Hyun Bin grateful for Smart move

MANILA, Philippines — Hyun Bin, who played the gallant and valiant North Korean army officer Capt. Ri Jeong Hyeok in the blockbuster K-Drama “Crash Landing on You,” is happy with his Smart move.

“He was saying thank you and smiling when I said thank you for being our endorser,” said Al Panlilio, president of PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications Inc., the company that landed the South Korean heartthrob, in an exclusive interview with The STAR.

“We had a Zoom call with him during the shoot and he was very nice,” Panlilio added of Hyun Bin, the six-foot-one-inch-tall South Korean actor who crash landed on many a throbbing heart – including in the Philippines – and became most women’s oppa for his portrayal of the handsome and principled North Korean Army officer Capt. Ri in the 16-episode Crash Landing on You, where he played the protector of chaebol heiress Yoon Se-ri, portrayed by Son Ye-jin.

Hyun Bin was also all smiles in a 19-second teaser released by Smart on social media, wherein he says with a bedimpled smile, “Mahal ko kayo, Smartees!”

Panlilio revealed that Smart’s Hyun Bin shoot took place in mid-May. “I am told the shoot went very well,” Panlilio added.

Earlier, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in his Twitter account, “Yes, Hyun Bin it is. Ad online and TV will break out on Monday, June 1, around noon. Go go go Smart!”

Smart recently unveiled a nine-second teaser video of Hyun Bin driving around in a sleek black car. It was followed by another 19-second teaser on Smart Communication’s Facebook page.

In the teaser, Hyun Bin says virtually all but the last line in Korean. “I am glad to be part of the Smart family. I am going to show you my best in my new campaign with Smart. So please keep an eye on me.”

He ends his video by saying, “Mahal ko kayo, Smartees!”, leaving his fans crash landing on his world, and his word, again.