Best Korean Dramas of All Time
These are the Korean dramas we think every fan should see: the ones people keep rewatching, recommending and quoting years after they aired. The list mixes long-loved classics with newer hits and covers romance, thrillers, fantasy, history and quiet family stories.
How we picked: we started from what viewers rate highest on fan-rating charts and what critics and audiences around the world keep praising, then our editors put the final 100 in order by overall impact, rewatch value and how well each story holds up. Every entry links to its own page with the full story, cast and details, and the list will keep changing as new dramas earn a place.
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1
When Life Gives You Tangerines
폭싹 속았수다
This story looks back on the youthful days of our parents, when life was uncertain but hearts were full.
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2
Twinkling Watermelon
반짝이는 워터멜론
Twinkling Watermelon tells the story of Eun Gyul, a CODA who is born to deaf parents but has a natural gift for music.
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3
Move to Heaven
무브 투 헤븐: 나는 유품정리사입니다
Han Geu Roo is a 20 year old autistic young man who works at his father’s company Move To Heaven, a crime scene cleanup service that collects the final belongings of the deceased and…
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4
Weak Hero: Class 1
약한영웅
An action-driven coming-of-age drama centered on Yun Shi Eun, a top student who consistently ranks in the top 1% of his school.
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5
Alchemy of Souls
환혼
Set in the fictional country of Daeho, the story follows young mages whose lives are twisted by a forbidden spell called the alchemy of souls, which allows souls to switch bodies.
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6
The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call
중증외상센터
Baek Gang-hyeok is a brilliant trauma surgeon who has worked in war zones, and he arrives at a university hospital with a big personality and no patience for red tape.
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7
Flower of Evil
악의 꽃
Baek Hui Seong appears to live a perfect life, with a successful career, a loving marriage, and a deep bond with his young daughter.
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8
Reply 1988
응답하라 1988
In a small Seoul neighborhood in the late 1980s, five families live so close that their doors are never really shut.
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9
Moving
무빙
Three high schoolers, Bong-seok, Hui-su and Gang-hoon, each have unusual powers they have to hide, inherited from parents who spent their own lives concealing the same secret.
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10
Hospital Playlist
슬기로운 의사생활
Five doctors who became friends in medical school in 1999 now work at the same hospital.
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11
Crash Landing on You
사랑의 불시착
Crash Landing on You follows Yoon Se Ri, a wealthy South Korean heiress who is accidentally swept into North Korea after a paragliding accident caused by strong winds.
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12
My Mister
나의 아저씨
Park Dong-hoon is a tired man in his forties who quietly carries a strained marriage, a difficult family and a workplace that has little use for him.
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13
The Glory
더 글로리
Moon Dong-eun was tormented so badly by her high school classmates that she had to drop out.
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14
Lovely Runner
선재 업고 튀어
Ryu Seon Jae is a top celebrity, dazzling fans and dominating the spotlight since his debut.
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15
Under the Queen's Umbrella
슈룹
Queen Im Hwa-ryeong is the wife of a great king, but she is no picture of quiet grace.
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16
Mr. Queen
철인왕후
After a serious accident, a modern-day chef named Jang Bong-hwan wakes up in the body of Queen Kim So-yong, in the Joseon court of the past.
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17
Guardian: The Lonely and Great God
쓸쓸하고 찬란하神
Kim Sin was once a legendary general in the Goryeo military who met a tragic death.
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18
Mr. Sunshine
미스터 션샤인
Born into slavery in Joseon, Choi Yu-jin escapes to America as a child and returns years later as an American soldier during the country’s troubled final years before colonial rule.
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19
Twenty-Five Twenty-One
스물다섯 스물하나
In 1998, in the shadow of a national financial crisis, high school fencer Na Hee-do dreams of becoming a champion.
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20
Squid Game
오징어 게임
Hundreds of players deep in debt accept a mysterious invitation to compete in children’s games for an enormous cash prize.
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21
Descendants of the Sun
태양의 후예
The story follows a romance that develops between a surgeon and a special forces officer. Kang Mo Yeon is a confident and principled cardiothoracic surgeon at Haesung Hospital.
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22
Vincenzo
빈센조
During a visit to his motherland, a Korean-Italian mafia lawyer gives an unrivaled conglomerate a taste of its own medicine with a side of justice.
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23
Signal
시그널
A criminal profiler in 2015 finds an old walkie-talkie and, to his shock, hears the voice of a detective in 1989.
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24
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
이상한 변호사 우영우
Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 27-year-old Woo Young Woo graduates top of her class at Seoul National University for both college and law school.
