Lee Minho Needs His Notes App

Four years ago, the actor and singer Lee Minho was yearning for a shift in his career. It was around this time that he received the script for Season 1 of “Pachinko,” the drama that follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family, based on the novel by Min Jin Lee.

“I found it to be fateful, in a way,” Lee said. “When I first read the script, I felt that this was a story that would resonate with people of the present and the future, transcending time.”

Lee, 37, is one of the most popular actors in South Korea, having broken out playing the lead role in the Korean TV series “Boys Over Flowers.” In “Pachinko,” created by Soo Hugh and now in its second season on Apple TV+, Lee plays Koh Hansu, a morally ambiguous broker at a local fish market who becomes involved in a thorny love affair with the show’s central character, Sunja (Minha Kim), and fathers her son, Noa (Park Jae-joon).

Lee was drawn to the pathos of his character. “My heart was breaking for him, and I pitied him, too, because of his way of living and the methods he had to choose for his survival,” he said.

In a video call from Seoul, Lee talked about the music he listened to while on set, his favorite video game and how he prepares for roles by writing. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

I had an opportunity to think really deeply about the meaning of family by playing the role of Hansu. From Hansu’s perspective, the people who remind him of his being are Sunja and Noa. Just like that, the people who make me realize who I am are the people who are close to me.