Go Mi-Ja is a major supporting character in the romcom series, Welcome to Samdal-ri. The character is played by Kim Mi-kyung.
Cho Sam-Dal lost everything when her assistant made a fake allegation against her which led to a media frenzy that painted her as an abusive boss, which essentially ruined her career.
During such a tough time, Sam-Dal thinks of the one place she can go to be away and safe from the flood of reporters pouring into her house. So she and her sisters return to their childhood home in Samdal-ri.
A leader
Go Mi-Ja is Cho Sam-Dal, Cho Jin-dal, and Cho Hae-Dal’s mother. She is an old yet strong woman who is the leader of the Haenyo — a group of female divers whose livelihood consists of harvesting seaweed, mollusks, and other sea life from the ocean.
As the leader of the Haenyo, she commands respect from not only her fellow female divers but from the entire village.
She is known to everyone and there’s a respect and admiration that everyone treats her with on the island.
Along with Cho Yong-Pil’s late mother Bu Mi-Ja, she was one of the youngest female divers who were fearless and peerless in their work, even making their way into the local Jeju Island museum as a crucial part of the region’s history.
A fierce mother
Go Mi-Ja has a tough exterior but inside all that stern facade is a kind-hearted mother who cares deeply about her daughters.
Cho Sam-Dal and her have had their little issues and disagreements in the past but Mi-Ja has always been proud of her daughter for working hard and making a life for her that she can be proud of.
She even secretly keeps tabs on her daughters and how they’re faring in Seoul, but treats them with tough love when they are home while changing nothing about her parenting from when they were younger.
She also has little quirks that the village is very familiar with by now.
For instance, when she becomes furious about something — like something to do with her daughters — she gets out of the house early in the morning, in her pajamas no less, and does marathon laps around the village.
Go Mi-Ja may not want to seem that way, but she loves her daughters too much and would fight anyone and everyone to defend them if she has to.
Also Read: Cho Yong-Pil: Welcome to Samdal-ri character explained