''Sassy Girl Chun-hyang'' () is a 2005 South Korean television series starring

Han Chae-young Kim Ji-young (; born September 13, 1980), professionally known by the stage name Han Chae-young, is a South Korean actress. She first gained recognition as the antagonist in the television series '' Autumn in My Heart'' (2000) before gaining wid ...

in the title role, along with

Jae Hee Jae Hee (; born Lee Hyun-kyun on May 25, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading roles in the 2004 arthouse film '' 3-Iron'' and the 2005 television series '' Sassy Girl Chun-hyang''. Career Jae Hee began his acting car ...

Uhm Tae-woong Uhm Tae-woong (born April 5, 1974) is a South Korean actor. He made his acting debut in 1998, but initially struggled to emerge from under the shadow of his older sister, popular singer-actress Uhm Jung-hwa. After several years of small roles ...

and Park Si-eun. It aired from January 3 to March 1, 2005, on

KBS2 KBS 2TV is a South Korean free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen ...

's Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 time slot for 17 episodes. A modern retelling of the classic Korean ''

Chunhyangjeon ''Chunhyangjeon'' (; lit. ''The Story of Chunhyang or'' ''The Tale of Chunhyang'') is one of the best known love stories and folk tales of Korea. It is based on the pansori ''Chunhyangga'', the most famous of the five surviving pansori tales. Wil ...

'' ("Tale of Chunhyang"), the

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

series was called "fusion-style" for, among others, mixing

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

with

pansori ' () is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer. The term ' is a compounds of the Korean words and , the latter of which means "sound." However, ''pan'' has multiple meanings, and scholars disagree on which ...

in the background music. This is the first

Korean drama Korean drama (), also known as K-drama or Koreanovela, refers to Korean language, Korean-language television shows made in South Korea. These shows began to be produced around the early 1960s, but were mostly consumed domestically until the rise ...

written by Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran (collectively called the

Hong sisters Hong Jung-eun (born 1974) and Hong Mi-ran (born 1977), collectively known as the Hong sisters (), are South Korean television screenwriters under Studio Shot, a label of Imaginus. Together, they have written popular romantic-comedies, notab ...

), and remains the highest-rated in their filmography, with a peak viewership rating of 32.2%.

Synopsis

Lee Mong-ryong, son of a decorated chief of police, is transferred from

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

to a high school in

Namwon Namwon (, ) is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. Namwon is about 50 minutes from the provincial capital of Jeonju, which is almost three hours away from Seoul. The official city flower is Royal Azalea () while the city tree is the ...

North Jeolla Province North Jeolla Province, officially Jeonbuk State (), is a Special Self-governing Province of South Korea in the Honam region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. Jeonbuk borders the provinces of South Chungcheong to the north, North Gyeo ...

, due to his constant fighting. He accidentally bumps into Sung Chun-hyang, shoots embarrassing photos of her and ends up swapping her cell phone with his. As a result, they are constantly in touch with each other and find out they attend the same school. Mong-ryong constantly bullies Chun-hyang and eventually makes her fall sick due to his prank. Feeling guilty, he visits her, only to mistakenly drink a whole bottle of wine, assuming it is juice. He later falls asleep on the only bed in the house, which is the one Chun-hyang is sleeping in. Thus, they spend the night with each other. Nothing sexual occurs, but thanks to their best friends, who knew what happened, the information is accidentally announced over the school intercom. In order to save their families' and the school's reputation, they are forced to marry each other. They eventually agree to marry each other after Mong-ryong's crush, Hong Chae-rin rejects him. After being dumped by her boyfriend, Chae-rin discovers Mong-ryong's marriage and tries to win him back out of jealousy. There is also the problem of Byun Hak-do, an extremely successful talent agency director who falls in love with Chun-hyang. In order to help him get into the prestigious college Chae-rin is studying in, Chun-hyang helps Mong-ryong in his studies. They are both accepted, but after Chun-hyang's mother got cheated of a large sum of money, Chun-hyang was not able to attend college; however, she does not reveal this and lies to her in-laws, telling them she will meet them in Seoul, not revealing that her mother is actually on the run. When Mong-ryong finally does find Chun-hyang, he tries again and again to reveal his feelings for her, while unearthing her feelings for him by moving into her new location. When he finally confesses outright, she rejects him, claiming she never loved him, because of Chae-rin's harsh statement that Mong-ryong merely pities her and wished only to pay her back. When the two finally do confess to each other, there is still one more problem. Byun Hak-do, being rich, handsome and successful, assumes he could have any woman in the world, but when Chun-hyang rejects him, he attempts to win her through

