Just keeping up with Han Ye Seul’s debacle over the last couple of days was a full time job.  Below is the recap of events that made this actress the talk of town.

  • 8/14 –  Han Ye Seul doesn’t show up on set of Spy Myungwol (star news)
  • 8/14 – Media goes wild wondering what happened to Han; reports about Han’s plans to get marry a rich entrepreneur after the drama as well as Han’s fall out with the PD make headlines (sports dogna; sport chosun)
  • 8/13 – Eric makes an official stance that Han should come back (star news)
  • 8/15 – Sidus HQ and KBS hints of a lawsuit based on Han’s unprofessional behavior
  • 8/15 – Han’s mother comes to Korea to sort things out, but Han has already left for the states when she lands in Seoul.  Talk about timing and Korean dramas.  (hankooki)
  • 8/15 –  Han spotted at LA airport and states that

I’m willing to let go of everything and I hope that other up-and-coming actors and actresses don’t have to deal with what I have been through (hankooki)

  • 8/15-  KBS holds a press conference explaining situation and airs a “special compilation” episode due to Han’s no-show (osen)
  • 8/16 – Mother Han comes to the rescue and convinces the actress to return to Seoul (10 asia)
  • 8/16 – Han calls head of KBS drama to apologize (starnews)
  • 8/17 – Han returns to Seoul (sports korea)
  • 8/17 – Media and netizens discuss contingency plan such as replacing Han with another actress and resuming the drama without her (sport seoul)
  • 8/17 – KBS airs episode 11 of the drama that basically repaints the Han debacle in one episode.   Myungwol (han’s character) is an actress and gets too stressed out from shooting and collapses.  Finally, the writers of this drama are demonstrating a sense of humor!
  • 8/17 – Han to return to set on the 18th and apologize to staff  (ar news)
  • 8/17 – Actor Yang Dong Kwon tweets that Han is innocent (sports khan)
  • 8/17 – KBS, Sidus HQ, the Production House and Han are all lawyering up for a mega law suit (seoul newspaper)
  • 8/17 – Industry insiders and netizens predict hard times for Han when she returns to set (star today)
  • 8/17 – Han’s hair stylist speaks up about how the staff treated her like a slave (nate)

It’s a bit anticlimactic that Han returned to Seoul to continue filming the drama after all the drama she caused.  If she really wanted to prove a point regarding the killer shooting schedule or the PD, running away to LA to come back in less than 24 hours to continue shooting doesn’t do much.  It’s uncertain what really happened behind the scenes, but Han is no newbie to the Korean entertainment industry and I’m sure she is fully aware of the backlash she’s going to face when she returns on the set.  Not only does she face a huge lawsuit from all parties involved but her dear image is now tarnished and the staff of Spy Myungwol must hate her.

Given that Han is a veteran of the Korean entertainment industry and has more than an ounce of brain cells, I suspect that there maybe a great factor at play that we are not privy to.   There must have been a reason why she left the scene in such haste.  What triggered actress Han Ye Seul to basically give up her entire career and flee the scene?  Was this the only choice she had to remove herself from a bad situation?

I agree that her actions were unprofessional, but perhaps we should also consider other factors that may have cause Han to take such extreme measures to prove her point.  Given that Korean entertainment only reacts to extreme circumstances, maybe this was Han’s only method to get her point across.  It’s uncertain whether or not we will find out the true motivation behind Han’s actions and I wouldn’t be surprised to read some generic apology from Han in the near future, but what is certain is that five years down the road, there will be a K-drama named “The Chronicles of Han Ye-Seul” depicting this weekend’s hottest trending story.