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Enigmatic mountain inspires star-studded Korean series ‘Jirisan’

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Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="(From left to right) Jun Ji-hyun, Writer Kim Eun-hee, Oh Jung-se, Director of Photography Choi Sang-mook, Cho Han-chul and Ju Ji-hoon at the press conference for the upcoming Korean series ‘Jirisan,’ October 13, 2021. Photo courtesy of iQiyi" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/entertainment/10/14/presscon.jpg"/><figcaption>(From left to right) Jun Ji-hyun, Writer Kim Eun-hee, Oh Jung-se, Director of Photography Choi Sang-mook, Cho Han-chul and Ju Ji-hoon at the press conference for the upcoming Korean series ‘Jirisan,’ October 13, 2021. <em>Photo courtesy of iQiyi</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Her fascination with South Korea’s second tallest mountain, Mount Jiri, was what drove screenwriter Kim Eun-hee to create the upcoming mystery series “Jirisan,” which marks her reunion with top stars Jun Ji-hyun and Ju Ji-hoon.</p><p>“Jirisan,” which is the Korean name for Mount Jiri, tells the story of a group of national park rangers who “unravel the secrets” of the eponymous mountain. The show is scheduled to premiere on streaming platform iQiyi on October 23.</p><p>At an online press conference on Wednesday, Kim revealed that she had never visited Mount Jiri, located in the country’s southern region, prior to writing the series.</p><p>“Before I wrote about ‘Jirisan,’ I had never set foot on that mountain so I had a very abstract admiration for that mountain, but I have read and heard about Mount Jiri so much in school and from other books,” she said.</p><p>“Mount Jiri was like a mountain where everybody went to pray for their wishes. Over the years, I felt that those wishes and prayers had accumulated on that mountain. So it’s a mysterious mountain with so many secrets buried on it.”</p><p>Kim said she picked park rangers as the focus of the series because of their mission to save people and familiarity with the mountain.</p><p>“Jirisan” features a powerhouse cast including Jun, Ju, Sung Dong-il (“Reply” franchise), Oh Jung-se (“It’s Okay to Not Be Okay”), Cho Han-chul (“Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha”) and Go Min-si (“Love Alarm”). The show is directed by Lee Eung-bok, who also directed popular dramas such as “Descendants of the Sun” and “Goblin.”</p><p>The series is also the latest collaboration of Kim, Jun and Ju, who previously worked together on the hit zombie show “Kingdom.”</p><p>Jun said she was honored to work with Kim for two consecutive projects, the last one being the special episode “Kingdom: Ashin of the North,” released back in July.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/07/21/21/jun-ji-hyun-admits-feeling-pressure-over-joining-kingdom">Jun Ji-hyun admits feeling pressure over joining &#x27;Kingdom&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>“What sets her script apart from others is that a lot of scenes that I took for granted later gave me a lot of hints for the plot that came out later,” said Jun, who is also making her small screen comeback after nearly 5 years. Her last TV project was 2016’s “The Legend of the Blue Sea.”</p><p>“Gradually, as we filmed, I could actually see the power of details that she put in the script,” the actress added.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Serrk-hEKE?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Viewers can expect to see breathtaking sceneries of Mount Jiri National Park, said Choi Sang-mook, the show’s director of photography.</p><p>“It shows you a lot of the beautiful landscape of the mountain but there are also the fear elements that come from Mother Nature,” said Choi. </p><p>“I wanted to show how the characters were interacting with the mountain especially during rescue missions,” he said.</p><p>Choi admitted that it was challenging to capture the vast landscapes at Mount Jiri, prompting the production team to use a lot of equipment and even a helicopter.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/09/20/21/iqiyi-drops-trailer-for-new-korean-series-jirisan">iQiyi drops official trailer for upcoming Korean series &#x27;Jirisan&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>Throughout the filming process, the cast members developed a high respect for rangers after learning about the difficulties of the job, such as carrying heavy equipment while climbing the mountain for hours.</p><p>“I couldn’t believe that it was possible. It’s not something that ordinary people like us do. They felt different, like heroes,” said Oh.</p><p>“I have been in dramas where I had to carry adults or children… but ‘Jirisan’ is different. There’s cliffs and slopes. When I had to carry people on my back for the drama, I couldn’t believe that the rangers had to go through this when they’re on their job,” said Ju.</p><p>Ju hoped “Jirisan” would offer comfort to viewers as the world continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>“For years, we have been trying to adapt to COVID-19 and I hope the drama ‘Jirisan’ would help you relieve your stress a little bit and heal some of the pain you are going through right now,” he said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/09/23/21/korean-wave-hits-iqiyi-as-2021-comes-to-a-close">Korean shows, films hit iQiyi as 2021 comes to a close</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1766404" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The upcoming Korean series ‘Jirisan’ follows a group of park rangers at South Korea’s second tallest mountain as they unravel ‘the secrets of the peak.’

Enigmatic mountain inspires star-studded Korean series ‘Jirisan’

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Enigmatic mountain inspires star-studded Korean series ‘Jirisan’

Jaehwa Bernardo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 14, 2021 12:09 PM PHT

Read More:

K-drama

Korean drama

Korean series

Jirisan

Kim Eun-hee

Gianna Jun

Jun Ji-hyun

Ju Ji-hoon

Mount Jiri

Hallyu

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