Korean Drama Series: Empire of Gold

So far so good, with so many Korean Drama Series going on I bet you do not have time to create your own drama. I believe we all managed to sail through the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. It was among the toughest of times to live through for some people. With the financial turmoil brewing great real-life then, it now becomes the setting for Empire of Gold, a new Korean drama series that traces the rise of the Sungjin chaebol group from these tumultuous years and the power struggle to control the business empire over two decades.

Despite being one of four ‘Asian Economic Miracle’ economies up to the early 90s, South Korea went bankrupt during the crisis and was left needing an International Monetary Fund bailout as well as It was a time of rise and fall for even South Korea’s mighty ‘chaebols’ – powerful family controlled multinational business conglomerates, often with the government’s backing.

The new 24 episodes Empire of Gold stars Go Soo (Will It Snow for Christmas?) as Jang Tae Joo, who survives the toughest of struggles to bring up his younger sister Jang Hee Joo, played by Yoon Seung Ah (Playful Kiss) after losing their father. 

Beginning with virtually nothing, Jang Tae Joo depends on his wits and hard work to ascend the hierarchy of the chaebol. He will face off Choi Min-jae, the ambitious, cunning and unscrupulous nephew of the chaebol group’s patriarch, played by Son Hyun Joo (The Chaser), winner of the 2012 SBS Drama Awards grand prize. Complicating things, Jang will fall for his adversary’s cousin Choi Seo Yoon, starring Lee Yo Won (49 Days), and she struggles between her love for Jang Tae Joo and loyalty to her family.

In addition to Son Hyun Joo, Empire of Gold reunites a number of cast members of the 2012 hit drama series The Chaser. Actress Jang Shin Young (Bride of the Sun) will play an ally of Jang Tae Joo, as Ryu Seung Soo (Lie to Me) takes the role of a mob boss and antagonist, while veteran Park Geun Hyung (The King of Dramas) heads the Sungjin chaebol.

Behind the cameras, Empire of Gold is in great hands with The Chaser’s highly successful writer producer team Park Kyung Soo and Jo Nam Kook helming the production. The series is lead actor Go’s first television role since Will It Snow for Christmas in 2009. His four year TV hiatus saw the 35 year old actor act in three movies including Haunters (2010), The Front Line (2011) and Love 911 (2012) as well as get married in 2012, and father his first child in January this year.

With an award winning cast and crew bringing to life a compelling story that draws upon recent history’s most dramatic economic meltdown, Empire of Gold has all the makings of the next glittering hit Korean drama series, and the saga unravels across Asia this July 2013.

Empire of Gold