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15 Korean Shows on Netflix You Don’t Want to Sleep On
By Marissa Wu,
8 days ago
If you weren’t paying attention to K-dramas before the advent of Squid Game in 2021, the smash Netflix hit was sure to put the genre on your radar—and at the top of your queue. Growing up, my peers were obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, but it took me until the year I lived at home, post-university, to see what I was missing. But as my mom and brother motored through Korean shows on Netflix with no signs of stopping, I couldn’t help but watch over their shoulders—eventually joining them on the couch. From tear-jerking Mr. Sunshine and heartbreaking Twenty Five Twenty One to swoonworthy rom-coms like Crash Landing on You and Start-Up , below, I’ve rounded up 15 Korean shows on Netflix that you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
Mr. Sunshine is LONG—24 episodes that clock almost an hour and half each—but is definitely one of my family’s top picks when it comes to Korean shows on Netflix…and in general. “If you’re into history, it’s actually a patriotic movie,” my mom says. “Some people don’t like it because it’s slow.” Yes, it takes 24 mind-bogglingly long episodes to reach the finale, but each one is packed with details and history. My mom likens it to Lord of the Rings with the number of storylines going on. It’s a tale of two young people on the cusp of great change in Korea as the falling empire tries to stave off foreign interference from both the U.S. and Japan. There’s a love story, political intrigue and betrayal. As someone who really doesn’t watch television at all, I was completely hooked and heartbroken.
I’m a total sucker for a romantic comedy and Crash Landing on You is cute in the cringiest way. South Korean heiress Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) is stranded in North Korea after a paragliding accident and ends up at the mercy of a handsome—and conflicted—North Korean army captain, Ri Jeong Hyeok (Hyun Bin). With the help of his hilarious junior officers (who eventually come to love Se-ri, too), Jeong Hyeok shows her their way of life as they try to get her home. To do so, they must undermine conniving and corrupt officials and family members. Naturally, they begin falling in love and realize that maybe fate has orchestrated everything, after all. I promise you will be a puddle by the final episode as justice is served and our two lovebirds find their way to each other. And you know what the cutest thing is? The two costars ended up getting married in real life after they wrapped the show.
If you like ghost stories, I recommend Hotel del Luna for equal parts humor, a little horror and tragedy, of course. It’s one of Korea’s highest-rated dramas in cable history, no surprise. My brother watched this several years ago and I remember lurking over his shoulder, watching as Jang Man-wol (IU) blackmailed Goo Chan-seong (Yeo Jin-goo) into managing her luxury hotel for ghosts in transit to the afterlife. At the center of the drama (including body swapping and loaning) is a mysterious tree and curse that dates back a millennia.
Not going to lie, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is one of the darker Korean shows on Netflix—but absolutely worth the watch. It addresses the heavy topics of mental illness, autism and family trauma but does so deftly and with compassion. No wonder The New York Times named it one of 2020’s best international shows. In this show, we see Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun) struggling to care for his brother who has autism, Sang Tae (Oh Jung-se) while also working in a hospital psychiatric ward. Sang Tae’s trauma over witnessing their mother’s murder forces the brothers to move frequently. Their paths collide with Sang Tae’s favorite children’s author, Ko Moon-young (Seo Yea-ji), when she shows up at the hospital where Gang-tae is working. Though rumored to have antisocial personality disorder, Moon-young bonds with Gang-tae, and soon the trio find out they’re more intricately connected than they previously believed. In addition to The New York Times acknowledgement, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay was also nominated for an international Emmy in the Best TV Movie or Miniseries category.
Twenty Five Twenty One is one of my roommate’s and her twin sister’s favorite Korean shows on Netflix. (Her sister swears it’s endgame and cannot watch any more dramas.) It also holds the distinction of being one of Korea’s highest-rated dramas in cable television history. This is the bittersweet tale of young love destined to fail. Na Hee-do’s (Kim Tae-ri) fencing dreams are crushed in the wake of the 1990s Asian financial crisis, so she transfers schools to train with her idol. There, she meets Baek Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk), whose chaebol family has declared bankruptcy, forcing him to forge a new life. The story is told as a flashback as Hee-do’s daughter reads her diary in the present day.
