Entertainment Sep. 15, 2009 - 04:03AM JST ( 4 )

TOKYO —

Japan’s next prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and his wife Miyuki took a moment to reach out to Asia on Monday by meeting South Korean heart-throb actor Lee Seo-Jin. Lee, 36, who has starred in a number of period dramas, said he gave a Korean tea set and DVDs of his movies to the soon-to-be first couple.

“Prime minister Hatoyama is a cool, handsome man,” Lee said after the meeting, referring to the incoming leader by the title he formally takes on Wednesday. “He said he will refer to my dramas when he conducts political affairs.”

Lee is a U.S.-educated actor who became popular for his starring role in the 2003 drama “Damo,” about detectives during the Chosun Dynasty hundreds of years ago.

A series of South Korean TV dramas, including “Yi San” (King Jeongjo) from 2007 to 2008 and “Soul” in 2009, have made him a major star in Asia.

Lee told reporters he had mentioned that the Asian neighbors had last year marked the 10th anniversary of South Korea’s opening its cultural market to Japanese products.

Seoul had long banned imports of Japanese culture out of lingering public resentment over Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

The next first lady, a 66-year-old former actress, has drawn headlines since her husband’s historic election win last month, having once remarked that she dreamed she took a UFO to Venus and that she met Tom Cruise in a past life.

“I knew she was a real character,” Lee said about Miyuki. “We had an upbeat chat in English about drama.”

Wire reports