Real-Life K-Drama Noona Romances
There are plenty of younger man-older woman noona romances in k-dramas and even more older actress-younger actor castings. But how often do such relationships happen in real life?
It might not happen as often as k-dramas suggest but it does happen. And it can have a happy ending.
Actor Lee Min Ki, who appears in the film "The Emperor," appeared on the JtBC show "With Hunt." The emcee asked him if he ever dated an older woman. The 29-year-old actor has had love lines with several older actresses on the small screen. He co-starred with Kang Ye Won in Haeundae Lovers," Kim Hae Soo in "A Day For An Affair," Chae Rim in "Dalja's Spring" and Eugene in "I Really Really Like You."
Lee Min Ki answered that he did indeed date a woman who was six years older but that they ultimately broke up.
"As time passed by, we became sort of a couple naturally," he said.
The woman in question was only six years older and they were no longer still dating.
In a previous interview with Star News, he said he was lonely and wished he were in a relationship with a woman in her mid-30s. He also said, "Age doesn't really matter to me."
Jung Suk Won is another actor who was comfortable dating and eventually marrying an older woman. The "Rooftop Prince" star is married to singer Baek Ji Young, who is 11 years his senior.
When Jung Suk Won appeared on the MBC program "Come To Play, he explained how reluctant she was to date him because of the age difference. When they first realized they might become more than friends she cautioned him against it, worried that a scandal could damage his career. She thought they ought to stop seeing each other.
"I have confidence," he told her. "I'm not afraid of those things and I can succeed."
His determination won her over.
Han Hye Jin, the star of "One Warm Wod," had a similar concern. When she first met her future husband soccer player Ki Sung Yeung, she could not accept the possibility of a romance because of the eight-year age difference.
"He was too much younger than me," she said on an episode of "Healing Camp." "I used to ask the people around me seeing men younger than them whether the younger men really looked attractive. I couldn′t understand it, plus he really looked like a baby back then."
Even after the actor and soccer star decided to date, they broke up once because the odds against them seemed overwhelming. But ultimately they could not stop thinking about each other. So they married and the age difference in their real life noona romance no longer seems to matter.
When supermodel Lee So Ra was asked if she was dating a younger man, she said she was as lucky as Han Hye Jin.
