To be at the top of your game for almost two decades is no easy feat, especially when it’s in a fiercely competitive profession like acting. However, Lee Min Ho makes it feel like a cakewalk. The Hallyu star is arguably the most recognizable name in Korean entertainment, having headlined cult K-dramas like Boys Over Flowers, The Heirs, The Legend of the Blue Sea and The King: Eternal Monarch alongside blockbuster movies like Gangnam Blues and Bounty Hunters.
Lee Min Ho’s latest release is the second season of Pachinko, an astonishing Apple TV+ trilingual series documenting the struggles and perseverance of four generations of a Korean immigrant family. The actor — who is famously known for playing wealthy red flags with the alibi of a male lead — does a complete 360 in Pachinko, considered to be his most mature performance to date.
He plays Koh Hansu, who, for the lack of a better word, is despicable. Hansu is a Zainichi Korean man whose father-in-law is tied to a Yakuza (organized crime syndicate in Japan). When in Korea, he tempts the innocent Kim Sunja (Kim Min Ha) with his dominant yet charming personality into a lusty affair that ends with Sunja getting pregnant. While Sunja falls in love, Hansu sees him as his mistress. This leads to them parting ways, with Sunja finding solace in the kind-hearted Baek Isak (Steve Noh), who embraces her and Hansu’s Noa as his own family.
Pachinko 2 takes place years after Baek Isak has been arrested and Sunja, now a mother of two, is left to her own devices. With the onset of the Korean War, Sunja has no option but to rely on Hansu’s powerful influence to protect her family. The supposedly forgotten feelings between the two become a pivotal arc in the second instalment.
Ahead of Pachinko 2’s release, Lee Min Ho spoke to GQ India about how Kim Min Ha is as an acting partner: “Kim Min Ha is a person with a free spirit, although her actual age might be a little young, you may think, to play the role of Sunja (in Pachinko). However, she’s the kind of person who always thinks about what she wants in her life, and what are the important things in her life. I think that made it possible for her to really express her emotions as Sunja in a diverse and very deep way.” (NOTE: Lee Min Ho’s answers have been translated from Korean to English by a translator)
