Ballad of Seodong

Ballad of Seodong (Korean: 서동요; Hanja: 薯童謠; RR: Seodong-yo) is a South Korean television series starring Jo Hyun-jae, Lee Bo-young, and Ryu Jin. It aired on SBS from September 5, 2005 to March 21, 2006 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 55 episodes.^[1][2]

Ballad of Seodong
Promotional poster
Also known as	Ballad of Suhdong Seodong's Song Song of the Prince
Genre	Period drama Romance Drama
Written by	Kim Young-hyun
Directed by	Lee Byung-hoon MBC
Starring	Jo Hyun-jae Lee Bo-young Ryu Jin
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	55
Production
Producer	Kim Kyung-min
Production company	Kim Jong-hak Production
Original release
Network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Release	5 September 2005 (2005-09-05) – 21 March 2006 (2006-03-21)

The period drama is based on Seodong-yo, said to be one of Korea's oldest folk songs and its first hyangga. According to the Samguk Yusa ("Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms") from the Silla Kingdom, the song was written by Seodong, a commoner from the Baekje Kingdom. Hearing that Princess Seonhwa, daughter of King Jinpyeong of Silla, was beautiful, he writes a song saying that the princess visits Seodong's room every night, and it quickly spreads throughout the kingdom and beyond, until it reaches the palace in Silla. When her father hears the song, he condemns the innocent princess to exile. Seodong finds Seonhwa, marries her and takes her to Baekje, and they become the royal rulers of the country.^[3]

Plot

Seodong is just a commoner, a technician who grew up in Baekje's prestigious science and technology institute Taehaksa, but his life is on the brink of extraordinary change. He meets and falls for Princess Seonhwa of the rival kingdom Silla, and his love for her transcends social position. Seodong also carries a secret that could alter the fate of the Baekje kingdom, but his rival Sataek Giru plots with Buyeo Seon to disrupt his plans.^[4]

Cast

Main:

• Jo Hyun-jae as Seodong (Wideok's youngest son, later King Mu of Baekje)
  • Kim Seok as young Seodong
• Lee Bo-young as Princess Seonhwa of Silla (Jinpyeong's daughter)
  • Sulli as young Princess Seonhwa
• Ryu Jin as Sataek Giru / Kim Do-ham
• Kim Young-ho as Buyeo Seon (Buyeo Gye's son, later King Beop of Baekje)
• Lee Chang-hoon as Mok Ra-soo
• Jung Sun-kyung as Mo-jin

Supporting:

• Lee Il-hwa as Yeon Ga-mo (Seodong's mother)
• Jung Wook as King Wideok of Baekje
• Jung Jae-gon as Prince Ah-jwa of Baekje (Wideok's oldest son)
• Park Tae-ho as Buyeo Gye (Wideok's younger brother, later King Hye of Baekje)
• Heo Young-ran as Princess Wooyoung of Baekje (Buyeo Gye's daughter, Buyeo Seon's younger half-sister)
• Han In-soo as Hae Do-joo
• Lee Byung-sik as Jin-ryeo
• Maeng Sang-hoon as Wang Gu
• Na Jae-woong as Ahtaek Geolchwi
• Son Joon-hyung as Baek Mu
• Im Hyun-sik as Maek Do-soo
• Baek Bong-ki as Beom-ro (Maek Do-soo's youngest son)
• Oh Seung-yoon as Beom-saeng (Maek Do-soo's oldest son)
• Koo Hye-sun as Eun-jin (Mo-jin's daughter)
• Lee Sook as Kook-soo
• Lee Seung-ah as Woo-soo
• Shin Gook as Ko Mo
• Song Young-yong as Ah So-ji
• Kim Yoo-jin as Joo Ri-young
• Byun Il-tae as Koyi Soji
• Choi Dong-joon as King Jinpyeong of Silla (Seonhwa's father)
• Kim Hwa-ran as Queen Maya of Silla (Seonhwa's mother)
• Lee Kyung-hwa as Princess Cheonmyeong of Silla (Seonhwa's older sister, Jinpyeong's daughter)
• Na Sung-kyoon as Kim Sa-heum (Kim Do-ham's father)
• Kim Jin-ho as Wi Song
• Ahn Yeo-jin as Bo-myung
• Noh Yoon as Cho-ki
• Seo Beom-shik as Seo-chung
• Sung Chang-hoon as Koo-san
• Lee Hee-do as Heuk Chi-pyeong
• Ha Sung-chul as soldier
• Kim Se-min as Jang-doo
• Ryu Sung-hoon as warrior
• Lee Hwan as butler
• Bang Kil-seung as Yak-san
• Yuny Han as Buyeo Seon's wife
• Han Bo-bae
• Jin Tae-hyun as Yoo-rim
• Kwon Yong-woon
• Park Kyung-hwan
• Kwon Hyuk
• Joo Min-soo
• Yoo Hyun-ji as young princess
• Seol Ji-yoon as technician So-young

