''Eyes of Dawn'' () is a South Korean television series starring Choi Jae-sung,

Chae Shi-ra Chae Shi-ra (born June 25, 1968) is a South Korean actress born in Seoul. Since 1990, Chae has firmly established her acting career with ''Eyes of Dawn'' in the 1990s, she was referred to as a representative actress of the period along with Kim H ...

and Park Sang-won. Directed by Kim Jong-hak and written by Song Ji-na based on the 10-volume novel of the same name by Kim Seong-jong (published in 1981), the story spans the years from the Japanese colonial period to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Korea's liberation and the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. With a budget of , overseas shoots in China and the Philippines, over 270 actors and 21,000 extras, ''Eyes of Dawn'' was one of the first

Korean drama Korean dramas (; RR: ''Han-guk deurama''), more popularly known as K-dramas, are television series in the Korean language, made in South Korea. They are popular worldwide, especially in Asia, partially due to the spread of Korean popular cultu ...

s to be shot in its entirety before broadcast and the largest scale Korean television production of its time. It aired on MBC from October 7, 1991, to February 6, 1992, for 36 episodes, and reached a peak viewership rating of 58.4%, making it the 9th highest-rated Korean drama of all time. In 1992, MBC sold ''Eyes of Dawn'' to the

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio ...

, becoming the first Korean drama exported to a European country.

Cast

* Choi Jae-sung as Choi Dae-chi *

as Yoon Yeo-ok * Park Sang-won as Jang Ha-rim *

Choi Bool-am Choi Bool-am (born June 15, 1940) is a South Korean actor and a professor. Biography Choi was born in the neighborhood of , Dong-gu, Incheon, Korea in 1940. Choi was the only son to his father Choi Cheol, a business man, and his mother Lee My ...

as Yoon Hong-chul, Yeo-ok's father * Park Geun-hyung as Choi Du-il (Suzuki) * Lee Jung-gil as Kim Ki-mun *

Jang Hang-sun Jang Hang-sun (born Kim Bong-soo on February 22, 1947) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television series Awards and nominations References External links * * * * 1947 births Living people 20th-century S ...

as OOE Oh Jang * Park In-hwan as Private Gu Bo-da *

Im Hyun-sik Im Hyun-sik (born December 31, 1945) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading role in the family drama ''Three Families Under One Roof'' (1986-1993), and supporting roles in the period epics '' Hur Jun'' (1999) and ''Dae Jang G ...

as Hwang Sung-chul *Kim Heung-ki as

Daewi (; ) is the rank held by company-grade officers in some East Asian militaries. The ranks are used in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan, and both North and South Korea. Chinese variant People's Liberation Ar ...

Mida Yoshinori *Han Cha-dol as Choi Dae-woon, Dae-chi and Yeo-ok's son * Oh Yeon-soo as Bong-soon * Go Hyun-jung as Ahn Myeong-ji *Choi Hyun-mi as Lee Kyeong-ae *Shim Yang-hong as Lawyer Park Chang-seok *Nam Sung-hoon as Baek In-soo *Lee Chang-hwan as President

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

*Min Ji-hwan as

Unit 731 , short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and Ishii Unit, was a covert Biological warfare, biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in unethical h ...

director Shirō Ishii *Kim Ki-joo as 15th Army commander Renya Mutaguchi *Kim Du-sam as "

Maruta Maruta may refer to: * A term used to refer to humans used as biological materials for the Japanese Unit 731. It means log in Japanese. See also * Marut (disambiguation) Marut may refer to: * Harut and Marut Harut and Marut ( ar, هَارُو� ...

" military police *Kim Dong-hyun as Jang Kyung-rim, Ha-rim's older brother *Kim So-won as Ha-rim and Kyung-rim's mother *Ahn Hye-sook as Kyung-rim's wife *Cheon Woon as General Hwang *Kim In-moon as Lee Min-seob *Gook Jeong-hwan as Kim Deok-jae *Shin Dong-hoon as Leader *Park Yong-soo as Lee Joo-hwan *

Byun Hee-bong Byun Hee-bong (born Byun In-chul; June 8, 1942) is a South Korean actor. Career Byun In-chul was born in Jangseong County, South Jeolla Province, and attended Salesian High School in Gwangju. He took up law at Chosun University before droppin ...

as Park Chun-geum *Hong Sung-min as Kwak Chun-bu *Lee Won-jae as Jo Gwi-mun *Kim Young-ok as Elder Kim *Kim Ji-young as Miss Ahn *Choi Sang-hoon as General Kim *Chung Jin as Go Chang-dae *Nam Po-dong as Bu Tae-jong *Yoo Seung-bong as Kim Jeong-sik *Lee Dae-ro as Ahn Jae-hong *Choi Myung-soo as Jo Byung-ok *Park Woong as Noh Il-young * Lee Hyo-jung as Kim Ik-ryul *Choi Byung-hak as Chief of police Moon *Park Young-ji as Detective Oh *Kim Young-seok as Constable Song *Park Se-joon as Lieutenant Moon *

