First Love (1996 TV series)

*First Love*
First Love
	Promotional image
Hangul	첫사랑
Revised Romanization	Cheotsarang
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'ŏssarang
Genre	Romance
Written by	Jo So-hye
Directed by	Lee Eung-jin
Starring	Choi Soo-jong; Lee Seung-yeon; Bae Yong-joon;
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	66
Production
Producer	KBS
Original release
Network	KBS2
Release	7 September 1996 –; 20 April 1997

First Love (Korean: 첫사랑) is a South Korean television series starring Lee Seung-yeon, Choi Soo-jong and Bae Yong-joon. It aired on KBS2 from September 7, 1996 to April 20, 1997 on Saturday and Sunday at 19:55 for 66 episodes.

It is currently the second highest-rated Korean drama of all time, based on single episode viewership ratings, reaching 65.8% on its final broadcast on April 20, 1997. Its average rating for its entire run was 52.6%. In 1997, the series aired on China Central Television to commercial success and is widely considered the beginning of the Korean Wave.^[1]

Plot

Brothers Sung Chan-woo and Sung Chan-hyuk and their sister Sung Chan-ok live in the poor countryside outside with their father Sung Duk-bae, trying to get by as a farming family.

The stern and hard-working Chan Woo and his older brother Chan Hyuk, an aspiring artist, are both in love with Hyo-kyung. She returns Chan-hyuk 's affection. After learning the two are dating, Chan-woo finds it hard to be around her, though she tries to continue to be friendly with him. Lee Jae-ha (Jo Kyung Hwan), Hyo Kyeong's gangster father, is against her dating a poor artist.

A mysterious accident leaves Chan-hyuk paralyzed. Chan-woo, now a law student, gives up his career and joins the underground world of the mafia to seek revenge on Hyo Kyung's family for his own family's suffering.

As the series progresses, Chan-woo is still in love with Hyo-kyung and is torn between his love, the loyalty to his brother and desire for revenge. As the paralyzed Chan-hyuk grows distant to Hyo-kyung, she became drawn to Chan-woo. There was also the childhood friend Kang Suk-hee with a crush on Chan-woo.

Cast

Choi Soo-jong as Sung Chan-hyuk
Lee Seung-yeon as Lee Hyo-kyung
Bae Yong-joon as Sung Chan-woo
Song Chae-hwan as Sung Chan-ok (Chan-hyuk and Chan-woo's sister)
Choi Ji-woo as Kang Suk-hee
Park Sang-won as Kang Suk-jin (Suk-hee's brother)
Lee Hye-young as Park Shin-ja
Son Hyun-joo as Ju Jung-nam (guitarist)
Bae Do-hwan as Oh Dong-pal
Jo Kyung-hwan as Lee Jae-ha (Hyo-kyung's father)
Yoon Mi-ra as Hyo-kyung's mother
Kim In-moon as Sung Duk-bae (Chan-woo's father)
Jeon Yang-ja as Chairman Jun (Suk-jin's mother)
Park Jung-soo as Shin-ja's mother
Kim Tae-woo as Park Hyung-ki (Chan-woo's classmate)
Song Hye-kyo as one of the students being tutored by Hyo-kyung
Cha Tae-hyun as Chan-woo's friend
Michael Bratvold as French exchange student

International broadcast

Due to Bae Yong-joon's popularity post-Winter Sonata, First Love was aired in Japan on NHK in 2005.^[2]

References

^ East Asian pop culture : analysing the Korean wave. Beng Huat Chua, Kōichi Iwabuchi. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 2008. p. 25. ISBN 978-988-8052-22-6. OCLC 650784863.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ "KBS drama First love shows an audience rating of eye-opening 2% level in Japan". Hancinema. 7 April 2005. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2013-07-11.

External links

First Love at HanCinema

[1] East Asian pop culture : analysing the Korean wave. Beng Huat Chua, Kōichi Iwabuchi. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 2008. p. 25. ISBN 978-988-8052-22-6. OCLC 650784863.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

[2] "KBS drama First love shows an audience rating of eye-opening 2% level in Japan". Hancinema. 7 April 2005. Archived from the original on 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2013-07-11.

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