Lee Byung-hun and Park Sung-hoon are the two most outstanding actors in Season 2 of Netflix‘s ‘Squid Game’, a ‘representative K-content’ that has been creating incredible box office records since its release.

Lee Byung-hun, who briefly but strongly showed his presence in Season 1 as the frontman commanding a killing game with a prize of 45.6 billion won, plays the ‘master’ in this season who directly participates in the game while hiding his identity and controls the game, while Park Sung-hoon plays the transgender Hyun-joo, a former special forces soldier who enters the game to pay for gender reassignment surgery, and shows off his presence. Those who met at a cafe in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 7th said, “There are more impressive performances left,” and asked for anticipation for season 3, which is scheduled to be released in June.

○ “Korean content is loved worldwide, deeply moving”

Unlike season 1 where Lee Byung-hun was more of a special appearance, in season 2 he was confidently listed as one of the two main leads alongside Sung Ki-hoon (Lee Jung-jae). When he heard that season 2 would be produced after the global success of season 1, Lee Byung-hun honestly laughed and said, “I shouted ’nice.‘”

“When season 1 came out, there were no plans to produce season 2. But after it became a huge success, director Hwang Dong-hyeok said that he thought we should do season 2. I immediately said, ’Then I‘ll be in it too!’ Everyone involved with ‘Squid Game’ expected that season 2 would contain the frontman‘s past events. But the director completed a completely different story in just six months. I think he is a truly genius creator.”

Having entered Hollywood with the 2009 film ‘G.I. Joe’ and earned the title of ‘original global star’, he also said that the global popularity of the Korean content ‘Squid Game’ is especially appealing.

“When I did a Hollywood film, I didn’t have any great desire to achieve something great. I just started with the thought that I should do a piece in Hollywood at least once while living as an actor. Even so, I thought that if I appeared in a Hollywood film, everyone in the world would recognize me. But guess what? No one recognized me. However, seeing a production with Korean actors speaking Korean receive support from all over the world really touched my heart.”
○“Foreign media praising my acting skills makes me feel especially good”

After the release of Season 2, foreign media also praised Lee Byung-hun’s excellent acting, which perfectly portrayed an inscrutable and ambiguous character. Even he, who often hears praise for his acting, said that such responses from foreign media felt different.

“I’ve never heard praise for my acting when I did Hollywood productions. I don’t know if it’s because the roles I played were action-oriented characters, or if my acting was lacking because I felt pressured to speak English well. That’s why I felt especially good when I got the response from overseas saying, ”You‘re a good actor.“

She laughed, saying that her elementary school son’s attitude has also changed a lot since appearing in the worldwide hit ”Squid Game.“

”My son can‘t watch “Squid Game” because he’s young, but he hears a lot about it from his older brothers at school. I think he even searches for edited scenes on YouTube. Whenever I watch those videos, he asks me a lot about the content, and there are a lot of things I can‘t tell a young child, so it’s difficult at times. After “Squid Game” came out, my son and I went to the basketball court together, and unlike before, he clung to me and kissed me and it was really crazy. He should‘ve treated me like that normally too! Haha!“


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com