East of Eden (TV series)


East of Eden is a 2008 South Korean television series, starring Song Seung-heon, Yeon Jung-hoon, Lee Da-hae, Han Ji-hye, Park Hae-jin and Lee Yeon-hee. It was produced by Chorokbaem Media as a 47th Anniversary Special Project Drama for MBC, on which it aired from August 25, 2008 to March 10, 2009 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 56 episodes. The drama tells the story of the brothers Dong-chul and Dong-wook. Their fates diverge after the murder of their coal miner father, with one joining the mob and the other becoming a successful lawyer.

Plot

A period epic that spans the years 1960 to 2000s, East of Eden tells a saga of the bitter rivalry between two men who are eternally bound by fate.
Shin Tae-hwan is the managing director of a coal mine in Taebaek. The true embodiment of ruthless ambition, he strives to inherit the coal mining company Taesung Group. In the process, he kills Lee Ki-chul, a miner crusading for worker's rights who has been blocking his path to success. He also seduces Yoo Mi-ae, a nurse at Taebaek Hospital, only to coldly brush her away after he's tired of her.
At the same moment that Yang Chun-hee, wife of the deceased Ki-chul, is giving birth to a son at Taebaek Hospital, Shin Tae-hwan's wife also gives birth to a baby boy. Filled with rage at Shin Tae-hwan's betrayal, the nurse Mi-ae comes up with a scheme to fulfill her own revenge. She switches the two babies. By doing so, she viciously transforms the fates of not just two lives, but those around them.
Years later, Chun-hee's sons Lee Dong-chul and Lee Dong-wook are the closest of brothers. To alleviate their poverty, Dong-chul becomes a gangster, while the younger Dong-wook dreams of becoming a prosecutor to help the family seek revenge on Shin Tae-hwan. Two women enter Dong-chul's life: the smart and sensible Min Hye-rin, and Gook Young-ran, the willful daughter of his gang boss. Meanwhile, Shin Myung-hoon, who's been molded in his father Tae-hwan's spiteful, selfish image, sets his eye on Kim Ji-hyun, Dong-wook's sweetheart.
Until a revelation shakes Dong-chul to his core: that his real brother was raised by Shin Tae-hwan and that the beloved brother that had been beside him all these years is actually the son of his enemy.

Cast

Main characters

International broadcast