Korea's 90s Supermodels Are Back — and Already Clashing

Two of South Korea's most iconic 1990s supermodels haven't really been in the same room together for over fifteen years. Now, MBC is putting them in the same Paris apartment — and from what the teasers are showing, the reunion is going to be a lot of things, including tense.

Sora and Jinkyung (소라와 진경), a new MBC reality show, follows Lee So-Ra and Hong Jin-kyung as they attempt to walk the runway at Paris Fashion Week — the same stage that defined their careers three decades ago. The show premieres on Saturday, April 26, at 9:10 PM KST, with MCs Lee Dong-hwi and Kim Won-hoon providing commentary from the studio.

It's a premise that works on multiple levels. On the surface, it's a comeback story: two women in their fifties returning to an industry that tends to ignore anyone who isn't young. But the more compelling layer is the relationship at the center of it — a friendship that cooled somewhere along the way, the reasons for which the show is apparently in no hurry to explain.

A 15-Year Gap and an Apartment in Paris

The third teaser for Sora and Jinkyung, released on April 15, offered viewers their sharpest look yet at what the dynamic between the two women actually looks like. The answer: complicated, almost immediately.

The clip shows Lee So-Ra and Hong Jin-kyung navigating life in a shared Paris apartment — a living arrangement that turns out to be a very quick test of compatibility. The conflict that emerges? Laundry. Specifically, the debate between machine washing and hand washing becomes a flashpoint for an underlying tension that clearly runs deeper than laundry.

"There's something they haven't said to each other in fifteen years," the show's promotional materials tease — and from the footage available, the audience is left to wonder what exactly that something is. The season's narrative arc around Paris Fashion Week gives the story a competitive and physical stakes, but the emotional core seems to be about two people figuring out who they are to each other now, compared to who they were.

Lee So-Ra is a name synonymous with the golden era of Korean fashion. She was among the first generation of Korean supermodels to gain wide recognition, known for her commanding runway presence and striking features. Hong Jin-kyung, meanwhile, has become one of the most beloved television personalities in Korea — a comedian, talk show host, YouTuber with millions of followers, and someone who has never quite left the public eye since her modeling days. The two women share a generation and an industry, but their paths diverged dramatically, and that divergence is clearly part of what the show plans to explore.

Lee Dong-hwi and Kim Won-hoon: The MCs Who Can't Look Away

Every great reality show needs people watching alongside the audience, and Sora and Jinkyung has made two strong choices. Actor Lee Dong-hwi and comedian Kim Won-hoon will serve as studio MCs, reacting to the Paris footage and guiding the conversation.

Lee Dong-hwi brings immediate credibility to the role. The actor — best known for his long run on Reply 1988 and his supporting role in the globally streamed Squid Game — has spoken openly about Hong Jin-kyung being something of a role model for him. He's also carved out a reputation as one of Korean entertainment's quiet fashion obsessives, which makes him a natural fit for a show built around the world of haute couture.

"The chemistry between the MC pair and the two women they're watching is part of what makes this format work," the production team noted. "Lee Dong-hwi's genuine appreciation for Hong Jin-kyung means he's not an outside observer — he has real stakes in what she pulls off."

Kim Won-hoon's role is a different kind of milestone. The comedian — who debuted through KBS's 30th comedian recruitment class in 2015 and married in 2022 — has built a following for his ability to match energy with almost any room. Sora and Jinkyung marks his first fixed MC position on MBC, a first in his eleven-year career despite having appeared across multiple networks and formats.

Kim Won-hoon's own connection to Lee So-Ra gives the MC dynamic an unexpected warmth. While Lee Dong-hwi bonds with Hong Jin-kyung, Kim Won-hoon brings his own relationship with the other protagonist — a pairing that keeps the show from feeling like two separate shows happening at once.

Paris Fashion Week as the Backdrop — and the Challenge

The decision to stage the show's central challenge at Paris Fashion Week is both dramatically rich and genuinely ambitious. The city is the world's most scrutinized runway, and the teasers make clear that the path there isn't going to be smooth. Earlier footage showed the very real obstacles the two women face in attempting to re-enter a fashion industry that has changed substantially since their heyday.

The framing is intentional. This isn't nostalgia programming dressed up as competition — it's something closer to an honest look at what it costs to attempt reinvention at a stage of life when the world often stops looking. For Lee So-Ra and Hong Jin-kyung, the runway represents both a homecoming and an open question: does the thing you loved thirty years ago still want you back?

The production team has described the show as something that will move between high fashion and genuine emotional stakes, with the studio MC portion serving as a counterpoint — the warmth and humor that grounds the more serious Paris sequences. "What viewers see in Lee Dong-hwi and Kim Won-hoon's reactions will mirror what the audience at home is feeling," the production team said. "Their over-the-top investment in every moment becomes another layer of the show."

What to Watch For When the Show Premieres

MBC has been steady in building anticipation for Sora and Jinkyung, releasing three teasers across several weeks. Each one has sharpened the picture: the first established the challenge and the stakes, the second introduced the Paris setting and the fashion industry's formidable demands, and the third zeroed in on the interpersonal tension that gives everything else its meaning.

The show arrives as Korean variety television continues to expand what the genre can explore. Alongside competitive programs and celebrity travel shows, there's growing space for reality formats that center on women in their fifties and the specific kind of reckoning that comes with that life stage. Sora and Jinkyung slots neatly into that conversation — not as a message show, but as something that seems genuinely curious about what these two women have to say to each other, and to the audience watching them.

Sora and Jinkyung premieres Saturday, April 26, at 9:10 PM KST on MBC.

For longtime fans of both women, the show represents a rare opportunity to see figures who defined an era step back into the frame. Hong Jin-kyung has remained visible as a media personality, but Lee So-Ra's return to a runway-centered project carries a different weight — the kind of visibility she built her career on, now viewed through a completely different lens.

That's ultimately what the show's title captures. Sora and Jinkyung isn't about two models. It's about two people who happen to have been models, who have fifteen years of silence between them, and who are now in a Paris apartment trying to figure out where they actually stand. The laundry argument is a detail. The question underneath it is much larger — and MBC is betting that audiences will want to watch it play out in real time.