Musical actress, Jung Young Joo, is gaining popularity and revitalizing the way K-drama mothers are portrayed in the current popular drama Lovely Runner! We break down why she has become a "national treasure" to many Koreans!
Veteran actress Jung Young Joo (A Good Day to Be a Dog 2023) is taking South Korea by storm in her latest role as Park Bok Soon aka Im Sol's mom! Park Bok Soon is a single mother raising Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon Cleaning Up 2022) and her bratty older brother, Im Geum (Song Ji Ho Doctor Cha 2023), as well as her mother who has Alzheimer's disease. Jung Young Joo's portrayal of a strong mother's survival instincts along with her tremendous mother-daughter chemistry with Kim Hye Yoon has revitalized Lovely Runner with extreme synergy!
In particular, Jung Young Joo is building the next generation of "national mother" characters by showing strong vitality, youthfulness, and strength as a "spicy" mom with attitude! We love that she is able to portray a single mother in her 40s, 50s, and 60s throughout the drama, who actually shouts at her children out of love and care! There is no shortage of strong mother-daughter bonding and closeness in this drama and we love her for it!
As the role of a single parent, especially single Korean mothers, in Korean society becomes prevalent in media, we feel that Korean culture and society have a chance to become more lenient to single-parent households and their children. Not only do the parents suffer, but the children also suffer from bullying at school by classmates. The more this is widely accepted, we feel Korean single parents will have an easier time raising their families!
Comment below with your thoughts on Lovely Runner and Jung Young Joo's character!
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