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25
It's Okay to Not Be Okay
사이코지만 괜찮아
Moon Gang Tae is a community health worker at a psychiatric hospital, gifted with intelligence, physical strength, patience, empathy, and quick judgment.
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26
My Dearest
연인
In the 1600s, as the Qing army sweeps into Joseon, a bold and slightly spoiled noblewoman named Yoo Gil-chae lives a sheltered life in her hometown.
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27
Prison Playbook
슬기로운 감빵생활
Star baseball pitcher Kim Je-hyuk is sentenced to a year in prison after a fight he tried to stop goes wrong.
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28
Death's Game
이재, 곧 죽습니다
After seven years of failed job searches, Choi I-jae has run out of hope and decides to end his life.
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29
The Uncanny Counter
경이로운 소문
Behind the counter of a small noodle restaurant, a group of demon hunters called Counters works in secret to catch evil spirits that have come to the human world.
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30
Kingdom
킹덤
When rumors spread that the Joseon king has died of smallpox, a powerful clan seizes control and declares the crown prince a traitor.
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31
Healer
힐러
Seo Jeong-hu works as a night courier known only as Healer, and for the right price he can get his clients almost anything.
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32
Daily Dose of Sunshine
정신병동에도 아침이 와요
Nurse Jung Da-eun is transferred to a psychiatric ward, a place she knows nothing about, and has to learn how to care for people whose pain she cannot see.
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33
D.P.
디피
Private An Jun-ho has served his time in the army without much fuss when he is suddenly assigned to the military's deserter-hunting unit.
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34
The Red Sleeve
옷소매 붉은 끝동
In eighteenth-century Joseon, Crown Prince Yi San is a perfectionist haunted by the death of his father and surrounded by court politics.
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35
Stranger
비밀의 숲
As a child, Hwang Si-mok had brain surgery that left him almost unable to feel emotion, and he has grown into a prosecutor known for cold logic and a sense of justice that cannot be bought.
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36
The First Responders
소방서 옆 경찰서
A police station and a fire department share the same neighborhood, and when a case needs both, they have to work side by side.
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37
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
역도요정 김복주
A story of love and dreams between three young potential athletes: weightlifter Kim Book Joo, swimmer Jung Joon Hyung, rhythmic-gymnast Song Shi Ho, and the nutritionist Jung Jae Yi, Joon…
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38
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
달의 연인 - 보보경심 려
During a total solar eclipse, Go Ha Jin is suddenly transported back in time to the early days of the Goryeo Dynasty during the reign of King Taejo.
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39
Bloodhounds
사냥개들
Two young boxers meet in the ring and become friends: quiet rookie Kim Geon-u and talkative southpaw Hong U-jin.
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40
Resident Playbook
언젠가는 슬기로울 전공의 생활
At the Jongno branch of Yulje Medical Center, a group of young residents choose the obstetrics and gynecology department, a specialty few people want in an age of falling birth rates.
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41
Sweet Home
스위트홈
After losing his family, withdrawn teenager Cha Hyun-su moves into a run-down apartment building, hoping to be left alone.
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42
Beyond Evil
괴물
Twenty years ago a girl vanished from a quiet town, and her disappearance has never been solved. Now a series of new murders has shaken the same place.
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43
SKY Castle
SKY 캐슬
In SKY Castle, an exclusive residential complex outside Seoul, doctors, professors and lawyers compete fiercely to get their children into the country’s top universities.
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44
Youth of May
오월의 청춘
In Gwangju in 1980, medical student Hwang Hee-tae, a golden boy from a comfortable family, meets nursing student Kim Myung-hee, a girl who dreams of a better life.
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45
Queen of Tears
눈물의 여왕
Baek Hyun Woo, the pride of Yongduri, is the legal director of Queens Group, while chaebol heiress Hong Hae In reigns over its department stores.
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46
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
갯마을 차차차
After clashing with her boss, dentist Yoon Hye Jin leaves the city and heads to a quiet seaside village she used to visit as a child.
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47
Strong Girl Bong Soon
힘쎈여자 도봉순
Do Bong Sun is a petite, unemployed woman who is kind, honest, and gentle by nature.
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48
Our Unwritten Seoul
미지의 서울
Twin sisters Yoo Mi Ji and Yoo Mi Rae share the same face but lead completely different lives.
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49
Teach You a Lesson
참교육
The series follows the Educational Rights Protection Bureau (ERPB), a special organization created to restore order within South Korea’s collapsing school system, where teachers struggle…
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50
Mother
마더
Soo Jin is a quiet science teacher who notices that one of her young pupils is being hurt at home and that nobody around the girl will step in.