Ratings

In the tables below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

Episode #	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (TNmS Ratings)
		Nationwide	Seoul National Capital Area
1	1/2/2005	16.8%	18.2%
2	2/2/2005	17.6%	19.0%
3	3/2/2005	18.8%	21.6%
4	4/2/2005	17.8%	20.1%
5	5/2/2005	17.9%	19.8%
6	6/2/2005	18.5%	19.8%
7	7/2/2005	19.6%	21.6%
8	8/2/2005	18.6%	19.5%
9	9/2/2005	17.8%	18.6%
10	10/2/2005	19.6%	21.6%
11	11/2/2005	20.0%	21.6%
12	12/2/2005	16.7%	17.4%
13	13/2/2005	17.2%	18.1%
14	14/2/2005	16.9%	18.2%
15	15/2/2005	16.9%	17.7%
16	16/2/2005	15.2%	16.6%
17	17/2/2005	16.4%	17.5%
18	18/2/2005	16.8%	17.6%
19	19/2/2005	13.7%	12.9%
20	20/2/2005	16.4%	17.7%
21	21/2/2005	15.6%	17.7%
22	22/2/2005	14.6%	15.8%
23	23/2/2005	16.5%	17.8%
24	24/2/2005	16.9%	17.4%
25	25/2/2005	17.4%	19.3%
26	26/2/2005	17.1%	18.5%
27	27/2/2005	16.5%	17.8%
28	28/2/2005	16.8%	17.7%
29	29/2/2005	17.1%	18.2%
30	1/3/2005	18.1%	19.5%
31	2/3/2005	18.7%	19.8%
32	3/3/2005	19.3%	20.9%
33	4/3/2005	20.9%	22.4%
34	5/3/2005	23.1%	24.3%
35	6/3/2005	21.2%	22.2%
36	7/3/2005	23.8%	25.7%
37	8/3/2005	23.0%	24.0%
38	9/3/2005	22.9%	23.7%
39	10/3/2005	21.6%	22.0%
40	11/3/2005	24.1%	24.8%
41	12/3/2005	23.7%	24.6%
42	13/3/2005	22.2%	23.2%
43	14/3/2005	22.9%	24.2%
44	15/3/2005	21.3%	22.0%
45	16/3/2005	25.4%	26.6%
46	17/3/2005	23.3%	24.1%
47	18/3/2005	23.6%	24.3%
48	19/3/2005	22.9%	23.1%
49	20/3/2005	25.3%	26.5%
50	21/3/2005	25.2%	25.9%
51	22/3/2005	26.7%	27.2%
52	23/3/2005	23.3%	24.5%
53	24/3/2005	23.9%	25.1%
54	25/3/2005	24.0%	25.5%
55	26/3/2005	25.0%	26.0%
Average		19.8%	21.0%

References

1. "Drama Shows Ancient Technology". The Korea Times via Hancinema. 2 October 2005. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
2. Jeong, Hyeon-mok (21 December 2005). "Couch potatoes get up and make own shows". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
3. "King Mu of Baekje, the Hero of Seodongyo (The Song of Seodong) Spirit". KBS World. 9 May 2013. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
4. "Korean TV Dramas: Seodongyo". Korea Tourism Organization. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.

External links

• Ballad of Seo Dong official website (in Korean)
• Ballad of Seo Dong at HanCinema
• Ballad of Seo Dong at the Korean Movie Database (in Korean)