[INFO] Lee Dong-wook and Kim Sun-A on Malaysian news website

KOREAN television stars Kim Sun-a and Lee Dong-wook were in Kuala Lumpur last week to promote their 16-part Korean romantic drama series, Scent of a Woman, which is currently being aired over ONE HD (Astro channel 393) on Wednesday and Thursday at 9.05pm.

In the series, Kim plays Lee Yeon-jae, a 30-something single woman with six months to live after being diagnosed with cancer.

Lee plays Kang Ji-wook, the only son of a travel agency owner. They two meet and fall in love, and what follows is a series of bittersweet adventures as Yeon-jae writes down each dream in her bucket list.

This series is also being telecast in nine other Asian countries – Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Hongkong, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

At a press conference, the two stars said this was their first visit to Malaysia and that they were touched by the warm reception that they received.

Lee, sporting a moustache, looked different from his character in Scent of a Woman and said his new look was for another drama in which he is cast as a baseball player. The new series will air next February.

The attractive Lee is known for his Prince Charming-type roles. In Scent of a Woman, his character comes across as chic and, at times, sweet and gentle.

Said Lee of his character: "At first, he isn't interested in anything and doesn't have any feelings of love towards anyone due to a bad childhood experience. He just exists. One day, Yeon-jae comes into his life, and he realises how precious life is. Then he develops feelings for Yeon-jae."

On why he accepted the role, Lee explained that he was offered the role after being away for two years on military service.

"I wanted to tell the public, 'Lee Dong-wook is back!' I read the script for Scent of a Woman and I knew it was the right vehicle for me.

"I wanted to be in it all the more when I found out that my co-star was Kim Sun-a. She's known for her superb performance in various melodramatic and romantic dramas in Korea. I knew I could learn a lot from her."

Lee, who had earlier starred in the series My Girl, said he was in his mid-20s at that time. "I was a fresh actor then. Now I'm in my 30s and I'm able to convey my emotions more maturely."

He said My Girl is different from Scent of a Woman because the former was a comedy while the latter is much more serious.

"Scent of a Woman has a story which will touch the hearts of people everywhere. But I don't want people to go through what my character undergoes in that series!"

His co-star Kim said it was not difficult for her to portray her character Yeon-jae. Asked if it was hard for her to control her emotions while acting, she replied: "I don't know, I just feel. I can't think of anything else. Yeon-jae lives to the fullest but she's suddenly diagnosed with cancer … she wants to fall in love but she has only six months to live ..."

On working with Lee, Kim said both of them were totally immersed in their characters from day one of the shoot. She said one scene had her in a hospital gown coming face-to-face with Lee's character.

"We just looked at each other and stood still. We literally couldn't utter a word because our characters were both full of emotion," she said.

Kim added that she has yet to distance herself from her role. "Actually, I still haven't sorted myself out yet," she said. "I can't get rid of Yeon-jae's character from my life …"