

Special appearances

Jung Kyung-ho as Cha Sang-woo, Se-ri's South Korean ex-boyfriend (Ep. 1, 5 & 7)
Park Sung-woong as a North Korean taxi driver (Ep. 4)
Na Young-hee as a North Korean wedding dress boutique owner (Ep. 7)
Kim Soo Hyun as Bang Dong-gu, a North Korean Spy from Division 11, disguised as a village idiot (Ep. 10)
Kim Sook as a North Korean fortune teller (Ep. 11 & 16)
Choi Ji-woo as herself (Ep. 13)

Episodes

No.	Title	Original release date
1	"Episode 1"	December 14, 2019 (2019-12-14)
Knocked out by fierce winds while paragliding through the air, Yoon Se-ri, a wealthy businesswoman and CEO from South Korea, wakes up on the north side of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and is discovered by Ri Jeong Hyeok, a captain in the North Korean military.
2	"Episode 2"	December 15, 2019 (2019-12-15)
After talking Jeong Hyeok and his comrades into hiding her in his home, Se-ri gets a taste of his way of life. Gu Seung-jun buys refuge in a secluded villa in North Korea through a broker.
3	"Episode 3"	December 21, 2019 (2019-12-21)
Se-ri is discovered hiding at Jeong Hyeok's home during an unexpected home inspection. Jeong Hyeok invents a bold background story for Se-ri as a recently-returned agent from Division 11, the secret division of North Korean military which has spies sent to South Korea. He calls Se-ri his fiancée, in his attempt to protect her. However, his rival, Cho Cheol Gang, isn't fooled. Seo Dan, Jeong Hyeok's actual fiancée for ten years, returns to North Korea after finishing her studies in Russia.
4	"Episode 4"	December 22, 2019 (2019-12-22)
When her escape plan falls through, Se-ri turns to another idea. Dan heads to the village to see Jeong Hyeok. The villagers are confused on seeing Dan, as they were told that Se-ri is Jeong Hyeok's fiancée.
5	"Episode 5"	December 28, 2019 (2019-12-28)
Jeong Hyeok agrees to marry Dan sooner, as his parents wish, but they must do him a favor first. Seung-jun discovers Se-ri is also in North Korea.
6	"Episode 6"	December 29, 2019 (2019-12-29)
Dan is less than happy when she hears Jeong Hyeok and Se-ri are at a hotel together. Meanwhile, Seung-jun plays what cards he has to save himself.
7	"Episode 7"	January 11, 2020 (2020-01-11)
A flight out of North Korea awaits Se-ri at the airport. But, unwilling to leave Jeong Hyeok while he's injured, she brings him to a hospital instead, thus missing her flight out of North Korea.
8	"Episode 8"	January 12, 2020 (2020-01-12)
Keeping Jeong Hyeok away from Se-ri turns out to be much more difficult than Seung-jun anticipated. Cheol Gang stays on their tail.
9	"Episode 9"	January 18, 2020 (2020-01-18)
Se-ri faces her kidnapper. Elsewhere, Jeong Hyeok is forced to spread a formidable rumor about himself in order to escape Cheol Gang's clutches.
10	"Episode 10"	January 19, 2020 (2020-01-19)
Back to her cushy life in the spotlight, Se-ri takes care of business — though nothing feels quite the same. Jeong Hyeok goes after Cheol Gang in South Korea, who in turn is after Se-Ri in order to use her to blackmail Jeong Hyeok's family.
11	"Episode 11"	February 1, 2020 (2020-02-01)
It is Jeong Hyeok's turn to adjust to a new world. Back in North Korea, Dan gives Seung-jun a place to stay after he loses his protection.
12	"Episode 12"	February 2, 2020 (2020-02-02)
Hoping to meet Jeong Hyeok, his comrades attend an event hosted by Se-ri's company. Seung-jun opens up to Dan over a bowl of rice porridge.
13	"Episode 13"	February 8, 2020 (2020-02-08)
Se-ri sends the comrades on a shopping spree, and plays hooky from work with Jeong Hyeok. Jung Man Bok encounters a dilemma.
14	"Episode 14"	February 9, 2020 (2020-02-09)
While Jeong Hyeok keeps watch over Se-ri, his comrades make themselves useful. Seung-jun can't stop worrying about Dan.
15	"Episode 15"	February 15, 2020 (2020-02-15)
South Korean officials try to figure out what's going on, but they're given conflicting stories. Seung-jun flees from his captors.
16	"Episode 16"	February 16, 2020 (2020-02-16)
Before departing, Jeong Hyeok leaves behind a surprise that keeps on giving--messages from Jeong Hyeok's phone everyday. The last message tells Se-ri where to find Jeong Hyeok. Dan delivers bittersweet justice.

