Time off to get married and have a baby is a hard break for any entertainer’s career, but when it comes to Lee Min Jung there is an added hurdle for her to overcome in coming back. She’s married to one of the most famous Korean stars in Lee Byung Hun, but his fame has been tinted with scandal since last year when he was implicated in a blackmail scheme by two starlets that revealed his womanizing ways despite being married to Lee Min Jung already.
She forgave him and they are now the parents to a baby boy born earlier this year in April. Six months isn’t too long a time to take a hiatus from acting but Lee Min Jung has been laying low since she got married so it’s been been nearly two years since her drama Sly and Single Again in early 2014. She was the leading lady there but now she’s in talks to play the second female lead in Rain‘s upcoming drama Hello My Precious (formerly called Goodbye My Beloved One), which is close to or has already signed Kang Sora to be the leading lady.
Hello My Precious is about a dead man who gets a second chance at life when his soul goes into the body of a living younger man so he can complete unfinished tasks. Veteran actor Kim Soo Ro is also signed up for the drama, so this project is certainly coming along nicely and is scheduled to air on SBS sometime in spring of 2016. I don’t have a problem with Lee Min Jung, either before or after her marriage, but it’s certainly something the gossipy K-netizens aren’t going to let slide all that easily.
I predict lots of hate from the users of this site
Wow second lead for lee min jung? But ok lets be honest, she never was an awesome actor!!
she was great in smile you and cunning single lady.
And also she was best actress among the bunch in bof
Hey, I actually don’t find her all that bad. Like Clinton Carter, I actually liked her in Smile You and Cunning Single Lady.
I agree. We have seen worse but we have also seen way better actresses. As long as she knows her acting limitations and doesn’t ruin perfectly fine projects with very, very talented artists (like All About My Romance and her less than mediocre performance that still haunts me), I think no one can argue. She doesn’t need the paycheck (I presume!), so, I guess, she can spare us the torture of her being the leading lady in a rom-com…again!
Are you sure who is 2nd lead? Minjung has lead longer than Sora.
Her husband is LBH. He is still an A-lister and his movie is topping the box office even if they hate him.
KSR last drama didn’t really do well either.
Koala releases her assumptions and rumors as news so often these days…
Not a huge fan of Lee Min Jung, but she as a second lead and Kang So Ra as the first lead sounds wrong. I hope she will decide wisely, unless if the character is worthy enough to be second lead..
It sounds wrong indeed. I like them both but I thought she was a bigger star(I think KSR is a wee bit better but….)
But if she accepts and it turns out to be meaty then I’ll find her really admirable.
In a brighter side , i think it might be a chance for her to go all-in for a new image. I am hoping it is a meaty role for her. The best is a antagonist role that so different from all the innocent , sassy heroines she acted in the past.
Her acting is quite natural and she is such a beauty.
Most of her roles are similar with each other.
She really needs a breakthrough role to revive her acting career.
She does has potentials . Good luck for her future.
About her personal life, i was very disappointed but that’s her choice , her life so i wont judge and i dont think it is right to judge anyone else’s life
Don’t forget in Korea ,no mater what the problem is divorce women ,on top of that with a child no matter what will be looked down upon and shamed
her role description says she’s the wife of (kim soo ro) character soo who died and was given 7 days to go back and live in the body (of kang sora )… KSR is definitely the lead. case closed.
Thank you Mrs. Koala for writing a precise article on Lee Min Jung. Will be nice to see her back on screen. She has a knack for rom-com (her in Cunning Single Lady was fabulous imo) but this one probably a sobfest melodrama.
By the way, they have a son, not a daughter.
So much hate for LBH by netizens but his movie is currently topping the box office for 3 weeks now.
But don’t forget that his movie before this one flopped really bad.
No one can….but success talks. I’d really love to see Koala’s rundown of how the November box office in Korea went, and what the success or failure of the movies have done for their stars’ images (LBH in particular, but he’s not the only one).
Everyone has flops even the biggest stars but the facts the Korea is still watching him say something about this star power and talent.
