Dear Heaven () is a South Korean television series starring Yoon Jung-hee, Lee Tae-gon, Cho Yeon-woo, Lee Soo-kyung, and Wang Bit-na. It aired on SBS TV from September 10, 2005, to July 2, 2006, on Saturdays and Sundays at 20:45 for 85 episodes.
According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, it was the 5th highest rated TV program in Korea for the year 2006, with an average rating of 28.3%, and a peak rating of 44.5%.
The popular soap opera invited both criticism and high ratings for its provocative plot. The story revolved around a middle-aged woman who introduces her handsome news anchor stepson to her abandoned daughter, who had led a miserable life because of a cruel stepmother. It triggered controversy when the woman was revealed as the girl's biological mother. Viewers were divided on whether it was "immoral" and "incestuous" or a fresh take on relationship dramas, but director Lee Young-hee insisted that the show's theme was "deep maternal love, with a mother reclaiming her own daughter as a daughter-in-law in order to atone for having abandoned her as a baby."
Plot When she was very young, Ji Young-sun (Han Hye-sook) gave away her baby Lee Ja-kyung after giving birth to her. She later remarries and creates a new family, but soon after, her husband dies, leaving her behind with her stepson Gu Wang-mo (Lee Tae-gon), and her daughter Gu Seul-ah (Lee Soo-kyung).
Now grown and a makeup artist, Lee Ja-kyung (Yoon Jung-hee) finds herself adrift with loneliness since her foster parents died when she was a child. She fell in love with her step-uncle but his family shuns her, dashing away any hopes of being with him. Deciding to focus on her career and find a new love, she meets Wang-mo, a TV news anchor.
Young-sun has been searching for the daughter whom she had abandoned in her youth. As if guided by the hand of fate, she discovers that Ja-kyung is already going out with Young-sun's own stepson, Wang-mo. In order to keep her secret daughter by her side, Young-sun does everything in her power to marry Ja-kyung to Wang-mo, and eventually succeeds. The two women form a curious double relationship, as at once mother/daughter and mother-in-law/daughter-in-law.
Cast Yoon Jung-hee as Lee Ja-kyung Lee Tae-gon as Gu Wang-mo
Gu family Han Hye-sook as Ji Young-sun Lee Soo-kyung as Gu Seul-ah Jung Hye-sun as Hwang Maria (paternal grandmother)
Kang family Wang Bit-na as Kang Ye-ri (TV news anchor) Kang Ji-sub as Kang Yi-ri (brother) Hyun Suk as Kang Dong-choon (father) Lee Bo-hee as Kim Mi-hyang (mother) Park Hae-mi as Kim Bae-deuk (aunt, Mi-hyang's sister)
Lee family Im Chae-moo as Lee Hong-pa (Young-sun's first love) Ban Hyo-jung as Mo Ran-shil (Hong-pa's mother) Kim Young-ran as Bong Eun-ji (Hong-pa's wife)
Extended cast Cho Yeon-woo as Kim Cheong-ha (movie star) Geum Dan-bi as Mun-ok (Ja-kyung's friend) Lee Sook as Bae-deuk's friend Lee Dae-ro as Bae-deuk's dancing partner
Awards 2005 SBS Drama Awards New Star Award: Cho Yeon-woo New Star Award: Lee Tae-gon New Star Award: Yoon Jung-hee
2006 SBS Drama Awards Grand Prize (Daesang): Han Hye-sook Top 10 Stars: Han Hye-sook
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