MBC‘s new K-Drama, When The Phone Rings, adapted from Geoneomulnyeo‘s Webtoon, has viewers on the edge of their seats. It stars Yoo Yeon Seok and Chae Soo Bin.
Paik Sa-Eon (Yoo Yeon-Seok) comes from a prestigious political family and he became the youngest presidential spokesman in Korea. His background also includes time spent as a war correspondent, hostage negotiator, and main anchorman. He married Hong Hee-Joo (Chae Soo-Bin) 3 years ago. She is the daughter of a newspaper proprietor. She has mutism due to an accident she had when she was little. She works as a sign language interpreter in court and on television. Paik Sa-Eon & Hong Hee-Joo got married largely due to convenience. For the past 3 years, they haven’t communicated with each other or have meals together. They pretend they are a happily married couple. One day, Hong Hee-Joo is kidnapped by an unidentified person. This changes their marriage life.
— AsianWiki
The lead actors’ chemistry and “BookTok” vibes have netizens in a chokehold. Many are anticipating new episodes each week.
oh to be love by baek saeon 🥺🖤
he’s been constantly showing her love for heejoo ever since. can’t wait for the time he can openly say HE LOVES HER 😭#WhenThePhoneRings #YooYeonSeok #ChaeSoobin pic.twitter.com/HvZjDOJplB
— dee (@kylaeii_) December 6, 2024
their fits are also matching 😭 also they’re sitting just next to each other but the chemistry — 🤌🏻#WhenThePhoneRings pic.twitter.com/pt8JgdRtdZ
— 𓍯𓂃 (@lvzihye) December 6, 2024
International distributor Netflix knows its audience, too, as a preview scene was released ahead of the release of Episodes 5 and 6. This only fueled more anticipation…
…and fans eagerly woke up to watch When The Phone Rings on Friday, only to find out that the broadcast had been canceled.
What is going on?? Like mf seriously?? is this real? what the heck?? Netflix dont you ever fvcking playin me!!! I had enough of waiting!!! I need my ‘When the phone rings’ pill 💊 pic.twitter.com/eUhaaZmlN0
— Syie 🇵🇸 (@SyikinHamdan) December 6, 2024
Me founding out ep 5&6 won’t be broadcast this week :#WhenThePhoneRings pic.twitter.com/YwHqKXAfiK
— KDramaholic (@kdramaupto) December 6, 2024
The cause is due to the current political climate. Previously, it was reported that on Tuesday, December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law” via a televised briefing, promising to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” He accused the opposition of “controlling the parliament,” “sympathizing” with North Korea, and immobilizing the government through anti-state actions.
The National Assembly quickly demanded the President’s emergency martial law to be lifted. All 190 attending members (out of 300 total members) voted unanimously to block the martial law.
While the martial law was lifted, South Korea has been preparing to potentially impeach President Yoon. The vote was expected to take place on Saturday, which is when When The Phone Rings’ Episode 6 was originally scheduled to broadcast.
Democracy rally in front of the National Assembly atm. Impeachment vote will be tomorrow at 5 pm local time https://t.co/Tm7JbmOOAV
— The Blue Roof (@BluRoofPolitics) December 6, 2024
Consequently, MBC released a statement ahead of Episode 5’s scheduled broadcast, announcing that both Episodes 5 and 6 had been canceled for that week. Instead, they were scheduled to broadcast the next week, on December 13 and 14, respectively. MBC explained that it was due to special news reports taking over the K-Dramas’ time slot.
⚠️결방 안내⚠️
<#지금거신전화는> 12/6(금) 5회,
12/7(토) 6회 방송은 뉴스 특보로 인해 결방됩니다.
시청자 여러분의 양해 부탁드립니다.
감사합니다. pic.twitter.com/y2Fg6wieHe— MBC DRAMA (@mbcdrama_pre) December 6, 2024
Fans of When The Phone Rings were upset, waiting a week for the broadcast, only for it to be canceled at the last minute.
Me after knowing that Episode 5 and Episode 6 got cancelled after waiting for a week 😭#WhenThePhoneRings pic.twitter.com/OT0TuFryvN
— KDramaholic (@kdramaupto) December 6, 2024
wdym there won’t be #WhenThePhoneRings this week after they released all those pre-release clips and made everyone go crazy?????😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/i0H1aau0JX
— nophias | #WhenThePhoneRings (@nophiasandverb) December 6, 2024
when the episode airing
phone rings cancelled bc of
ep 5 d-day political issue/s#whenthephonerings#whenthephoneringsep5 pic.twitter.com/cfaxsmPqUN— tine⁷ (@namelesstine) December 6, 2024
Some joked that the broadcast postponement was due to the need for the main characters at this time. Sae Eon is the presidential spokesman in Korea in the K-Drama.
Baek Saeon is busy this week, he’s the Presidential Spokesperson after all 😭😭#WhenThePhoneRings pic.twitter.com/VQ3Hn4n0s2
— KDramaholic (@kdramaupto) December 6, 2024
maybe because the presidential spokesperson and his beautiful sign language interpreter are summoned by the blue house to do their jobs.
it makes sense. https://t.co/0hDKNNgFut
— daisy han (@kdramadaisy) December 6, 2024
baek saeon is busy this week, he’s the presidential spokersperson after all 😭 https://t.co/rhc1e2cg9Z
— dran (@daheeverse) December 6, 2024
Well, Sae Eon might be needed again. Reportedly, the opposition has announced a new impeachment vote scheduled for this Saturday, December 14. So, it’s highly probable that When The Phone Rings‘ Episodes 5 and 6 could be postponed again.
It said that they gonna redoing the voting every week until impeachment motion for the president succeeds
And the next voting is Saturday Dec 14. At this point, I don’t think we gonna have music shows this month since this is more important right now… pic.twitter.com/tbfPJonX8M
— ✨✨ (@skieskets) December 7, 2024
THE AIRING OF “WHEN THE PHONE RINGS” MIGHT BE INTERRUPTED AGAIN.
Episodes 5 and 6 of the K-drama “When the Phone Rings” starring Yoo Yeon Seok and Chae Soo Bin were canceled last week due to the ongoing impeachment proceedings. #whenthephonerings pic.twitter.com/xUT33jijkF
— KDramaholic (@kdramaupto) December 9, 2024
South Korea’s opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, will push for another impeachment vote against President Yoon Suk-yeol & that will definitely be cancelling airing of #WhenThePhoneRings Ep5.
Twice in a row while Netflix still says #WhenThePhoneRingsEp5 will air on Friday. pic.twitter.com/bO3F6OQvaP
— Mommy 🦈 (@urbandesimom) December 9, 2024
So, it’s unsure when broadcasting will resume as usual.