Apparently Kang So-ra already declined this since Nov, – case closed – at least for me
really? how come feeds in releases says otherwise…? hancinema and kpopfighting articles still has Sora and Rain with Kim Soo Ro in it 🙂 and the viki page for this drama has Rain and Sora banner which was posted just this week.. so nahhh
The latest news said so. There’s no way she’s going for 2nd lead. There are more horrible actresses who keep getting the lead role, so why she can’t do the same?
Case closed!
@lmao at you… LMJ is ‘less horrible’ so she deserves lead roles? What a messed up way to judge acting merit! And Kang Sora is by far the better actress. I’m glad she passed up this 3% mess!
What news ? I only saw confirmed so I’m not understanding
Kang So Ra declined is what dramabeans are also reporting. LMJ is apparently playing a role of a perfect housewife. Wish we could read Korean. 🙁
@bamsa good because my opinion is that rain is ehhhhh also I think she suits ” heavy ” dramas better ,not modern romantic comedy but if she’s playing the housewife who’s the leading lady ?
I can’t imagine her taking a second lead role. No way. Especially not to Kang Sora.
Kang So Ra already declined. How to ruin a drama. Add Lee Min Jung to the cast!
I hate to sound a crazed teenager netizen, but…LOL! 😉
I liked her in midas. she had good chemistry with no min woo
As I thought there are some really immature comments here.
Acting- wise LMJ is ok. However the plot doesn’t interest me so there you go. Not watching.
LMJ acting suck. u know kung sora going to have to carry the drama. rain is just as bad as LMJ when it come to acting.
u know he going to take off his shirt so his chinese fangirl can go gaga/ hope the korean AHJUMA will watch his drama.
Oh hell nah with ur 3 cents saying rain cant act crawl back under that rock u appeared from. Smh and Whats up with the KSR fans up this mention??
if she declined no need to redicule other actors…
so is kang sora is in or out? dramabeans says she declined and here it says she’s almost confirmed..hmm
tho i saw LMJ in more dramas then KS i prefer KS..but i have nothing against LMJ. she is not bad and her role in sly and single was pretty good.
Actually I didnt like LMJ in BBF and Big. But I like her acted in Smile You, All About My Romance and Cunning Single Lady. So everyone have different opinion and taste about acting. If she suck in acting I dont think the PD wouldnt cast her in many drama.
About second lead role. I think she had own reason. Now shes a mother, maybe she do it for her son. If she got lead role she should spend more time. It different when you got second role. You dont have to spent much time to filming.
I’m not Kang So Ra fans, so I’m little dissapointed that LMJ got second role after so ra based from seniority. But maybe the character suit for her. So I will give this drama chance.
Lee min jung is a good actress a d Kang Sora too. I love them both!
after Kang So Ra in her latest drama… and Rain in his latest drama… well.. what a perfect couple. LMJ, you didnt really have a super hit dramas, but you made better rating. please comeback as lead actress. even an idol who cant act could get a lead actress title. c’mon..
nooooo she doesn’t deserve this second leading treatment all because his asshole husband I feel sorry for her, she is a star I love her since Smile You, I have seen all her dramas, except for Big that was some wird sh*t that I will never watch this plot sounds bad and it has Rain on it I like him he is cute but he can’t act I hope KSR will pass on this too because she needs a godd drama after warm and boring did so wrong, booth deserve better than this boring plot,and for Rain he should just focus in his music and stop trying to act, his dramas are always awful. KSR needs a good drama where she can shine like in Ugly Alert she is really good, she just needs a good drama.
LMJ should wait a little and comeback with a rom com because she is really good in comedy.
What I find fascinating is that all of us here are simply accepting the fact that she will be shamed by Korean netizens and their society because of her marital choices and the fact that she has welcomed a new life into the world.
I think it’s sad how we say it so matter-of-factly and while it’s true that backlash against her will be inevitable, we should be also be questioning Korean society’s treatment of women and emphasizing how such deep-seated misogyny is unfair and must come to an end.