Park Ji-hoon Trades Heroics for Culinary Skills in New Drama

Park Ji-hoon is starring in the upcoming TVING series Kitchen Soldier, based on a popular webtoon of the same name. Park will play Kang Sung-jae, a 20-something man who is down on his luck and finds his calling in the unlikeliest of places—the army kitchen.

Helmed by director Jo Nam-hyung, the show is a fantasy comedy drama that follows Sung-jae’s journey from a new army recruit to a master chef. While he makes a good first impression, he soon struggles to find his place in this new environment. That’s when things get really interesting—he’s drawn to the military kitchen by a cryptic voice that only he can hear, and also discovers an extraordinary ability to see recipes like a game screen. As cooking slowly becomes his thing, Sung-jae rises through the ranks to become a culinary star in the Korean Armed Forces.

After his success in the intense action high school drama Weak Hero Class 2 and a cameo in the romantic comedy Tastefully Yours (2025), Park Ji-hoon returns with Kitchen Soldier. The South Korean actor and former Wanna One member is a household name, having starred in hit TV series like Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency (2019), Love Revolution (2020), At a Distance, Spring Is Green (2021), and Weak Hero Class 1 and 2 (2022-2025).

This new drama also includes actors Yoon Kyung-ho as the pompous Sergeant Park Jae-young, Han Dong-hee as the tough-as-nails Lieutenant Cho Ye-rin, and Lee Dong-nae as Sergeant Yoon Dong-hyun, a lovable but hapless cook. While Park Jae-young is known for being a mishap magnet, things get even worse with the arrival of Kang Sung-jae, who comes across as a recipe for disaster. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Cho Ye-rin is the high-achieving type who’s got her life together. That is, until Sung-jae shows up. There’s also Yoon Dong-hyun, the kitchen sergeant who’s always getting roasted for his bad cooking skills, until Sung-jae steps into the kitchen and stirs the pot even further.

The show is expected to arrive next year with an exact release date yet to be announced.