Korean actress Park Bo Young goes from shy to seductive

Shy girls out there, fancy picking up some skills in the art of seduction?

Look no further than Park Bo Young, K-drama's latest temptress in angel's clothing, for a whole barrel of tips.

In the hit romantic comedy series Oh My Ghost, the 25-year-old Korean actress plays Na Bong Sun, a timid assistant cook who is possessed by a lustful ghost.

She takes on the flirtatious traits of the ghost and starts seducing her boss, chef Kang Sun Woo (Cho Jung Seok).

The "tricks" Na employs to bed her target range from sly to straight-up aggressive: She gazes intently at her love interest, initiates "footsie" at the dinner table and pounces on him and rips his shirt open.

It is Park's boldest performance so far.

Oh My Ghost is showing on VV Drama (StarHub TV Ch 855) on Sundays at 10pm.

It will be available on VV Drama On Demand (StarHub TV Ch 857) for a month after it ends its run on VV Drama on Sept 13.

Park, who was in town yesterday with co-star Cho to promote the show, told The New Paper that she has honed her own seduction skills through filming the drama.

She said: "I've never acted aggressively in love. In the past, if I were interested in a guy, I would just watch him.

"Only when our relationship becomes more stable and intimate, I will start becoming more proactive...

"(But) after doing Oh My Ghost, I've learnt that being a go-getter in love can be perceived as attractive to the other sex," said Park in Korean through a translator.

With a laugh, she added that the methods she found "most effective" were "playing footsie" and "staring at the guy directly in the eye".

She said when she used the latter on Cho during their shoot, his reaction was "a mixture of fear and enjoyment".

The toughest seduction scene to execute was the one where she had to rip Cho's shirt open.

"I was extremely shy at first," she recalled.

Cho, on the other hand, recalled that the moment was "very fun".

In a separate interview with TNP, the 34-year-old Korean actor said with a grin: "It wasn't so much awkwardness... The whole situation was just hilarious. We did so many retakes."

When told about Cho's comment, Park said with a mock pout: "Of course he would say that, he wasn't the one doing the shirt-ripping."

Park's turn as Na is refreshing for the rising star, who was previously known for sweetie-pie good girl roles in movies such as Scandal Makers (2008), A Werewolf Boy (2012) and The Silenced (2015).

At the press conference before the interview, she smiled coyly when quizzed by reporters if she struggled with portraying a seductress.

"Initially, I had a lot of difficulty with the seduction scenes," she said.

"Thankfully, as time went by, everyone around me made me feel comfortable. As I became more at ease, the aggressiveness (in my seduction) grew."

Cho, whom local audiences might recognise from family drama You're The Best, Lee Soon Shin which recently concluded on Channel U, said that in reality, he "does not like aggressive girls".

"But if it's aggressive Park Bo Young, I don't mind," he added cheekily.

"Of course he would say that, he wasn't the one doing the shirt-ripping."

- Park Bo Young, responding to the comment by her co-star Cho Jung Seok that shooting the seduction scene was 'hilarious'