The 2009 mega-hit TV series “Iris” is a sleek spy action drama depicting love, friendship, betrayal and revenge between secret agents of a national security organization as well as a sensitive spy conspiracy between South and North Korea. As one of the most talked-about dramas of the year, “Iris” created much hype even before airing, thanks to its star-studded cast, interesting plot and blockbuster scale.

The plot revolves around best friends Kim Hyun-joon and Jin Sa-woo, both of who join a state intelligence agency known as National Security System or NSS. There, both men fall in love with Choi Seung-hee, the agency’s top profiler who forecasts potential terrorist activities. But Seung-hee loves only one of them—Hyun-joon. Things begin to take a twist when Hyun-joon is dispatched to Hungary for a high-profile mission, only to find himself entangled in a conspiracy orchestrated by a secret society called Iris, which is plotting to block the reunification of Korea. When Hyun-joon goes missing, Seung-hee sets off in search of him, even defying the orders of her agency. Meanwhile, the NSS orders Sa-woo to eliminate Hyun-joon, and Sa-woo reaches a crossroads where he has to decide whether to follow his agency’s order or to save his friendship.

“Iris” opened with a stunning viewer rating of 24 percent. Viewers were glued to their TV sets throughout the airing of the 20-episode television soap, with the rating of the last episode surpassing 35 percent. With a massive budget of more than 20 billion won, which means about one million US dollars per episode, the action-spy thriller is touted as an innovative espionage drama to escalate local TV series to a new level. For the spectacle of the drama, which is one of the biggest attractions for the audiences, the production staff tried to add as much realism as possible, featuring replicas of the weapons and equipment that are actually used in intelligence wars as well as high-tech special effects. Also, the transition time between sequences of this fast-paced drama is sometimes no more than two seconds, keeping the audiences from getting bored.

The series was filmed in various locations around the world, including Japan, China and even the places where Korean dramas were never shot before, such as Hungary. After the drama aired, many of the filming locations became tourist attractions. For example, Akita Prefecture in Japan, which became famous for romantic scenes between the two lead characters, has seen a growing number of visitors. When Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom visited South Korea in December 2009, he invited actor Lee Byung-hun to dinner as a token of his appreciation of an increasing number of tourists to Hungary thanks to the Korean drama. Lee performed role of Hyun-joon in the drama. The actor is known to Hollywood fans as Storm Shadow from the 2009 action flick, “GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra.”

Many scenes were filmed at famous sites in Seoul, too. For instance, Gwanghwamun Plaza was closed for 12 long hours to shoot several scenes involving gunfights and dazzling car crashes. It marked the first time that the vast traffic lanes in the heart of Seoul were blocked off for the making of a drama. Reflecting the huge popularity of “Iris,” Seoul City even came up with a tour program featuring the sites that were used as backgrounds of the smash-hit drama to help promote the Korean pop culture boom or hallyu and attract more foreign tourists interested in Korean dramas and movies.