Kang Ho-dong, who debuted in 1993, has reinvented himself as a bookstore owner.
“Kang Ho-dong’s Neighborhood Bookstore,” a Coupang Play variety series that premiered on the 6th, casts Kang as Hokrates, an INFP bookstore owner with a booming voice and a gentle heart. He invites customers into his shop and leads candid conversations as they share their life stories.
Socrates’ disciple Hokrates is written as an immortal who has spent millennia studying human nature and searching for life’s answers. After living many lives—as a philosopher, an ordinary citizen, an athlete, an adviser and a host—Hokrates opens a small bookstore in 2026 in the world’s cutest neighborhood, “Kang Ho-dong,” and begins welcoming customers.
Kang fully inhabits the Hokrates role. His eager greetings and trademark ebullience immediately draw viewers in. With the show’s premiere guest, actor Ha Jung-woo, Kang establishes natural chemistry from their first exchange, trading lively banter and guiding the conversation with warm reactions and well-timed questions.
He leans on his strengths as a talk-show host to anchor the series from the start, listening intently to guests’ book recommendations and life stories, steering discussions into deeper territory and showcasing the hosting craft he’s honed across years of variety television.
“Kang Ho-dong’s Neighborhood Bookstore” streams every Friday at 4 p.m. on Coupang Play.
Jung Se-yoon, TenAsia reporter yoon@tenasia.co.kr
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