'Hospital Ship' Star Ha Ji Won Was Terrified Of Blood

Ha Ji Won plays the role of Song Eun-jae, a young doctor who provides medical service for people who live in hard-to-reach areas, in the hit K-drama, "Hospital Ship." However, she has a secret: she is terrified of the mere sight of blood. 

This, she revealed in a recent interview with MBC's "Section TV Entertainment Relay" where she appeared alongside her co-stars. The former "Secret Garden" star also shared the preparation that went behind crafting her character, Eun-jae. 

"Hospital Ship" is quite special for Ha Ji Won because, for one, this is her first drama in two years. It also provided her a few challenges as an actor. 

"English was too difficult so I studied anatomy with a coloring book," the 39-year-old stated (via Soompi). She also revealed that she consulted a real doctor who trained her to move like she studied medicine. In fact, Ha Ji Won knows how to stitch wounds that, although she never tried on a real person, she practiced on the skin of a banana. 

Moreover, the Kdrama was able to help her get over her fear of blood. The actor told "Section TV Entertainment Relay" that she could not even stand the sight of blood in movies, but the research she made for the role helped her overcome the phobia. 

"I have a hard time looking at blood. Normally I can't even watch movies where there's blood," she admitted, "but this time I studied lots of medical dramas and documentaries."

Ha Ji Won's hard work paid off. "Hospital Ship" has consistently returned high ratings since it made its debut last month. The information and data company, Nielsen Korea, revealed that the medical drama has defeated SBS' "Into the New World" and KBS2's "Manhole" in terms of ratings in its premiere episode. 

The K-drama that also stars Kang Min Hyuk of CNBLUE and Lee Seo-Won from "Uncontrollably Fond" generated 10.6 percent in its first episode and then 12.4 percent in its second episode. This made "Hospital Ship" currently the most-watched series in its time slot.