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51
The Good Bad Mother
나쁜엄마
Young Soon is a pig farmer who raised her son alone through sheer stubbornness, and her strictness has left him cold and distant.
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52
Navillera
나빌레라
At seventy, retired postman Deok Chul finally decides to chase the dream he buried decades ago and learn ballet.
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53
Mouse
마우스
What if a person's capacity for cruelty could be spotted before the first crime? A young police officer named Ba Reum barely survives an encounter with a killer who terrorises the country…
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54
Dr. Romantic
낭만닥터 김사부
Teacher Kim was once one of the best surgeons in the country, but he walked away and now works quietly at a small-town hospital under a fake name.
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55
Happiness
해피니스
In a near future where housing is out of reach, Sae Bom, a sharp police officer, wins a place in a long-awaited apartment tower by pretending to be married to an old school friend.
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56
Tomorrow
내일
Jun Ung cannot get hired anywhere and is about to give up when he saves a stranger on the edge of a bridge.
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57
Partners for Justice
검법남녀
Baek Beom is a brilliant but prickly forensic doctor who has spent ten years reading what the dead have left behind.
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58
Missing: The Other Side
미씽: 그들이 있었다
There is a village where the spirits of people who vanished are said to gather, and a small-time fraudster named Kim Uk stumbles right into it.
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59
Racket Boys
라켓소년단
A former badminton star moves his family to a tiny village at the far end of the country and ends up coaching the local middle school team, which has barely enough players to exist.
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60
The Guest
손: The Guest
A young man from a shaman family, a devout priest-in-training and a detective's daughter find themselves linked by a demon known as the Guest.
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61
The Penthouse: War in Life
펜트하우스
Hera Palace is a hundred-floor luxury apartment tower where the residents are rich, ambitious and hiding plenty.
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62
The Devil Judge
악마판사
In a near future where trust in the justice system has collapsed, the country tunes in to a televised courtroom run by a chief judge who is nicknamed the Devil.
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63
My Name
마이 네임
When her father is killed, Ji Woo decides to get close to the drug lord who gave the order.
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64
Through the Darkness
악의 마음을 읽는 자들
Seoul in the 1990s is being shaken by a series of brutal, apparently random attacks, and the police have nothing.
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65
Kill Me, Heal Me
킬미힐미
Do Hyeon is the heir to a big company, and behind his polished surface lives a mind split into seven distinct personalities after a painful childhood.
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66
Arthdal Chronicles
아스달 연대기
In an ancient, invented land, a young man named Eun Seom is raised among a hidden tribe and dreams of a world with no slaves.
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67
The Judge from Hell
지옥에서 온 판사
Kang Bit Na is a polished, upright judge who is secretly a demon sent to punish the worst of humankind and send them below.
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68
Strangers from Hell
타인은 지옥이다
Jong U leaves his hometown for a Seoul job and, unable to afford much, moves into a cheap, run-down boarding house called Eden.
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69
The Worst of Evil
최악의 악
In 1990s Seoul, a young police officer goes undercover to break a gang that is pushing a new drug across the city.
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70
All of Us Are Dead
지금 우리 학교는
A science experiment gone wrong turns a high school into the first place a zombie virus spreads.
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71
Life on Mars
라이프 온 마스
Han Tae Joo is a modern, by-the-numbers detective who trusts data over instinct. After an accident in the middle of a serial killer case he wakes up in the winter of 1988, working at a…
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72
Defendant
피고인
Jeong U is a proud prosecutor who wakes up one day as a prisoner on death row, accused of killing his wife and daughter.
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73
Chicago Typewriter
시카고 타자기
Se Ju is a bestselling novelist in slump, and a mysterious ghostwriter shows up offering to help. A fan-turned-rival with sharp eyes for detail keeps circling them both.
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74
Six Flying Dragons
육룡이 나르샤
As the Goryeo dynasty crumbles, a group of ambitious men and one bold young woman set out to build a new kingdom.
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75
Misaeng: Incomplete Life
미생
Geu Rae grew up training to be a professional Go player, but his dream ends and he stumbles into a trading company as a contract intern with no experience.
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76
My Perfect Stranger
어쩌다 마주친, 그대
Two strangers, a young news anchor and a woman who once wanted to become a writer, are thrown back to 1987 through a strange twist of fate.
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77
The Fiery Priest
열혈사제
Father Kim is a hot-tempered priest with a hidden past who becomes obsessed with a murder in his own church.
