Bae Yong-joon's new wine drama gets cancelled

Hallyu star Bae Yong Joon's much-hyped drama adaptation of famed Japanese comic "Waterdrops of God" has cancelled production, according to his agency KEYEAST.

KEYEAST, where Bae is one of the major shareholders, explained yesterday that they "had no choice but to cancel production of the TV series because it seemed difficult to produce the show with the current product placement (PPL) market conditions in Korea."

The main reason for cancellation appears to have been Korea's strict regulations regarding PPL in television dramas. According to current regulations, specific wine brands and product names are prohibited from showing on network TV. This creates a problem in delivering the story since all the wines that appear in the original comics are authentic.

Bae and his agency had drawn much publicity in 2008 after obtaining the rights to produce the drama written by Agi Tadashi. KEYEAST had been planning to produce the drama with Bae playing the lead role.

The 37-year-old actor is reportedly seeking out his next project since "Waterdrops" has been cancelled.

Bae has starred in many television dramas and several films, most recently in MBC's "The Story of the First King's Four Gods" in 2007. He is best known for the 2002 hit TV series "Winter Sonata" which turned him and his co-star Choi Ji-woo into Hallyu stars.

Reporter : Ko Kyoung-seok kave@asiae.co.kr
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr