The hit TV series, “Stairway to Heaven” was aired on Seoul Broadcasting System from December 2003 to February 2004. The 20-episode soap opera made quite a hit with local audiences with its sweet, fairytale storyline and beautiful scenes.

Song-ju, a male lead character, and Jeong-seo, a heroine, grow up together as childhood friends. They care for each other so tenderly that they can sense how each other feels just by hearing his or her breath. As a scion of a large company, Song-ju goes abroad to study. Before leaving, the couple exchanges necklaces as a token of their love. Unfortunately, Jeong-seo’s mother suddenly dies and her father gets remarried. Her stepmother and stepsister are often cruel to her, as in a typical Cinderella-type story, although she gets along well with her stepbrother, Tae-hwa. The would-be painter, who was once excessively reserved and emotionally ill, comes to love Jeong-seo and learns how to show consideration to other people and live in harmony with them. Later, he even sacrifices himself in an attempt to donate his eyes to Jeong-seo, who loses her sight to eye cancer. Her stepsister, Yuri, on the other hand, hates Jeong-seo. She accidentally hits Jeong-seo with a car and Jeong-seo loses her memory due to the accident. She does not remember anything about her childhood, even when she meets her first love Song-ju again. But eventually her memory is restored and she marries Song-ju. Their happiness doesn’t last long, however, as Jeong-seo is afflicted with eye cancer. Song-ju accepts her death, quietly and sadly. The last scene of the drama features Song-ju playing the piano on the beach, recalling the good old days that he shared with his beloved wife.

The four main characters have their own ways of expressing love. The producer of the TV series admits it’s a very unlikely storyline but he hopes that audiences will appreciate what true love is like through this romance, which he hopes to see in real life. The title of the drama, “Stairway to Heaven,” represents an imaginary dreamland where the four young people, struggling for hopeless love in reality, find eternal consolation.

The tear-jerker soap opera enjoyed huge popularity with local viewers, who were fascinated by the beautiful filming locations and sweet, mellow music. In one of the main scenes, Song-ju, the male character, rides a merry-go-round at an amusement park with Jeong-seo. After the drama aired, the amusement park in Lotte World, southeastern Seoul, became the site’s trademark, drawing hundreds of Asian tourists mesmerized by the pure, tragic love depicted in the drama. The TV soap also captured the spotlight with its star-studded cast, which includes actress Choi Ji-woo, known for her sweet role in mega-hit drama, “Winter Sonata,” and actor Kwon Sang-woo, who was voted one of the most popular world celebrities by Japanese women in a poll by the Japanese broadcaster NTV’s variety show “Geikoi Real” in 2006. Lee Charm, president of the Korea Tourism Organization and the first naturalized Korean to lead a state-run agency, also starred in the drama.