“Everybody wants to go back home,” Youn tells EW.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What drew you to the role of Sunja?
YUH-JUNGYOUN:When I read the script, the age is 74, Sunja’s age.
Youn Yuh-Jung as older Sunja ‘Pachinko’.Media Res/Blue Marble Pictures/Apple TV+
So that is the role suitable for my age.
That’s why.[Laughs.]
You were born two years after Japanese rule ended in Korea.
Jung Eun-chae and Minha Kim in ‘Pachinko’.Juhan Noh/Media Res/Blue Marble Pictures/Apple TV+
Did your family history shape your portrayal of Sunja?
We heard about it.
I was too young, but we learned from the school about our history but not details like this.
Youn Yuh-Jung and Soji Arai as Sunja and Mozasu in ‘Pachinko’.Juhan Noh/Apple TV +
[Sunja] has strength and determination to survive.
In the episode, Sunja returns to Busan for the first time to scatter Kyunghee’s ashes.
We also see the backstory of how these two women meet.
Why do you think they form such an instant, everlasting bond?
Actually, [Kyunghee’s death] wasn’t in the novel.
Of course she wanted to go back home.
Everybody wants to go back home.
She wanted to see the ocean and her father’s grave, so that scene was very smart.
It’s memorable to me.
Do you have any stories from filming this episode?
[Soji] knew me from Japan, he said.
His mother is a huge fan of me.
Funny enough, I remembered that instant.
Some lady was calling my name.
[Soji said], ‘That was my mother.
I’m so embarrassed that my mother was yelling at you.’
We shared a lot of stories about the Zainichi.
He himself is Zainichi.
I didn’t know.
He was very proud to be Zainichi.
It’s a proud word.
No, we haven’t.
Actually, the first time I saw her, we took a [photo] for the poster.
I saw her for the first time.
We are playing different parts and different times…
In my experience, they always take a stab at look for lookalike people.
I wasn’t like [I am now] when I was 20.
I was beautiful and glamorous at the time, but see, I became an old lady.
So don’t have to have a go at find similar looks.
The episodes are beautiful, but can be sad to watch.
What was your experience like filming these scenes on set?
Oh, you wanna know the truth?[Laughs.
]We waited so long, long hours waiting in the trailer.
I asked, ‘[Does] it happen in Japan like that?’
And she said her English was worse than mine she said, ‘No, not in Japan!
We go home.’
With Min Jin Lee’s novel, there’s so much more story to tell.
That’s not my position to think about a second season.
When that thing happens, that would be nice.
And if not, I have to accept it.[Laughs.]
New episodes ofPachinkodebut Fridays on Apple TV+.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
