'Descendants Of The Sun' Star Kim Ji Won On Why Playing Yoon Myeong Joo On The Popular K-Drama Was The Role Of A Lifetime

When Kim Ji Won, who stars in "Descendants Of The Sun" as Yoon Myeong Joo, first received her script for the popular 16-episode K-drama, she was deeply moved by her character's romance with a lower-ranking military officer named Seo Dae Young, played by Jin Goo.

"Fans must have felt what I felt while I was reading the script," Kim told South Korea's Yonhap News Agency in an interview on Wednesday in a restaurant in Seoul.

Kim was one of the few actors "Descendants Of The Sun" screenwriter Kim Eun Sook, notorious for not wanting to reuse actors from other series she's done, has ever brought back for another project. The 23-year-old actress played the character of Rachel Yoo in Kim Eun Sook's other blockbuster South Korean drama 2013's "The Heirs."

The detail was not lost on Kim Ji Won.

"I was so happy that she contacted me again, but at the same time I felt enormous pressure that I have to pull this off," she said.

The K-drama star is sure that a role like Yoon Myeong Joo will never come around for her again.

"'Descendants of the Sun' is the drama of my life and the role is also perfect," Kim said.

"For me, it can't get any better, which makes me wonder if I acted well enough for this perfect role."

But she is quick to give the credit to the "Descendants Of The Sun" writing and production staff for creating the character, rather than take any herself.

"I try to be calm about the attention because I know it is for the character, not me," she said. "Nonetheless, I am so happy."

Aired simultaneously in South Korean and China, rare for a K-drama, "Descendants Of The Sun" follows a fictional doctor and an army captain who fall in love while trying to save lives in the imaginary war-torn country of Uruk.