Lee Jong-suk, Zico, Lee Hyun-woo: K-celebs making their comebacks in 2022 after military service

Every South Korean man between the ages of 18 and 30 has to serve in the military for about two years.

For fans of these actors or K-pop stars, this means two long years of no new movies, TV shows or song releases. Needless to say, their comebacks are much anticipated.

Here are five K-celebrities who are making their comebacks in 2022 following their discharge from the army.

Lee Jong-suk

Although Lee Jong-suk was discharged from the military in January 2021, he has kept a low-profile since. The new Disney+ K-drama Big Mouth is his first show since 2019's Romance is a Bonus Book.

In it, he plays talkative lawyer Park Chang-ho, nicknamed Big Mouth, who has a low winning rate of 10 per cent. He gets framed and mistaken as a genius swindler with the alias of Big Mouse.

Lim Yoona plays his wife Go Mi-ho, who investigates the conspiracy to clear her husband's name.

In a press conference this morning (July 29), Jong-suk, 32, told reporters about his experience on set: "My character goes through many difficulties and he struggles a lot but I, as an actor, had a thrilling experience (on set)."

On what he paid the most attention to, he said: "The emotional journey of Chang-ho is quite drastic so I wanted to be sensitive about that."

Big Mouth also stars Kim Joo-hun, Ok Ja-yeon and Yang Kyung-won, and it debuts on July 29 on Disney+.

Zico

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After being discharged from the army in April, Zico released his single Seoul Drift with a music video on July 19, discussing the chaos of the pandemic.

The Block B rapper then released his new solo EP Grown Ass Kid and the music video for Freak on July 27.

This marks the 29-year-old's first release since 2020 and there is no confusion as to what he's singing about: "Bring it back / Two Christmas eves / Flight to Europe cancelled / Solo concert and fashion week / Just a red X on the problematic calendar."

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Lee Hyun-woo

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Lee Hyun-woo was discharged from military service in 2019 but he finally made his comeback in June 2022 with Money Heist: Korea — Joint Economic Area. His last K-drama was 2017's The Liar and His Lover.

In the spin-off of the original Spanish TV show, 29-year-old Hyun-woo plays the role of Rio, originally played by Miguel Herrán, who is the maknae (youngest member) of the heist team and a skilled hacker.

The Korean spin-off has the same general storyline as the Spanish original, but with a twist: it takes place in a unified Korea, with the heist taking place in the new country's mint.

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Catch Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area on Netflix.

Yang Se-jong

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Yang Se-jong, 29, and Bae Suzy are currently filming the Netflix original K-drama The Girl Downstairs, based on a webtoon of the name, Korean media outlet Joy News reported on July 29.

The drama marks Se-jong's return to acting since his role in Dr Romantic 2 in 2020, after which he enlisted in the military until his discharge in November 2021.

The Girl Downstairs tells the story of Lee Won-joon (Se-jong) who moves into an apartment on his first day of college and discovers that former idol Lee Doo-na (Suzy) is living downstairs and avoiding her past life.

The release date for the show has yet to be announced.

Woo Do-hwan

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Another actor who recently got discharged from the military and is now working on a Netflix series based off a webtoon is Woo Do-hwan. 

His last show was 2020's The King: Eternal Monarch, which was ironically Lee Min-ho's comeback performance after his own military conscription. Discharged in January 2022, Do-hwan was cast in the action noir drama Hunting Dogs.

It tells the story of Gun-woo (Do-hwan), a former promising boxer who works as a bodyguard for Mr Choi (Heo Joon-ho) after being embroiled in the world of loan sharks to pay off his debt.

"I made a lot of effort to look like a professional boxer. I wanted to run like one even when I was running on the streets," the actor told magazine Arena Homme Plus.

The release date for the show has yet to be announced.

ALSO READ: Ji Sung, Lee Dong-wook, Hyun Bin: K-drama hunkles in their 40s who still rock

drimac@asiaone.com