A lot of these Korean shows on Netflix are quite dramatic, but in comparison, Start-Up is rather lighthearted and could be a true romantic comedy. (With just a hint of tragedy, of course.) The story follows aspiring entrepreneur Seo Dal-mi (Bae Suzy) as she fights to fulfill her dream of launching a start-up, all while bouncing in a love triangle between Nam Do-san (Nam Joo-hyuk), who she believes is her childhood crush, and Han Ji-pyeong (Kim Seon-ho), whose past intersects with her family’s more than she realizes. It’s feel-good, super cute, with the high stakes of a Silicon Valley-esque setting that keeps the tension sharp. It has both my and my mom’s stamp of approval—though I would tell you to root for Do-san, while she’s firmly on team Ji-pyeong.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo was one of Korean television network ENA’s most successful series, clocking in as the seventh most watched. It follows the escapades of rookie attorney Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin), a young woman with Asperger’s syndrome. She is fascinated by whales and other marine mammals and faces much prejudice from law firms unwilling to hire her due to her neurodivergence. Thanks to her father’s connections, she lands a job at a prestigious law firm. However, tensions arise as both Young-woo and her colleagues must learn how to work together to solve the cases that come their way.
My mom also ranks Itaewon Class among her favorite Korean shows on Netflix, and it won Best Drama Series at the 25th Asian Television Awards. The title is a reference to a Seoul neighborhood known for its nightlife and restaurants. After an accident kills his father, Park Sae-ro-yi (Park Seo-jun) seeks revenge on the perpetrator’s son. The problem: The man responsible, Jang Dae-hee, runs the Jangga Group, a powerful corporation. Sae-ro-yi’s assault lands him in prison. Once released, he heads to Itaewon, where he opens a restaurant, dreaming of growing it into a major competitor of Jangga Group.
If you’ve ever wanted a peek into the crazy and cutthroat world of Asian academics, Sky Castle manages to make college admissions worthy of intrigue, backstabbing, conniving…even death. In a wealthy enclave in Seoul, ambitious mothers Han Seo-jin (Yum Jung-ah), Lee Soo-im (Lee Tae-ran), No Seung-hye (Yoon Se-ah), Jin Jin-hee (Oh Na-ra) and Kim Joo-young (Kim Seo-hyung) plot out their children’s futures and are willing to do anything to get ahead. Because here, you’re not successful unless your children are.
One of 2021’s biggest series was inarguably Squid Game , and it surpassed Bridgerton that year as Netflix’s most watched show. It also raked in tons of awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for O Yeong-su, a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung, respectively, plus 14 Emmy Awards. The series follows 456 contestants as they compete in ruthless and fatal children’s games for the chance to win ₩45.6 billion (about $32.8 million). Season two drops later this year.
Cast: Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Andrea Bang, Simu Liu
Episodes: 13
This isn’t a traditional drama, but it does follow a Korean-Canadian family and their convenience store, with all the mishaps and cultural clashes that come with it. (The first episode is titled, “Gay Discount.”) It stars Simu Liu as estranged son Jung; Andrea Bang as his sister, Janet; Jean Yoon as Umma (mom) and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa (dad).
If you enjoyed Extraordinary Attorney Woo , my mom recommends Law School . However, instead of being a feel-good legal comedy, we have a gnarly whodunit. Kim Beom and Ryu Hye-young star as law students thrust into an extraordinary case when a law school professor is found dead during a mock trial class. Together with their classmates, they must solve the crime and prove another professor’s innocence.
If you like revenge movies, my mom recommends Vincenzo . It was one of 2021’s most-viewed Korean shows on Netflix, and follows Korean-Italian lawyer Vincenzo Cassano, who is also a member of the mafia. When his adoptive brother attempts to kill him, Vincenzo flees to South Korea where he plans to recover a gold stash he helped a now-deceased client hide in Seoul. However, the building is now in the hands of the Babel Group, whose existence is more sinister than it appears.
K-dramas have a reputation for inundating you with episodes, but Bloodhounds has just eight—but not at all to the detriment of the series. What follows is an inspiring story about two young boxers working with a moneylender to take down a viscous loan shark who preys on the financially vulnerable. Woo Do-hwan stars as Kim Geon-woo, a former Marine and boxing prospect, while Lee Sang-yi is Hong Woo-jin, Geon-woo’s partner.
Both my mom and brother recommend The King: Eternal Monarch . Dive into a story of parallel universes, in which titular character Lee Gon (Lee Min-Ho) discovers a portal to a parallel world. Haunted by his father’s assassination 25 years prior, a mystery remains—the identity of Lee Gon’s savior. When their worlds collide, they must join forces to defeat his uncle, Lee Lim (Lee Jung-jin), who is assembling armies in both worlds to topple the throne.
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