Byung-hun Lee (who made headlines with his salary for IRIS) will be returning to his role as lead Hyeon-Jun Kim along with the rest of the TV actors.  In the series, Kim is an agent in the 707 special forces when he and his trusted friend Sa-Woo (Jun-ho Jeong) are recruited into National Security Systems, a secret service agency responsible for national security in South Korea.   Seung-hee (Tae-hee Kim) a profiling specialist who helps recruit them, takes to Hyeon-Jun(much to the chagrin of the also smitten Sa-Woo). But love is a big No-No because the agents are supposed to act as separate trained killers, and their existence can never be acknowledged (which in spy talk means that if anything goes wrong, they’re on their own okthanxbai).

Of course, something does go wrong on a solo mission and Kim finds himself betrayed by Sa-Woo and without allegiance. To compound matters, Kim also has to deal with Vick ( played by T.O.P from K-pop group Big Bang), an operative in the U.S’ secret organization IRIS (hey, that’s the title of the show!) who has been sent to kill him. The series last saw Kim presumably dead, with various loose ends that hopefully the movie will expand on.

Source: Asian Media Wiki

Byung-Hung Lee

Korean actor Byung-Hun Lee certainly is a force to reckon with in Asian cinema, but many South Korean news outlets were aghast upon learning the amount of the actor’s wage for the show IRIS. Lee is currently enjoying the success of the spy TV show and the hefty paycheck that comes with it. For each episode of his hit show, Lee is set to receive 100 million won (W100 million). In the US, that would be about $86,500, which is an amount I probably will never see in my life. He receives a W25 million performance fee per episode and was also awarded an advance of W1.5 billion so it’s not surprising that South Korea is reeling at the disclosure. While it’s not the highest salary reported, it is well over the W15 million guideline set by CODA (Corea Drama Production Association).

For the record, CODA head Shin Hyun-taik has not condemned the actor or the KBS network. He has simply stated “In Lee’s case, the amount includes a combination of things, such as proceeds from sales of domestic and overseas broadcast rights, so it’s not clear that his fee exceeds the guidelines.”

Lee’s co stars, Kim Seung-woo and Jung Jun-ho, both have salaries adhering to the industry guideline of W15 million. Both of these actors are established in Korean cinema and have a wide variety of credits to their name. Yet, the difference between their salary and Lee’s is obvious, especially considering the fat upfront Lee was given.

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However, it’s not the first instance of an actor’s paycheck surpassing the industry recommendations. In 2007, beloved actor Bae Yong-Joon broke the record when he received W250 million for his role in “The Story of the First King’s Four gods”. Actor Park Shin-yang was also paid W100 million for participating in 4 extra episodes of his 2007 mini series “War of Money”. The situation is certainly not unheard of, but given the current financial climate it does pose the question: How much is too much? And does an actor deserve that much?

Source: Cho-sun