Jung Dong-hwan Jung Dong-hwan (born August 5, 1949) is a South Korean actor. Jung began his career in theater, then was most active in Korean cinema in the 1980s, with leading roles in ''Late Autumn'' (1982), ''Jung-kwang's Nonsense'' (1986), and ''A Top Knot ...

as Prosecutor Kim Seung-won *Jung Han-heon as Nishihara *Kim Hong-seok as Oowaku *Im Dae-ho as Kenji *Yoon Cheol-hyeong as Unit 731 lieutenant Tamura *Lee Hee-do as Unit 731 private Ohara *Hong Soon-chang as Unit 731 동물반 Isaki *Yoon Moon-sik as Go-ga *Jung Sung-mo as Lee Sung-do *

Jung Ho-keun Jung Ho-keun (born September 28, 1964) is a South Korean actor and shaman, who mostly was a supporting actor in television dramas. In 2008, Jung played the leading role in a stage musical production of ''Hi Franceska'', adapted from '' Hello Fra ...

as Kwon Dong-jin *Jung Myung-hwan as Kang Gyun *Song Kyung-chul as

OSS OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

agent Park Il-guk *Kim Joo-young as Seo Kang-cheon *Kim Hyun-joo as Ga Jeuk-ko, Ha-rim's lover and boarding house owner * Jeon Mi-seon as Oh Soon-ae *Lee Young-dal as Soon-ae's grandfather * Kim Na-woon as Mae-ran *Kwak Jin-young as Im Gap-saeng *Jung Ok-seon as Mr. Go's wife *Lee Sung-woong as Japanese 고등계 detective Yamada * Maeng Sang-hoon as Konno *Lee Mi-kyung as Hanako *Kwon Eun-ah as Min-hee *Kim Gil-ho as Ga Jeuk-ko's father *Nam Young-jin as Kwon Joong-gu *Hwang Beom-sik as Choi Sung-geun *Im Moon-soo as

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

official *Kim Ki-hyun as Kim Ki-mun *Noh Young-guk as Kim Ho * Han Suk-kyu as Young man from Seobuk *

Im Chang-jung Im Chang-jung (; born November 30, 1973) is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actor. He is often referred by Koreans as "the original multi-entertainer" for being active in all three fields: music, film and entertainment. He made his acting ...

as Gil-soo *Na Young-jin as People's Commissar *Hong Seong-seon as Young man with armband *Seo Young-ae as Sang-beom's woman *Moon Mi-bong as Old woman Kim *Dennis Christen as 아얄티 lieutenant colonel *Han Eun-jin as Old woman Geum *Kim Yoon-hyeong as General Kim *Park Young-tae as Han Kyu-hee *Kim Dong-wan as Unit 731 surgeon *Han Tae-il as Unit 731 daewi *Yoo Toong as Unit 58 headquarters staff member *Lee Chi-woo as Sergeant *Cha Jae-hong as Detective Kang *Ahn Jin-soo as Choi Cheon *Kim Myung-soo as Jong-hoon *Park Kyung-hyun as Interrogator Uhm * Lee Kwang-hoon as OSS officer *Hong Seung-ok as Sung-chul's wife *Yoo Myung-soon as Il-gook's mother *Park Jong-seol as Japanese military police 빨치산 *Oh Seung-myung as Commissary director *Hwang Yoon-geol as Communist Party member *Lee Byung-sik as Communist Party interrogator 1 *Kim Dong-hyun as Communist Party interrogator 2 *Shim Woo-chang as Communist Party member *Lee Seong-ho as Communist Party member *Cha Yoon-hee as Man on Jeju Island *Park Hyeong-joon as Young man at anti-privatization protest *Gu Bo-seok as Partisan worker

Awards

1991

MBC Drama Awards The MBC Drama Awards () is an awards ceremony presented by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for outstanding achievements in Korean dramas aired on its network. It is held annually in December. Unlike its counterparts in KBS and SBS, MB ...

*Top Excellence Award, Actor: Choi Jae-sung *Top Excellence Award, Actress:

1992 Baeksang Arts Awards *Technical Award: Jo Su-hyeon *Most Popular Actor (TV): Park Sang-won *Best Actor (TV): Choi Jae-sung *Best Actress (TV):

*Best Director (TV): Kim Jong-hak *Best Drama *Grand Prize (Daesang) for TV 1992 Korean Broadcasting Awards *Best Drama

References

External links

''Eyes of Dawn''
at MBC * {{Baeksang Arts Award Grand Prize Television 1990s South Korean television series MBC TV television dramas Television series set in Korea under Japanese rule 1991 South Korean television series debuts 1992 South Korean television series endings South Korean action television series Television shows based on South Korean novels South Korean historical television series Television shows written by Song Ji-na