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

. Several days before the real wedding between Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang, Mong-ryong witnesses a woman being sexually assaulted and attempts to save her. He chases the assailants but the woman was in on the scheme and immediately accuses him as the assailant when an actor employed by Byun arrives on the scene. Mong-ryong escapes but becomes a criminal on the run. Byun Hak-do carries an edited video of the security camera, putting Mong-ryong in a bad light, and threatens Chun-hyang that unless she goes to him, he will expose the video to the world. Chun-hyang agrees and so Mong-ryong is freed, but now, Chun-hyang pretends to want to divorce him immediately to keep her end of the bargain. When the divorce is complete, she goes to Byun and the two of them prepare to travel to Japan, but at the last minute, she runs off and hides from both Byun and Mong-ryong. Several years pass and Mong-ryong is now a famous prosecutor, a district attorney in Seoul. Chun-hyang has been hiding in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

and now owns an accessories factory. Byun has just returned from Japan and people assume that his "fiancée" is still there as well. At the wedding of Mong-ryong's and Chun-hyang's two best friends, Bang Ji-hyuk and Han Dan-hee, Chun-hyang sneaks in to drop off a present, and as she leaves, Byun sees her. In a rush to leave, she accidentally scrapes the car next to her, which is incidentally Mong-ryong's car. The two start a heated argument over the phone. Chun-hyang's assistant, Kim Dong-soo, ends up meeting Mong-ryong to pay for the damages to his car. Several crooks who have been trailing Mong-ryong assume Dong-soo is an informant and kidnap him. After Mong-ryong and the police rescue him, Dong-soo leaves with Chun-hyang. Mong-ryong is informed that the wedding picture from high school that Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang took was among the documents Dong-soo had. He suddenly realizes that Chun-hyang was Dong-soo's boss and was not with Byun all this time. He eventually finds Chun-hyang again who spurns him as she is still worried about Byun's threats. In the meantime Mong-ryong starts investigating Byun's company. Byun's partner who has mafia ties tries to stop him from doing so by threatening to reveal the doctored video tape. Finally, Byun realizes that there are just some things in the world that he can't have, and finally releases the full unedited version of the tape so that everyone can see Mong-ryong's true intentions and allows Chun-hyang to go back to Mong-ryong. In a rage of having his plans ruined, the thug kidnaps Chun-hyang. With Byun's cooperation, Mong-ryong saves Chun-hyang and arrests the thugs. Mong-ryong proposes to Chun-hyang again, and the two remarry and live happily ever after.

Cast

as Sung Chun-hyang : Her father died when she was two years old. So because of financial straits, Chun-hyang has to hold several part-time jobs to make enough money to support herself and her mother in their small apartment. She delivers newspapers, cleans ponds and works as a photographer. She studies hard at school and achieves the status of the top student of the school, as well as the school beauty. Usually sweet, gentle and kind, but feisty when angered. One day, she meets Lee Mong-ryong, an irresponsible boy which she ends up getting in trouble with and being forced to marry. She eventually falls in love with him. *

as Lee Mong-ryong : Lee Mong-ryong is a tough but very simple-minded and hot-tempered guy. Although he is the son of the chief of police, he's always getting into trouble in school. With the help of Chun-hyang, he enrolls into a prestigious university, achieving both love and career success at the same time. He was in love with Chae-rin for a long time but Chae-rin turned him down for she treats him like a little brother. That's when he decided to marry and eventually falls completely to Chun hyang. *

as Byun Hak-do : In the folktale '' Tale of Chunhyang'', Byun Hak-do was a corrupt magistrate, but in this drama, he is the CEO of a talent agency. Initially, he helps Chun-hyang whenever she gets into trouble, reminiscent of ''

Daddy Long Legs A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fathe ...