Production

Development

The premise of Crash Landing on You was inspired by a real event involving South Korean actress, Jung Yang.[3][11] In September 2008, Yang and three others had to be rescued after bad fog had caused their leisure boat to drift "into the maritime boundary between North and South Korea."[12] Park Ji-eun, the drama's screenwriter, was introduced to North Korean defector turned film adviser and writer Kwak Moon-wan, who became part of the drama's writing team.[13][14] Kwak, who studied film directing in Pyongyang and had also been a member of an elite security force protecting the Kims, helped in crafting the drama's plot and in conceptualizing the setting and scenes in the drama portraying North Korean life.[13][14]

Filming

The production process proved to be "painstakingly meticulous", owing to South Korea's relationship with North Korea where most of the story's plot ensues.[15] The use of the honorific Chairman to refer to North Korea's leaders was avoided, and the North Korean lapel pins used by the cast members taking North Korean roles were one third smaller than their actual size.[16] Props manager Joo Dong-man said the crew did not have a "guidebook on multiple hurdles he had to hop over — skillfully and delicately – to accurately depict the country while dodging criticism" and, thus, had to be careful "not to misrepresent the state". They worked with guidance from North Koreans living in South Korea and research.[15][3]

The first script reading took place on July 31, 2019 in Sangam-dong, Seoul, and filming overseas started at the end of August 2019.[17] North Korean scenes were shot in South Korea and Mongolia.[3] Scenes that took place in Switzerland were shot on location.[3]

General reception

Crash Landing on You is the third-highest-rated cable drama in Korean television history. It was popular in Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. It was also highly ranked on Netflix in Japan and the United States.[18]

Critical response

Variety Magazine named Crash Landing on You one of "The Best International Shows on Netflix,"[19] and Time Magazine also ranked it as one of the best Korean dramas on Netflix.[20]

Jo Walker of The Guardian's "Stream Team" called it "addictively off-the-wall, heartbreaking and hilarious,"[21] while Aljazeera stated that it is a hallyu success.[22] Adella Suliman and Stella Kim of NBC News also suggested that the drama "features all the ingredients a viewer could wish for" and has "drawn a global audience of millions, many no doubt searching for entertainment as they while away their time in coronavirus-related lockdowns."[23]

South Korean audience response

Early in its run, Crash Landing on You was the fourth highest rated Korean cable drama.[24] The final episode's ratings made it the third highest rated Korean drama in cable television history, surpassing fellow tvN dramas Reply 1988 and Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.[25] With 1.75 billion online views, Crash Landing on You outperformed the prior leader, Mr. Sunshine, for most viewed drama clips by 200 million views as of February 17, 2020.[26]

International audience response

It was an immense success in China. The hashtag for the drama's final episode has received over 460 million views on China's Twitter-like Weibo. The streaming website for the South Korean drama, which holds the copyright in China with Chinese subtitles, crashed on the night it aired the final episode due to the enormous number of users.[27] It was also very popular in Japan during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic via Netflix.[28][29] While the Korean Wave is a historically prominent component of media within Japan, Crash Landing on You has been uniquely influential there, in part due to its portrayal of daily life in North Korea.[28]

Commercial impact

The success of the drama helped to boost brand items due to product placement. The lead characters portrayed by Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin ate Gold Olive Chicken, a product which had a 100% sales improvement due to the show.[3][30] There was also an increase in sales of the Swarovski earrings worn by Son Ye-jin.[31]

South and North Korea Reception

Many commentators focused on the representation of both North Korea, and its relationship with South Korea, in the series.

General

Although the series is a work of fiction, it has received some positive reviews from North Korean defectors for its depiction of everyday life in North Korea. At the same time, some details, such as the availability of food, relatively warm behavior of the army and the ease with which the characters cross the border have been criticized.[32][16][13][33][23] One of the extras (who portrayed a North Korean villager) is a writer and actress from North Korea who states that she felt "like [she] was actually back in a North Korean village."[33] Kwak Moon-wan, a North Korean defector, who had served with the Supreme Guard Command (which protects the ruling Kim family) worked as an adviser for the series, providing the writers with details about life in North Korea as well as North Korean governmental agencies that added credibility to the show.[34] He acknowledged some of the criticism, admitting that he has taken liberties with the depiction of North Korea (such as not mentioning food shortages), but rejected the claim that he was glamorizing the regime or drawing a false equivalence, saying that the show also depicted some of the darker aspect of life under the regime, such as the issue of kotjebi (child homeless) and the frequent power cuts. Some North Korean refugees, such as Chun Hyo-jin, who defected from the border village of Hyesan at the age of nineteen, tend to agree: "Even if what they say, that it glamorizes North Korea, is true, would they choose to live there? I don't think so". Even though the drama leaves political matters aside, which are essential to the North Korea issue as she sees it, she says it still is of great significance: "Its depiction of North Korea is a bit far from reality but it has made the people interested in North Korea".[35] The drama's producer Lee Jung-hyo said during a press conference in Seoul in December: "I know some people are uncomfortable about our subject, North Korea, but we don't portray a wholly authentic North Korea in our drama. Most settings are closer to a fantasy, although some aspects do reflect real North Korean life".[36]

