Miss Korea () is a South Korean television series starring Lee Sun-kyun, Lee Yeon-hee, Lee Mi-sook, Lee Sung-min, Song Seon-mi, and Lee Ki-woo. It aired for 20 episodes on MBC from December 18, 2013, to February 26, 2014.
Plot Set in the year 1997, a cosmetics company is in bad financial shape during the IMF crisis, so to save the company, Hyung-joon along with his fellow employees attempt to make 25-year-old Ji-young into Miss Korea, a nationwide beauty pageant winner. Back in their high school days, Ji-young was the most beautiful and popular girl on campus, but she now works as an elevator girl.
Cast Main Lee Yeon-hee as Oh Ji-young 25 years old, "Dream" department store's elevator girl. She was Kim Hyung-joon's junior in high school and his first love. Lee Sun-kyun as Kim Hyung-joon 29 years old, president of ViVi cosmetics, who has huge debt to loan sharks (for his cosmetics factory) and additionally needs money to launch a new developed product of his company - BB cream. Lee Mi-sook as Ma Ae-ri 54 years old, ex-Miss Korea, owner of Queen Beauty Salon, coach of future Miss Korea. Lee Sung-min as Jung Seon-saeng 39 years old, gangster working for a loan shark. He is assigned to Kim Hyung-joon to ensure collecting debt from him. His given name (Seon-saeng) means teacher in Korean. Because of that, his full name sounds like family name with title (teacher Jung). Song Seon-mi as Go Hwa-jung 31 years old, chief researcher of ViVi cosmetics. Lee Ki-woo as Lee Yoon 29 years old, investment agent of M&A company Human Partners Korea. He was Kim Hyung-joon's classmate in high school.
Supporting Queen Beauty Salon Ko Sung-hee as Kim Jae-hee, Miss Korea candidate, coached by Queen Beauty Salon. Daughter of congressman Kim Sung-chul. Heo Seung-jae as Yoon Sil-jang, Ma Ae-ri's assistant Park Guk-sun as Choi Soo-yeon, Miss Korea candidate, coached by Queen Beauty Salon. Kang Tae-oh as Ma Ae-ri's son
Cherry Beauty Salon Hong Ji-min as Yang Choon-ja, owner of Cherry Beauty Salon. Ma Ae-ri's ex-assistant who become her rival. Kang Han-na as Im Seon-joo, Miss Korea candidate, coached by Cherry Beauty Salon. Ha Yeon-joo as Shin Sun-young, Miss Korea candidate, coached by Cherry Beauty Salon.
ViVi Cosmetics Oh Jung-se as Kim Heung-sam, planning director of ViVi cosmetics Choi Jae-hwan as Kim Kang-woo, researcher of ViVi cosmetics Jo Sang-ki as Kim Kang-shik, director of BaDa cosmetics, Kim Kang-woo's older brother
Oh Ji-young's family Jang Yong as Oh Jong-goo, Oh Ji-young's grandfather Jung Kyu-soo as Oh Myun-sang, Oh Ji-young's father Jung Suk-yong as Oh Woong-sang, Oh Ji-young's uncle Baek Bong-ki as Oh Ji-seok, Oh Ji-young's brother
"Dream" department store Jang Won-young as Department head Park Yoo Eun-ho as Jung Eun-ah, "Dream" department store elevator girl Kim Ye-won as Lee Young-sun, "Dream" department store elevator girl Park Ha-na as Han So-jin, "Dream" department store elevator girl Moon Ji-in as Kim Yoo-ra, "Dream" department store elevator girl
Others Go In-beom as congressman Kim Sung-chul, Kim Jae-hee's father Im Ye-jin as Go Bong-hee, Kim Hyung-joon's mother Jung Seung-kil as President Hwang, loan shark Oh Min-ae as Director Choi Jung So-min as gas station attendant whom Ma Ae-ri targets to become Miss Korea 1998 (cameo, ep 20)
Ratings In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. Episode #Original broadcast dateAverage audience shareTNmS RatingsAGB NielsenNationwideSeoul National Capital AreaNationwideSeoul National Capital Area 1 December 18, 20137.6%8.7%7.0%8.0% 2 December 19, 20137.1%9.5%7.3%8.4% 3 December 25, 2013 8.2% 10.6% 7.7% 8.1% 4 December 26, 20138.1%9.9%7.7%8.5% 5 January 1, 20148.1%8.9%9.5%10.8% 6 January 2, 20148.3%10.2%8.9%9.6% 7 January 8, 20146.9%7.6%7.4%8.4% 8 January 9, 20148.5%11.0%8.5%9.4% 9 January 15, 20146.8%7.9%6.8%7.7% 10 January 16, 20147.9%9.8%7.1%7.6% 11 January 22, 20147.3%9.0%7.1%7.2% 12 January 23, 20148.6%8.6%6.7%7.5% 13 January 29, 20145.6%6.5%5.9%6.8% 14 January 30, 20148.9%9.8%8.6%10.0% 15 February 5, 20146.4%7.4%6.8%7.8% 16 February 6, 20147.5%8.2%7.3%8.2% 17 February 13, 20145.7%6.2%4.8%4.9% 18 February 19, 20146.8%7.9%7.0%8.6% 19 February 20, 20145.8%7.0%5.9%7.3% 20 February 26, 20145.5%5.6%6.2%7.0% Average 7.2% 8.4% 7.2% 8.1%
Original soundtrack
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Recipient Result 2014 7th Korea Drama Awards Best New Actress Ko Sung-hee MBC Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries Lee Yeon-hee Excellence Award, Actor in a Miniseries Lee Sun-kyun Golden Acting Award, Actress Lee Mi-sook Best New Actress Ko Sung-hee
See also Miss Korea
References
External links
Miss Korea at MBC Global Media