Ballad of Seodong

Ballad of Seodong
Promotional poster
Also known as	Ballad of Suhdong Seodong's Song Song of the Prince
Genre	Period drama Romance Drama
Written by	Kim Young-hyun
Directed by	Lee Byung-hoon MBC
Starring	Jo Hyun-jae Lee Bo-young Ryu Jin
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	55
Production
Producer	Kim Kyung-min
Production company	Kim Jong-hak Production
Original release
Network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Release	5 September 2005 (2005-09-05) – 21 March 2006 (2006-03-21)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Ballad of Seodong (Korean: 서동요; Hanja: 薯童謠; RR: Seodong-yo) is a South Korean television series starring Jo Hyun-jae, Lee Bo-young, and Ryu Jin. It aired on SBS from September 5, 2005 to March 21, 2006 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 55 episodes.^[1][2]

The period drama is based on Seodong-yo, said to be one of Korea's oldest folk songs and its first hyangga. According to the Samguk Yusa ("Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms") from the Silla Kingdom, the song was written by Seodong, a commoner from the Baekje Kingdom. Hearing that Princess Seonhwa, daughter of King Jinpyeong of Silla, was beautiful, he writes a song saying that the princess visits Seodong's room every night, and it quickly spreads throughout the kingdom and beyond, until it reaches the palace in Silla. When her father hears the song, he condemns the innocent princess to exile. Seodong finds Seonhwa, marries her and takes her to Baekje, and they become the royal rulers of the country.^[3]