On the March 22 episode of MBC’s Wednesday-Thursday drama series The King 2 Hearts, South Korean Prince Lee Jae Ha, played by Lee Seung Gi, goes to North Korea for a military training.

On his way to North Korea, he has kept a scared look on his face. When asked by a military officer, “What can you say about North Korea? Isn’t it great?” he utters rough words: “Are you using the word, ‘great,’ for such a dowdy scene?”

“What a funny chant it is: Even though a dog barks, we’ll keep marching in procession. Why a procession keeps marching when a dog barks? It means your leader is a dog?” he added, building the tension in the bus.

Thanks to the efforts of Kim Hang Ah, played by Ha Ji Won, to dissuade other North Korean officers from attacking Jae Ha, he could manage to survive the risky situation. However his impudent behavior foreshowed that he has a huge mountain to climb while staying in North Korea.

Lee Seung Gi never stopped uttering provoking remarks. Through a window, he cried out, “What are the commies doing there?”

The first March 21episode also has similar scenes in which Lee raises tension by rapping out impudent words. As South and North Korean officers first met, he led to a combative atmosphere by speaking so carelessly.

Lee’s provoking remarks well reflect Korea’s divided reality, and the tense subject of this drama series: the confrontation between South Korea and North Korea.

AGB Nielsen’s TV audience ratings showed that the March 22 episode of The King 2 Hearts achieved 16.5% of the viewing audience, a 0.3 percentage-point rise from the 16.2% of the March 21 episode, while SBS’sRooftop Prince got 10.5%, and KBS 2TV’s Man From the Equator rated 8.1%.