Jin Soo-Kwon

Name: Jin Soo-Kwon

Occupation: Employee of Mr Paik¹

First Appearance: 1×01 – Pilot, Part One

Timeline

Pre-Island

Jin and Sun were in love, but he was a poor match and the only thing he could offer her was a white flower². When he asked her father Mr Paik for her hand, Paik approved on the condition that he join his company and work for him³.

When they were married, Jin postponed his and Sun’s honeymoon so he could prove himself to Mr Paik⁴.

Some time later, at which point Jin’s long work hours had begun to alienate Sun, one of the factories Jin managed had an accident. Paik unexpectedly promoted Jin to his special assistant and sent him to deliver a message to the Secretary for Environmental Safety, Byung Han. Jin delivered the message verbally and was confused by Han’s relieved attitude.

The factory was soon shut down, however, and Paik, disgusted by the way Jin delivered the message, sent him back to Han’s house with another man to kill him. However, Jin viciously beat Han in order to save his life⁵. When he returned home covered in someone else’s blood, Sun demanded to know what he did for her father, Jin replied that he did whatever he told him to do – for them⁶. After a horrified Sun left him alone, he broke down in tears⁷.

When the pressure of Jin’s work for Mr Paik and his crumbling marriage proved too much, he returned home to apologize to his father, who he had told everyone was dead. His father told him he needed to leave it all behind and tend to his marriage, and suggested he take advantage of his upcoming trip to Sydney and Los Angeles on Paik’s behalf to start a new life with Sun in America⁸.

At Sydney airport, Jin bought Sun a white flower to wear and it was, unbeknown to him, instrumental in Sun’s decision not to leave him⁹.

On the Island

Jin searches for Sun in the aftermath of the crash of Oceanic 815, later insisting that she stay close to him at all times. The next day when a fellow survivor tries to take shelter from a sudden storm with the two of them, Jin shouts at him in Korean until he moves on.¹⁰

He gathered some sea urchin and tried to distribute them amongst the other survivors, although his lack of English caused some difficulty. The only person who had any was Claire – who was delighted that the food made her baby move for the first time since the crash.¹¹

A few days later, Jin told Sun not to concern herself on the island, and that he would tell her what to do. He later traded some fish to Sawyer so she could have some water¹².

The next morning, Jin saw Michael wearing Mr Paik’s watch and attacked him. The fight was split up by Sawyer and Sayid, who cuffed Jin to wreckage until he could find out what happened. Jin refused to allow Sun to explain the situation, but Michael later freed Jin himself, returning the watch. Jin and Sun then relocated to the caves with Jack and some of the other survivors¹³.

The following day, Jin was part of a group who tried to rescue Jack after he was trapped in a cave-in¹⁴.

The next day, Michael helped Sun gather eucalyptus leaves to help Shannon, much to Jin’s disapproval¹⁵.

Days later, Jin and Hurley bonded over fishing – although Jin refused to pee on Hurley’s foot¹⁶.

After Claire returned to the group, Jin was knocked out by Ethan while talking to Charlie. When Sun tended his injury, he told her that he didn’t know why he was attacked but he knew it was caused by something the other survivors had done¹⁷.

Jin and Michael almost came to blows again when Sun fell as Jin tried to cover her up so others wouldn’t see her in her bikini, but Sun stepped in and slapped Michael. Later, when Michael’s raft was burned many immediately thought that Jin was responsible – even Sun once she saw he had burned his hands. Disgusted, Jin left and slept in the jungle¹⁸.

The next day he was ‘captured’ by Sawyer and dragged back to the beach where Michael punched him to the ground again and again, accusing him of the arson. Sun eventually stopped him by screaming at him to stop in English – much to Jin’s surprise. Locke also came to his defense by pointing out it was more likely that others like Ethan had burned the raft¹⁹.

Jin moved from the caves and left Sun alone, unable to forgive her and unable to go back to how things were at the start despite her tears, and started to help Michael rebuild his raft²⁰.

Timeline

1. 1×06 [↩]
2. 1×06 [↩]
3. 1×17 [↩]
4. 1×17 [↩]
5. 1×17 [↩]
6. 1×06 [↩]
7. 1×17 [↩]
8. 1×17 [↩]
9. 1×06 [↩]
10. 1×01 [↩]
11. 1×02 [↩]
12. 1×05 [↩]
13. 1×06 [↩]
14. 1×07 [↩]
15. 1×08 [↩]
16. 1×13 [↩]
17. 1×15 [↩]
18. 1×17 [↩]
19. 1×17 [↩]
20. 1×17 [↩]

Tags: Characters, Jin