Crash Landing On Hyun

There Are Many Handsome Korean Actors, None With The Character And Gumption Of Loro Piana’s Ambassador, Hyun Bin Crash Landing On Hyun

- Jonathan Ho

intermission - NEXT SCENE - It is always nice to be considered for a good role, but Hyun Bin also needs to be convinced he is the best man for the job before he takes it. “Even if it is a show that I really want to do, it would be meaningless if I cannot express my character properly.”

CONSCRIPTION IN SOUTH KOREA has existed since 1957, and it is mandatory for male citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 to perform military service. Typically, anything that is compulsory y doesn’t engender passion towards it. Thus, most men complete their national service out of enured obligation but Hyun Bin is not most men. He volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps, considered to be the toughest branch of the Korean military. With a competition rate of 4:1, Hyun placed within the top five per cent of applicants, eventually becoming one of 16 top marksmen in his cohort of 720 Marine recruits.

Seeing as how the Korean Armed Forces suddenly had a bonafide celebrity and military hero-in-the-making, they had originally planned to put him on public relations duty but intense public scrutiny and Hyun’s own desire to serve his country as a true soldier saw him assigned to the literal front lines of Baengnyeong Island, close to the Northern Limit Line and Yeonpyeong, site of a November 2010 artillery engagement between the North and South Korean forces. By the time he was discharged in 2012, the actor had earned the Secretary of Defense Award and the Marine Corps Commandant Commendation for being an exemplary soldier.