Director Han Jin Won shares his experience directing I Am a Running Mate.
I Am a Running Mate is a teen political drama that follows No Se Hoon (Yoon Hyun Soo), who becomes a vice presidential candidate for the student council election after becoming a laughingstock due to an unexpected incident. The drama aims to portray the burning desires and sharp conflicts of youth as they fiercely compete for the high school student council seats.
Explaining his directing intention, director Han said, "I tried to get a sense of the current atmosphere surrounding student council elections and wanted to bring that vibe into the show as it is. Across the country, there are schools where elections are as fierce as shown in I Am a Running Mate, and others where they're done perfunctorily, just as a formality. We drew inspiration from the schools where elections are held passionately. We wanted the show to have the feel of a sports drama."
Regarding viewers who were conscious of real-world politics while watching the show, he emphasized, "I believe everything is seen only as much as one [chooses to] see." He continued, "Some people will focus more on the acting battles between the young actors, while others will pick up on the political codes. As long as an election is the subject in Korea, that's inevitable. It wasn't that we set out with a particular aim to reflect politics — it just came about naturally."
He also said, "Including elements of elections and political codes wasn't meant to provoke arguments, but I hoped it would serve as a trigger to spark discussions." In that sense, he hinted that certain aspects of the K-drama do reflect parts of real-world politics.
He explained, "Especially in the ending scene, there's a part we drew from real-life politics. I thought about those who serve a first term as a member of the National Assembly and then leave politics. I felt that reflects a cross-section of Korean society."
He added, "Even when I watch The Fortress by director Hwang Dong Hyuk, whom I admire, I see that same aspect — that even in moments of crisis, fights emerge among factions. Hundreds of years have passed, and the name of the country has changed, yet I felt that nothing has changed at all between then and now," he said.
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