Kang Nara, a North Korean defector who advised the show's production team, stated that about 60% of North Korea's depiction in the show is accurate:[37] "The richer families in North Korea like to show off their wealth by adding lace curtains to their windows. So that was pretty well portrayed". She also appreciated the detail about kimchi caves: "Since rural North Korea doesn't get electricity, they don't have refrigerators. They have kimchi caves where they store kimchi, and that was also recreated well".[38] House checks are also a regular affair. She revealed that she once had to hide inside a furnace at the house of the broker who helped her to escape to avoid detection. In the drama, the heiress had to hide in the kimchi storage area when security forces came knocking one night. As depicted in the drama, North Koreans are allowed to choose only from a fixed list of hair styles - 18 for women and 28 for men. "There's a punishment for you if you don't comply" Kang said in an interview with YouTube channel DKDKTV.[39] On the other hand, as she explained in a YouTube video, the characters were able to slip across the border much more easily than in real life: "I had to pay a broker 10 million won (US$8,400) to swim across the Yalu river [which borders North Korea and China] while being shot at from behind by soldiers [when I escaped]".[40] Cartoonist Choi Seong-guk, who defected to the South in 2011, also said the drama set is 60% accurate. The portrayal of jangmadang, or local markets where all kinds of goods, including imports from South Korea, are sold is especially real, he told The Sunday Times. However, he felt that the drama "glamorized the soldiers too much, almost to an uncomfortable extent". He said North Korean men enter the military when they are 17 and serve for 10 to 13 years. "During this time, they are... ruthless and harsh, robbing homes and raping women at night".[39] Still, he hopes the drama will make its way to North Korea and go viral: "I hope the North Koreans who see this drama will realize how positively the South Koreans think of them and learn to change".[39]

There were also critical responses to the themes of the drama in both regions. In January 2020, The Christian Liberal Party (CLP) filed a complaint in South Korea against tvN at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, accusing the network of glamorizing North Korea through this series, in violation of the National Security Law.[41][42][43] Then, in March 2020, a few North Korean media outlets criticized unnamed South Korean programs and films that explored relations between North and South Korea. While Crash Landing on You was not directly mentioned by the media outlets, it was perceived to be among the referenced works. Another is the 2019 film, Ashfall, although that film was also not directly cited in the articles.[44][45]

Scholarship

Stephen Epstein (Victoria University of Wellington) and Christopher Green (Leiden University) suggest that while Crash Landing on You is formulaic, it also "is a crucial text for evaluating ongoing change in South Korean popular representations of its neighbour. Indeed, given the concerted use of North Korean backdrops in Crash Landing on You and the size and global extent of its audiences, the show is likely the most noteworthy South Korean popular culture representation of North Korea yet produced.”[46] Yun Suk-jin, a professor at Chungnam National University concurs, noting that the series "changed the stereotypes on North Korea and candidly showed that it too is a place where people live."[33] Sarah A. Son, Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield also agrees, noting that Crash Landing on You responds to the "socio-cultural divide" between the North and the South, which academic scholarship cites as one of the biggest obstacles to future unification. Son argues that "through the re-framing of stereotypes, albeit with some creative licence, Crash Landing on You arguably humanises the North for its audience in ways that inter-Korean dialogue has not in recent years. Despite its soft-focus romanticisation of the political situation, Crash Landing on You brings the pain of the division to a personal level for a generation of Koreans who, unlike their grandparents, have no memory of what it was like to be a single nation."[14]

Joanna Elfving-Hwang, associate professor of Korean studies at the University of Western Australia notes that “North Korea tends to appear in our imagination as the ‘axis of evil’, we think of [negative things like] nuclear weapons and human rights abuses…this drama has dared to think about North Korean people differently and represented them as quite human and quite Korean.”[40] Steve Hung Lok-wai, a Korean affairs expert from Chinese University of Hong Kong states that the drama sidestepped larger political issues through a narrative that did not end with the male lead's defection: "Lots of people questioned whether the male lead, the North Korean soldier, would end up defecting to the South for love, but they were able to sidestep that scenario and gave it a plausible ending where the two would meet in Switzerland". Thus, he argues, it's "quite smart because they avoided all the real taboos but made it believable enough where it would make people think about these political problems."[40] John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University, praised the series for its decision to draw parallels between powerful families in both the South and the North, and to humanize North Koreans beyond generic stereotypes.[47]

Original soundtrack