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 25 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
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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2
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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3
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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4
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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5
Hospital Playlist
슬기로운 의사생활
Five doctors who became friends in medical school in 1999 now work at the same hospital.
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6
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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7
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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8
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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9
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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10
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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11
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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12
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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13
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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14
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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15
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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16
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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17
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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18
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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19
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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20
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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21
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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22
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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23
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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24
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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25
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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Questions about this list
What is the best Korean drama of all time?
Opinions differ, but our editors put Crash Landing on You at the top of the list, followed by Reply 1988 and My Mister. 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 25 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.