Actor Won Bin and Lee Na Young are not just dating. It's love, according to their management agency, Eden Nine Entertainment Agency, which represents both of them.
While finally owning up to the existence of the romantic relationship between their stars, they also offered some insight on how the couple got to know each other better.
"They got close recently when they kept running into each other because they are both under the same management agency," said an Eden representative. Lee Na Young joined Eden Nine in 2011.
When the agency was first asked about the couple's relationship, they denied the rumors, saying that the couple was more like brother and sister. They were definitely not dating.
But then an investigative effort by reporters proved that the couple was in a romantic relationship. Reporters tracked the couple's movements over several weeks, recording several long and even some overnight visits by the actor to the Bundang apartment belonging to the actor. They published photos showing Won Bin leaving lee Na Young's apartment on the day after he arrived.
The agency had no choice but to confirm the relationship and then added that Won Bin, who appeared in the drama "Friends" and the film "The Man From Nowhere," was not only seeing Lee Na Young but he was head-over-heels in love with her.
The relationship was news to Won Bin's mother but she took it calmly, displaying her faith in her son's choices. When a reporter went to the actor's hometown to ask her if she knew about the couple, she said, "I didn't know that he was seeing Lee Na Young. Whether he dates or gets married, I have faith that he will make the right choice."
On a related note, some fans are wondering whether the news of her relationship had anything to do with Lee Na Young declining a prime role. She was a finalist in the running for a role in "Medical Top Team," a drama directed by the Kim Do Hoon, who directed "The Moon Embracing The Sun." She would have co-starred with actor Kwon Sang Woo.
Sources close to Lee Na Young say the decision was not related. She had already chosen not to take the role and she is currently considering another piece. The actress played Jini in "The Fugitive: Plan B" and detective Cha Eun Young in the film "Howling."