''. But he soon becomes dangerously obsessed with her. * Park Si-eun as Hong Chae-rin : A few years older than Mong-ryong, Chae-rin was the Lees' neighbor and family friend in Seoul. She is also Mong-ryong's first love. An opportunistic character, she knows that Mong-ryong likes her, but keeps leading him on then ignoring him. But when Mong-ryong gets married, Chae-rin begins to feel jealous, and eventually tries to win him back. She interferes with the relationship between Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang, persistently trying to make them break up. *

Lee In-hye Lee In-hye (; born 21 February 1981) is a South Korean actress. Career Lee started her career as child actress in 1992 at her age 11 years old, and appeared on a lot of TV dramas like ''The King's Path'' (1998, MBC), ''Spread Your Dreams'' (19 ...

as Han Dan-hee : Dan-hee is Chun-hyang's best friend, and dreams of becoming a successful actress. * Moon Ji-yoon as Bang Ji-hyuk : Mong-ryong's best friend in Namwon, who is in love with Dan-hee. * Kim Chung as Gong Wol-mae : Chun-hyang's mother, and a cabaret singer. She loves her daughter, but hates Chun-hyang's nagging. *

Ahn Suk-hwan Ahn Suk-hwan (; born November 1, 1959) is a South Korean actor. Ahn has been active in theater, film and television since 1986. His onscreen roles include both comedic and villainous supporting turns, among them a ruthless but humane prison war ...

as Mong-ryong's father : Mong-ryong's father, and the chief of police in Namwon. He believes that Chun-hyang can change his son from being a hot-tempered slacker into an intelligent and responsible man. He approves of Chun-hyang as his daughter-in-law, and become a caring father figure to her. *

Choi Ran Choi Ran (; born November 30, 1960) is a South Korean actress. She made her acting debut in 1979 and became best known as a supporting actress in television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of ...

as Mong-ryong's mother : Mong-ryong's mother, who is very protective of her son. Unlike her husband, she disapproves of Mong-ryong and Chun-hyang's marriage, and prefers Chae-rin to be her daughter-in-law. She often gives Chun-hyang a hard time in their house. * Joo Ho as Kim Dong-soo : Chun-hyang's loyal assistant at her accessories factory. *

Lee Han-wi Lee Han-wi (born June 17, 1961) is a South Korean actor. Since his acting debut in 1983, Lee has become a prolific supporting actor on Korean film and television. He is particularly known for his mastery of ad-libbing. Personal life Lee marr ...

as high school teacher * Hong Ji-young as Mi-san * Son Il-kwon as Kang-min * Lee Ji-hoon as Director Baek : Byun Hak-do's subordinate. * Yoon Yong-hyun as events company president * Park Si-hoo as Chae-rin's boyfriend (

bit part In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British televisio ...

, ep 1-2) * Park Hyo-min as Chun-hyang and Moon-ryong's high school junior (Cameo)

Awards

;2005

KBS Drama Awards The KBS Drama Awards () is an awards ceremony presented by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) for outstanding achievements in Korean dramas aired on its network. It is held annually on 31 December. The highest honor of the ceremony is the "Gr ...

* Excellence Award, Actor:

* Best Supporting Actor:

* Best New Actor:

* Popularity Award:

* Best Couple Award:

and

Ratings

Source
TNS Media Korea

Notes

References

External links

''Sassy Girl Chun-hyang'' official KBS website
* * {{Hong sisters 2005 South Korean television series debuts 2005 South Korean television series endings Korean Broadcasting System television dramas South Korean comedy-drama television series Korean-language television shows Works based on The Tale of Chunhyang South Korean romantic comedy television series Television shows written by the Hong sisters