Youn Yuh-Jung Was Impressed By The Courage Of Her ‘Pachinko’ Character

Sunja is the main character in the Apple TV adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s bestselling novel Pachinko and her story spans decades. Academy Award-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung plays the older version of the character. It’s a nuanced and elegant performance. Sunja doesn’t say much, but she radiates strength. According to Youn, it was facing adversity that made her character so strong.

When the story starts Sunja is living in a small Korean fishing village during the Japanese occupation. She falls for the well-connected broker Koh Hansu and becomes pregnant before realizing he is married. Having a baby alone would make her an outcast, yet she refuses to become his mistress

“Back in those times having a baby without being married was a problem,” said Youn, adding that she was impressed by her character’s choices. “She refused to have money from him or any comfort from him and then luckily enough she met the nice pastor and she was honest about the baby, who was not the pastor’s. He was a real pastor, right. He accepted that boy as his son. That courage or honesty. I couldn’t have done it myself.”

Sunja could have taken the easy way out, but she chose not to.

“To me, she faced all the problems,” said Youn. “She got pregnant without being married, then she met a nice guy, but then she had to go overseas to Japan and to learn a new language. That makes her stronger. She becomes strong trying to survive.”

In the segments where Youn plays Sunja, the character has lived in Japan for decades and seen two subsequent generations grow up there. Yet she still barely speaks any Japanese. She’s also not eager to talk about her past struggles. Things have changed so much it would be impossible for subsequent generations to understand what she faced. She’s silent but often lost in memories.

“She could not speak any Japanese when she went to Japan,” said Youn. “So, maybe she should be quiet. When I first came to the states I couldn’t speak a word of English, so I was quiet most of the time. Later on, when she is 74, she has endured so many things and there’s nothing to talk about. Looking back to those days and then being an older person, there’s nothing more to talk about. You could be quiet.”

Youn spent some time living in the US, during a brief pause from an award-filled five-decade-long acting career. Her accolades include an Academy Award for her role in the film Minari, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, an Independent Spirit Award and a nomination for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award. She can be seen in recent Korean films such as Lucky Chan-sil and Beasts Clutching At Straws. The actress was listed as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2021 by Time Magazine.

Pachinko was filmed in English, Korean and Japanese and, although Youn speaks English, she does not speak Japanese. One of the most difficult scenes for Youn involved lines in Japanese.

“I knew I was going to have a dialogue in Japanese,” said Youn. “I told them I cannot speak a word of Japanese and they said it’s just short, for a short time. Then without knowing anything, without knowing what it meant, I memorized it. I really had a hard time memorizing it. We had a Japanese language coach, but I had to memorize without knowing anything. I tried to think of it in Korean, English, any way, but I made it. I was wondering how that scene went. ”

Despite filming challenges, Youn did find it easy to relate to her character. They are the same age.

“My character’s age is my age,” she said. “So, to me when I look at my grandson or my son and looking back at all the times, then I can relate to many of her experiences.”

Although Pachinko’s saga starts with a forbidden love, Youn does not see it as a love story.

“It’s not a love story,” she said. “It’s a human story, a family story, about someone who survives in a foreign country.”

Youn hopes viewers can connect with the emotions and feelings of all the characters in the series.

“I hope we can honor their story with this show.”

The first three episodes of Pachinko air on March 25.