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By Park Si-soo
The producer of the mega-hit TV drama series "Descendants of the Sun" has decided to end the program as scheduled, despite its huge popularity in Korea, China and many other Asian countries.
Jung Sung-hyo, a director of KBS, a state-run broadcaster that produced the drama, said the last of the 16 episodes would go to air on April 14. Its eighth episode aired last Thursday rated a 28.8 percent.
"We want to take advantage of the popularity, but it's impossible to add new stories because the entire series was pre-recorded," Jung said.
"Descendants of the Sun," which features top Korean actor Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, has sparked a craze in many Asian countries, including China where the drama is broadcast simultaneously.
People's addiction to the drama was so strong that China's ministry of public security recently warned of the social ills of too much viewing.
"Watching Korean dramas could be dangerous, and may even lead to legal troubles," the ministry warned in a Weibo, China's most popular social networking website, last week.
The craze for the drama has also hit Thailand.
Last Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha urged his citizens to watch the drama, citing a sense of patriotism, sacrifice, obeying orders and other nationalistic values expressed in the drama.
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