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78
Our Blues
우리들의 블루스
On the beautiful island of Jeju, the stories of many ordinary people cross paths: a truck-selling trader, a woman with a past she wants to leave behind, a ship captain in love, a pair of…
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79
Tunnel
터널
In 1986 a determined detective is hunting a serial killer when he slips through a tunnel and comes out in present-day Seoul, thirty years later.
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80
High School Return of a Gangster
조폭인 내가 고등학생이 되었습니다
Deuk Pal is a middle-aged gangster who always wished he had gone to school. After a strange event his spirit ends up in the body of a bullied teenager, and he gets his second chance at the…
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81
Jewel in the Palace
대장금
Jang Geum begins as an orphaned kitchen girl in the royal palace of Joseon and rises with talent and grit against every obstacle placed in front of her.
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82
Hot Stove League
스토브리그
The Dreams are a baseball team stuck at the bottom of the table, run by a lazy front office and a long line of losing seasons.
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83
Children of Nobody
붉은달 푸른해
Woo Kyung is a child counsellor who believes she has the perfect life until one tragic event upends it.
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84
Ghost Doctor
고스트 닥터
Young Min is a supremely talented but cold surgeon who dies in an accident, only for his spirit to end up in the body of Seung Tak, a rich, easygoing young resident who has no interest in…
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85
The Tale of Lady Ok
옥씨부인전
In Joseon, Ok Tae Yeong is a resourceful woman who is loved by everyone around her, but she carries a huge secret: her name, her marriage and even her status are all borrowed.
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86
Seoul Busters
강력하진 않지만 매력적인 강력반
The Second Violent Crimes Unit has the worst arrest record in the city and has just lost its leader.
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87
Law School
로스쿨
A death at a top law school shakes the students and staff who were all there that night.
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88
It's Okay, That's Love
괜찮아, 사랑이야
Jae Yeol is a famous mystery novelist and radio host with a sharp tongue and a very hidden set of worries.
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89
Big Mouth
빅마우스
Chang Ho is a failing lawyer known for big talk and small results who suddenly lands the case of a lifetime, one that puts a powerful person in danger.
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90
Blind
블라인드
A killer starts targeting the members of a jury, and the case pulls in a detective, his perfectionist judge brother and a kind-hearted social worker.
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91
Begins Youth
비긴즈 유스
Seven boys in the small town of Songju each carry something heavy, from family troubles and poverty to grief and loneliness.
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92
Empress Ki
기황후
A girl from Goryeo is taken to the Yuan empire as a palace servant and begins with nothing.
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93
18 Again
18 어게인
Dae Yeong is a tired, laid-off father of twins whose marriage has hit the rocks after years of small regrets.
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94
Dear My Friends
디어 마이 프렌즈
A translator keeps getting pulled into the company of her mother's friends, a lively group of older women and men who refuse to slow down.
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95
Vigilante
비질란테
By day Ji Yong is a model police-university student, and by night he hunts criminals the courts let off lightly, driven by the loss of his mother.
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96
The King of Pigs
돼지의 왕
Two men who were friends in school are reunited by a message from someone they have not heard from in twenty years, and old wounds from their bullied youth come back with it.
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97
Revenant
악귀
San Young is a struggling job seeker who is quietly taken over by a vengeful spirit after receiving a set of her late father's belongings.
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98
Welcome to Waikiki
으라차차 와이키키
Three friends who have never had much luck, an aspiring film director, an eccentric actor and a lazy writer, open a small guesthouse in Itaewon to fund their dream movie.
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99
The Kidnapping Day
유괴의 날
Myung Joon is a kind but desperate man who needs money for his sick daughter's surgery and agrees to kidnap a rich child.
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100
Live
라이브
Two young rookies, an unlucky man who dreamed of a steady civil-service job and a woman fighting the sexism of a male-dominated force, are assigned to the same busy neighbourhood police…
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Questions about this list
What is the best Korean drama of all time?
Opinions differ, but our editors put When Life Gives You Tangerines at the top of the list, followed by Twinkling Watermelon and Move to Heaven. You can open any entry to read the story, see the cast and check when and where it aired.
Where can I watch these K-dramas?
Streaming rights change from country to country and over time, so each drama page shows the network it originally aired on. Many of these series are available on services such as Netflix, Viki, Disney+, iQIYI or Prime Video depending on where you live.
How is this list ranked?
It is an editors’ list, not a vote. We started from fan-rating charts and long-running critical praise, then ranked the final 100 by overall impact, rewatch value and how well each story holds up. As DramaHog members rate dramas, community ratings will play a bigger part.
Episode, cast and poster data from TVmaze. Descriptions are written by DramaHog.