K-Drama “Queen of Tears” Scriptwriter’s Past Scandals Resurface Amid All-Time High Viewer Ratings

Starring the fanciest cast lineup, including lead actors Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won, tvN‘s new K-Drama, Queen of Tears, is well set on the right track. After three episodes since its much-anticipated premiere, the show has already reached an all-time high viewer rating of 9.5% in Korea.

In addition, thanks to Netflix, Queen of Tears has gained global support as well—but all the attention has also shed light on the scriptwriter’s past scandals, too.

Park Ji Eun, the mastermind behind Queen of Tears, is one of Korea’s most recognized scriptwriters with multiple hits up her sleeve. Most of her beloved works, however, have fueled plagiarism allegations.

Park Ji Eun’s 2013 SBS K-Drama My Love From The Star is alleged to have included specific written directions for the opening sequence—said to be too similar to that of the 2008 American TV series New Amsterdam.

A 2008 web novel Seolhee author Kang Kyung Ok also sued Park Ji Eun over plagiarizing some of the settings seen in My Love From The Star. The author insisted that Seolhee had been in the making since 2003, and that Park Ji Eun “stole at least eight major settings” unique to the novel. The lawsuit was later dropped after the author and the scriptwriter came to “an agreement.”

Park Ji Eun’s 2019 tvN K-Drama Crash Landing On You faced plagiarism allegations, too. A scriptwriter apprentice claimed, in a since-deleted online exposé, that Park Ji Eun stole the plot (of a North Korean soldier falling in love with a South Korean woman who crash lands in a paragliding accident) from their original, Unique Romance. The apprentice alleged that their original was submitted to a scriptwriting contest, where Park Ji Eun must have read and “stolen” the idea. Park Ji Eun is said to have sued the apprentice for defamation, and while some legal back and forth took place, the case was acquitted. The apprentice revealed that they tried taking their own life because of the legal battle—earning a strong sympathetic response from those who believed and supported the apprentice’s side.

None have been proven to be plagiarized in a court of law, so Park Ji Eun does not have official charges against her name, though avid K-Drama watchers are aware of the strings of scandals attached to the scriptwriter.

• “I love the cast, but I don’t think I should be watching the show.”
• “Sigh. The scriptwriter is the worst plagiarizer ever, but I guess people will still watch because the cast lineup is stellar. I’m not going to watch it, though.”
• “For me, it’s the people who know about the scriptwriter’s past but still watch the show… If we keep consuming her work, she will keep plagiarizing—even if this particular show might be her original.”
• “I knew the ratings would go up… but I’m doing all I can to not watch. It seems, though, that not a lot of people are aware of the past scandals. Light K-Drama fans don’t seem to know about what happened. Like, a lot of the viewers don’t seem to know who Park Ji Eun is.”
• “I’m skipping this show because of the scriptwriter… and I’m pissed because it canceled another program that I do watch. WTF.”

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