Approaching Lost

Lost - Character Profile - Jin Kwon

by Nikki on December 9th, 2007

Lost
Character Profile
Jin Kwon

Actor: Daniel Dae Kim

On Flight 815: Jin was delivering watches for his boss, Mr. Paik - Sun’s father, in Sydney and then L.A.

Profession: Worked for Mr. Paik. Prior to that he was a doorman at a hotel.

Prior to the Crash:
Jin-Soo Kwon was born in South Korea to a fisherman and a prostitute. His mother left Jin and his father when he was young and his father told him that his mother died. Even though he wasn’t sure if he was the true father, the fisherman raised Jin.

When Jin became an adult he applied to work at Seoul Gateway Hotel. Jin lets in a disheveled man’s son to use the hotel toilets and the owner rebukes Jin. Jin quits on the spot and bumps into Sun. Jin works as a waiter and then visits Mr. Paik to ask for Sun’s hand in marriage. Mr. Paik gives him a job as a floor manager and then “promotes” him to be an “enforcer” within the company.

Sun is unaware of the promotion and their marriage becomes strained. The pair attempts to conceive a child but they are unsuccessful. After a visit with a fertility doctor, Jin becomes angry upon learning that Sun cannot conceive. The doctor later tells Sun that Jin is the one who cannot conceive.

Later, Jin is sent on a secret mission to deliver watches to one of Mr. Paik’s associates in Sydney and Los Angeles. Jin takes Sun with him, telling her that it is a vacation. Before leaving Korea, Jin visits with his father, who tells him to stay in the United States and never return.

After the Crash:
Jin is overly protective of Sun after the crash and it is difficult for him to deal with the other survivors because he does not speak English. He takes over the task of fisherman and feeds sea urchin to the Losties. He gets into a fight with Michael over a watch that Michael found that Jin thought he had stolen. Because of the language barrier neither understands what is really going on and they get into a fight. Sayid handcuffs Jin to a piece of the wreckage.

Later, during another scuffle, Sun speaks English to Michael to beg him to stop beating Jin. Jin is upset that she kept this secret from him and he leaves her. He decides to go on the raft that Michael has built. In a sign of truce Sun writes Jin a phrasebook that links English words to Korean phonetics. She begs him not to leave but Jin wants to find help to rescue them. They reconcile and the raft departs.

Jin sails away in search of rescue with Sawyer, Michael, whom he has now become good friends with, and Walt. Walt is taken by pirates and the raft is blown apart. Jin washes ashore and is captured by the Tailies. Jin, Sawyer, Michael, and the Tailies make their way to the other survivors’ camp and Jin and Sun reconcile.

Jin fears for Sun’s safety after she is kidnapped and tells her she cannot go to the garden. He even rips it apart. Sun returns to the beach, where she begins feeling light-headed. She asks Sawyer for a pregnancy test. It is positive. Sun tells Jin and also tells him that he is infertile, but swears that she has slept with no other.

Later, Sayid asks Jin to sail with him to the Others’ camp using Desmond’s boat. Sun says that if he goes, she must go to translate. Jin and Sun travel with Sayid.

Days after returning, Sun starts speaking to Jin in English, in an attempt to help him learn. Jin is stubborn, and is left to help Hurley overturn a van in the jungle.

When Juliet arrives back at camp, Jin shares everyone’s dislike of her. Later, Jin joins Hurley, Charlie and Desmond on a trek into the jungle. They discover Naomi hanging in a tree. After helping Naomi, Jin pursues Mikhail when he steals her satellite phone. The four take her back to the camp and hide her in Hurley’s tent.

When Karl arrives to warn the Losties of the Others’ imminent arrival, Jin volunteers to stay behind and detonate the dynamite inside the targeted tents, along with Sayid and Bernard. That night, Jin’s inaccuracy causes the plan to backfire, and three are taken hostage by the surviving Others. The next day, Jin is held at gunpoint in order for the Others to extract the camp’s initial plan from Bernard. The three are saved when Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet arrive on the beach and eliminate the Others.

During Season 4 the Losties split up and Jin and Sun stay with Jack and the freighter people. There Jin learns that Sun had an affair while they were married. He ultimately forgives her and says if they have a girl baby, he wants to name it Ji Yeon.

Off the Island:
Jin does not make it off the island. The date of his death, on the gravestone, is the date that the island crashed.

Key Character Relations:
Hurley - Indirectly. The daughter of the man who he is supposed to assassinate is watching the news of Hurley winning the lottery.
Sun - He and Sun are married.

Image used with permission from Newscom

Share This

Related Stories

• Lost - Upcoming Death
• Lost - Season 4 - More on the Death
• Lost Character Profiles
• Lost - The Oceanic 6
• Top 50 - Lost Characters

POSTED IN: Daniel Dae Kim, Jin Kwon