In the autumn of 2000, a fairy tale story toughed many hearts.

The KBS soap opera “Autumn in My Heart" (가을동화), running from Sept. 18 through to Nov. 7, brought many TV fans to tears. The 16-episode drama tells a tale of love and loss between a man and a woman. When it aired here in the domestic market, it grabbed more than 40 percent of the viewership in its time bracket.



The story begins with Eun-suh and her brother Joon-suh, both born into a well-off family. One day in middle school, the pair are riding bicycles when Eun-suh, unsure on two wheels, is accidently hit by a car. In the hospital, she has to undergo a routine blood test. The tests show that her blood type doesn’t match that of her parents. It turns out that Eun-suh was switched at birth with another baby, as her brother switched name tags while the nurses were gone.

As it happens, Joon-suh’s real sister is one of Eun-suh’s classmate, a young woman named Shin-ae, who lives with her single mom who runs a small restaurant.

Eun-suh and Shin-ae are returned to their biological families and after the switch back, Eun-suh and Joon-suh --the former sister and brother -- lose touch with each other.

Many years later, Joon-suh grows up to become an artist and gets a small workshop at a closed school in Sokcho, Gangwon-do Province. He reunites with Eun-suh who's working at a nearby hotel. The reunion ignites his feeling for her, who he thought of as his biological sister for 14 years. A love triangle begins as Han Tae-seok, the son of the owner who runs the hotel where Eun-suh works, falls in love with Eun-suh. Han is also Joon-suh’s best friend. Eun-suh has feelings for her once-brother, Joon-suh, though.

Tragedy erupts when Eun-suh discovers she has leukemia, a condition that killed her biological father. Eun-suh and Joon-suh go on their last trip to the seaside, where she takes her final breath when piggyback on Joon-suh’s back. After the funeral, Joon-suh, overcome by the loss, wanders around the streets where the couple used to stroll together. Suddenly, he's run over and killed by a speeding truck -- viewers are led to believe half-intentionally -- following in Eun-suh's steps, and the story wraps up.



The series garnered much attention even before its broadcasting, since it boasted the most famous stars of the time. Actor Song Seung-heon and actress Song Hye-kyo played the lead male and female roles. Song Seung-heon and Won Bin, who took the secondary male role as Han Tae-seok, won over the hearts of many female fans with their clean-cut features.

Won, in particular, had one famous line in a scene where he tried to win Eun-suh’s heart, but failed. “Love? Don’t be ridiculous. I can buy love with my money. How much do you need?” This single line brought the then rookie actor to stardom, and it is still parodied to this day.

“Autumn in My Heart” was the first installment of a season-themed tetralogy directed by Yoon Seok-ho. The other three were “Winter Sonata" (겨울연가) (KBS, 2002), “Summer Scent" (여름향기) (KBS, 2003) and “Spring Waltz" (봄의 왈츠) (KBS, 2006).

The director once said, “I try to make poetic and lyrical scenes,” and his drama, "Autumn in My Heart," feels like it's trying to capture lyrical moments from rural areas or natural landscapes in the fall, instead of sensational looks of urban life. The backgrounds are often fields of buckwheat, the crystal-clear East Sea, lazy thatched-roof houses or a shut-up old school.



After its run in Korea, the drama was aired across East Asia, including in China, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia. It was a giant hit, and even Song Hye-kyo said, “For me, Hallyu begins with this drama.” Viewership ratings in the mainland Chinese market and in Japan both topped more than 40 percent.

An “Autumn in My Heart” sensation swept across Taiwan, too. In 2001, the drama was broadcast under the title “秋天的 童話” and topped soap opera charts of all kinds after only six episodes. This was the first time for a non-Taiwanese production to hit the top of the charts. The series was soon made into a movie in mainland China, too.

One of the famous filming sites of “Autumn in My Heart” is the Abai Village (아바이마을) in Sokcho. In a scene from ‘Autumn in My Heart,’ actress Song Hye-kyo, as Eun-suh, holding a yellow umbrella and actor Song Seung-heon, as Joon-suh, cross paths and fail to meet each other on the ferry barge going over to the Abai Village. A mom-and-pop store in the Abai Village is featured as Eun-suh’s house in the hit TV show ‘Autumn in My Heart.’ In the show, Eun-suh lives in a small, run-down store with her mother. The actual store is located in the Abai Village, a small neighborhood near Cheongchoho Lake in Cheongho-dong, Sokcho City, Gangwon-do Province. The neighborhood was home to many refugees from Hamgyeong-do Province in what is now North Korea who escaped to the South during the Korean War (1950-1953). The village was named after the word abai (아바이), a Hamgyeong-do dialect word that means elderly people. The village keeps intact a series of time-honored houses and small buildings, and the dialect. Since “Autumn in My Heart” aired, many tourists, especially from mainland China and Japan, have travelled to the village to get a glimpse into the show's filming locations. Signboards that read “This was a filming location for ‘Autumn in My Heart’” welcome visitors across the neighborhood. Important scenes in the show were filmed in this neighborhood, too, including shots filmed along Cheongchoho Lake and along Sokcho Beach. A ferry carries visitors over to the Abai Village in less than five minutes from downtown Sokcho in Gangwon-do Province. You can have a great time here. People should board the small gaetbae (갯배) ferry to reach the neighborhood. The gaetbae ferry crosses a small waterway to the neighborhood from downtown Sokcho. It operates by manpower, with the passengers pulling on a rope to move the barge across the water. It was on this barge that Eun-suh and Joon-suh missed each other, one of the best scenes in the entire show. ※ How to get there: Take bus Nos. 9, 9-1, 7 or 7-1 and get off at the gaetbae quay. Take the gaetbae ferry barge over to the Abai village. A one-way ticket costs KRW 200.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: KBS, the official Abai Village website, Yonhap News
jiae5853@korea.kr