Air City

I recently finished watching a Korean Drama "Air City" which is about a love story between a government intelligence agent and an airport operation expert. It's a story where the loves and lives of the main characters are set in realistic, yet spectacular situations. I did not really like the drama initially as i find the plot hard to follow (which might explained the low ratings when it was shown in Korea in 2007)but i was hooked when i reached episode 3 as the plot starts getting interesting and i enjoyed watching the interactions between Choi Ji Woo and Lee Jung Jae. The depictions of special occupations such as airport employees and government intelligence agents is especially excellent and interesting. I bought the VCD set from Blue Max for only $20 and Starhub Channel 55 is also showing the drama every Saturday 10.30pm to 12.45am.


The drama had received a lot of attention due to the casting of Choi Ji Woo, returning from a 3-year break, and her counterpart, Lee Jung Jae, who has returned to television after 8 years on the movie screen. Another selling point of the drama was also because filming took place at the Incheon International Airport, which has been a restricted shooting area until recently. Although the airport has been used as a film location for short durations in dramas, this will be the first time the airport is open for such a long duration for filming one drama. Therefore, this will be the first drama to have an airport as the main setting in 6 years including Incheon International Airport’s various shopping centers, restaurants, coffee shops, a hospital, a pharmacy, a bookstore, a sauna, and other facilities.


Choi Ji Woo stars as Han Do Gyeong, who was headhunted by the Incheon Airport director to come back to Korea to work as the chief of operations of Incheon Airport. As the chief of operations, Do Gyeong is able to communicate in 5 different languages. Though she appears to be arrogant and overbearing, her heart is fragile and always carries a guilty conscience for leaving her younger sister behind in Korea when she was small to be with her dad in France after the divorce of their parents. She met Kim Ji Seong played by Lee Jung-Jae, a National Intelligence Service agent and gets entangle with him.


Though Do Gyeong constantly constantly comes into confrontation with Ji Seong, they begin to open up to each other as they experience a dangerous situation together. Ji Seong is very passionate about his work to the extend that he is willing to bend the rules to ensure the security of the country even if he is only acting on his instincts. After being stationed at the airport, he finds himself in an emotional turmoil with a woman (Seo Myeong Woo, played by Mun Jeong Hee) he used to love who is working as a emergency doctor in the airport. At the same time, he finds himself falling for Do Gyeong.


Another of my favourite character in the drama is Gang Ha Jun, played by Lee Jin-Wook. It was very interesting watching his adventure in Hong Kong trying to pretend to be a National Intelligence Agent to help Do Gyeong out of some legal trouble she got into. Ha Jun is Do Gyeong's childhood friend and is in charge of all security management and overlooks all the airport surveillance. As a result of running from place to place in the airport to solve problems, his personality became very restless and spoke in an aggressive way. However, his true nature is very sensitive and loving, helping Do Gyeong every way he can. He also has good relations with all the airport employees even the cleaners because of his kind personality outside of work. Although he has feelings for Han Do-Gyeong, he decides to creates opportunities for her and Ji Seong after knowing Do Gyeong's feeling for Ji Seong.

Do catch the show at channel 55 if you are looking for a great drama to watch!