Vice President Leni Robredo isn’t only a big fan of Korean dramas, she gushes about their actors, too.
(Management SOOP / MANILA BULLETIN)
The vice president sat down with vlogger Chef Sharwin Tee for his “Straight Guy K Drama Reviews” series to talk about her favorite Korean actors.
Topping Robredo’s list was Hallyu star Gong Yoo, who starred recently in Goblin (Guardian: The Lonely and Great God) with Kim Go-eun and Lee Dong-wook.
“He’s good-looking, right? I liked Goblin because of him. I like Coffee Prince, too,” Robredo said in Filipino. “Out of all of Gong Yoo’s K-drama, I like Big the most.”
Big is a romantic-comedy TV series that aired in 2012 about the body of an 18-year-old woman swapping with that of a 30-year-old man.
But aside from the Goblin star, she also swooned over Son Ye-jin’s and Hyun Bin’s Crash Landing On You, which is considered one of the best Korean dramas last year.
The vice president said she would also want to someday meet the cast of medical drama Doctors—Kim Rae-won, Park Shin-hye, and Lee Sung-kyung.
She also seemed to be fond of Korean actresses like Park Shin-hye, who also starred in Pinocchio with Lee Jong-suk, Son Ye-jin from Something in the Rain and Crash Landing On You, and Park Min Young who recently starred in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim with Park Seo-joon.
Park Min Young was also the lead in City Hunter with Lee Min-ho, which Robredo said was one of the first Korean dramas she watched even before she entered politics.
“I was a fan before (COVID-19 pandemic) already. I first watched many, many years ago, I was still in Naga, I was not yet a politician, the City Hunter,” she said.
But her fondness for Korean dramas was reignited “three to four years ago” with Mr. Sunshine (starring Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-ri).
The vice president shared that it was then-Interior Secretary Mar Roxas who introduced her to the series. Roxas is a close friend of the vice president’s late husband, former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo.
Robredo credited Mr. Sunshine and Descendants of the Sun (Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo) as the ones that enticed her to watch more dramas.
Asked what she liked about watching Korean dramas, Robredo had this to say: “For me, it’s how the script developed, how it was shot, you can feel the passion for filmmaking. I was really impressed when I first watched a few dramas.”
Korean dramas seem to have a special place in the vice president’s heart. She said she watched it to and from her bus rides to Naga in 2019 during the time she had to be home every weekend with her mother who was sick at that time.
Even when her mom was at the intensive care unit, it was Korean dramas that kept her company. “My mother was unconscious. I held her hand while I watch K-drama. That was my pasttime.”