Park So-dam Returns After 2-Year Break With Revenge Drama 'The Journey to Gyeongju'

Park So-dam is back. After a two-year break following thyroid cancer surgery, the Korean actress is returning to promote her final pre-hiatus project, the revenge film "The Journey to Gyeongju," directed by Kim Mi-jo.

"I feel like I lived well for the two years I was resting, keeping Young-ju from 'The Journey to Gyeongju' in my heart," Park said. "It feels exciting and good to start promoting again with a role I took on two years ago."

Park had been in a rare pause. She used to jump straight from one shoot to the next, often filming a new character before her previous project even opened. After playing Young-ju, she stopped. This is her first press activity since.

"The Journey to Gyeongju" opens in South Korean theaters on the 26th. The story follows a family shattered by the death of their youngest daughter, Gyeongju, who is killed on a school trip. Eight years later, when the perpetrator is released from prison, the four remaining women in the family plan their revenge and carry it out in the city of Gyeongju. Park plays Young-ju, the second daughter, a law school graduate and the family's cold-eyed planner who maps out the revenge schedule.

"I cried a lot from the moment I read the script," Park said. "I wasn't focused on one specific role. I just found the writing itself really compelling."

She described Young-ju as a woman pulled in two directions. "She's the one setting up and managing the plan to punish the attacker, but part of her also secretly hopes her mother won't go through with it." Park added that the material felt personal. "I thought there was a lot Park So-dam the actor and Park So-dam the person could talk about through this."

Wrapping the film also meant facing an unusually long stretch of downtime. Park said she wrestled with guilt as she watched her close friends, actresses Lee Jung-eun, Gong Hyo-jin, and Lee Yeon, keep working.

"After filming ended, I was resting and I kept worrying, 'Is it okay for me to rest like this?' because Jung-eun, Hyo-jin, and Yeon were all working so hard," she said. "Every time, the three of them told me, 'Life is long, you're doing fine right now.' Whenever I met them, even if I brought a huge bag of worries, they always shrank it down to a little bean. I always went home lighter."

The four are famously close. Park shared a group-chat story from the 19th, after news broke that Lee Yeon had cried during a press interview. "Our group chat was still going in the middle of the night, and Hyo-jin unnie told her, 'Yeon-ah, stop reading articles about yourself and go to sleep,'" Park said, laughing. She admitted she screenshotted the article about Lee crying and sent it into the chat as soon as she saw it.

"Out of the four of us, I'm the one who cries all the time, so Yeon used to tease me about it," Park said. "But yesterday I got to say to her, 'Oh, now you're the one crying?' I think Yeon is really happy and really full of emotion right now. Haha."

The cast also drew attention for the addition of actor Byun Yo-han, who plays Baek Sang-hyun, the perpetrator whose crime sets the family's tragedy in motion.

Park has known Byun since their school days. "Even back in school, he had so much passion. He was already known for being a great actor," she said. "When I heard he was joining the film, I was excited that I'd get to see sides of him I hadn't seen before. I thought it would be fun to act with him."

She said his performance surprised her even so. "Watching the film, he was so good it almost made me laugh in disbelief. In the second half especially, seeing my onscreen older brother's clear, innocent eyes really made me angry. I think he gave an outstanding performance."

Coming out of the break, Park spoke frankly about how she wants to work from here on. She said continuing to take on projects before fully recovering from her thyroid cancer surgery taught her something.

"I realized that to grab opportunities when they come, I have to take care of my health," she said.

"I'm getting so much support from people and I'm spending happy days," Park added. "I feel like I can work now without pushing myself too hard. I sleep about seven hours, I eat well, I work out. I feel like I'm getting back to a good place. So this time, I want to promote as much as I can. I hope a lot of people get to see 'The Journey to Gyeongju' in theaters. Haha."