The 80 Best Korean Dramas to Add to Your Must-Watch List for 2023
Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my morning K-drama.
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard that we’re living in a golden age of television—in case fall's best TV shows weren't enough indication. And it’s only getting better thanks to the growing popularity of K-dramas. You’ve probably heard of ‘em—does Squid Game ring a bell?—and maybe even watched a couple. Korean dramas are so popular, Netflix has a whole page devoted to the K-drama genre, and more streamers around the world are joining in. Long story short: you just got a lot more television to watch and obsess over.
What makes K-dramas so great is that they cover every genre imaginable. No matter what you’re into, there’s a K-drama for you. From historical romance to zombie apocalypses to murder mysteries and ghost detectives, Korean dramas have it all, which is great, but also makes it difficult to choose a place to start. To help you figure it out, we’ve combed through all the K-dramas currently streaming and picked out the 80 best K-dramas you can watch right now, from Love Alarm to Descendants of the Sun.
Love to Hate You
An actor with a playboy reputation and a lawyer with no patience for womanizing men find themselves forced into a fake relationship. There’s only one problem: what happens when the romance starts getting real? Love to Hate You is a fun enemies-to-lovers romance starring Kim Ok-bin and Past Lives’ Teo Yoo. Be ready to swoon.
Stranger
A checked out prosecutor is thrown for a loop when he partners with a daring female detective to solve a murder. But things get risky when the two uncover a greater political conspiracy.
Boys Over Flowers
Boys Over Flowers is a quintessential high school dramedy about a working class girl who transfers to an elite high school and must find a way to make peace with her new filthy rich classmates…and the boys who rule the school. This K-drama helped launched many stars, including Lee Min Ho, who recently made the jump to Hollywood, starring in Pachinko.
Black Knight
Black Knight takes place in a post-apocalyptic South Korea, which has become an almost uninhabitable desert. Humanity has taken refuge in colonies, where they depend on delivery drivers—those who brave the treacherous weather conditions and fight looters to transport supplies. Kim Woo-bin stars as 5-8, the best delivery driver in the business.
Descendants of the Sun has everything. Star-crossed lovers, war, medical emergencies, slow motion hand touches. In other words, it’s the perfect K-drama romance.
Untouchable
Two sons of a powerful, wealthy family are at odds when one, Jang Ki Seo (Kim Seong-gyoon), decides to take over the family business, while his brother, Jang Ki Seo (Jin Goo), becomes a police detective. And when Jang Ki Seo’s wife is murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to bring her killers to justice, even if that means taking down his own family.
Watcher
Another suspenseful K-drama, Watcher follows the fallout of a brutal murder, specifically how it affects two police officers and a lawyer who eventually come together to figure out what happened.
The Legend of the Blue Sea
If you’re in the mood for a lighthearted fantasy, try The Legend of the Blue Sea, a rom-com about a mermaid trying to navigate the human world, and the con-man she falls for. Think The Little Mermaid, but with more crime and slapstick involved.
Happiness
Officer Yoon Sae Bom (Han Hyo Joo) and detective Jung Yi Hyun (Park Hyung Sik) are excited to move into a new high-rise apartment building. That is, until a strange disease starts spreading through the building, infecting inhabitants. After a quarantine of the building, they can only count on each other for survival.
The Ghost Detective
Who doesn’t love a paranormal detective story? Everyone. The answer is everyone.
Squid Game
ICYMI, this was the K-drama of 2021 and Netflix's biggest debut hit in history! Centering on a desperately indebted group of people, a sadistic tournament of seemingly harmless children's games promises winners a large sum of money they each need to pay their (sometimes life-dependent) debts. Preying on people that will go to drastic lengths to make ends meet, it's literally a game of life or death.
All of Us Are Dead
A zombie outbreak begins with a high school campus as ground zero. Now students are trapped in the building and have to fight their way out.
The Silent Sea
In a future where water and food are scarce on earth, a group of space explorers is sent on a 24-hour mission to the moon to try and retrieve samples from a mysteriously abandoned research facility filled with classified secrets. But it won't be as smooth and easy as they had hoped.
Mr. Sunshine
This wartime romance is set around the time of the 1871 US expedition to Korea, known as Shinmiyangyo, and focuses on a young boy who boards an American warship, only to return to Korea years later and fall in love with an aristocrat's daughter.
Love Alarm
Based on the digital comic of the same name, this drama revolves around a mysterious developer who creates an app, which tells users if someone near them has romantic feelings for them. What could possibly go wrong??
Sweet Home
This apocalyptic horror series follows Cha Hyun-soo as he moves to a new town after a terrible family tragedy. Soon after his move, everyone around him begins falling victim to monsters (and turning into monsters themselves). Trapped inside his new apartment building, he joins forces with his unbitten neighbors to battle the monsters.
STREAM IT
Hello, Me!
37-year-old Ban Ha-Ni is nowhere near where she thought she'd be when she was younger. She's single and is a temp employee who fears getting fired at any moment. But one day, her 17-year-old self shows up to remind her of the confidence and optimism she used to have.
Kingdom
Set during the Joseon period, this drama follows a crown prince who is forced to investigate a mysterious plague spreading across his country and making the infected immune to death and hungry for flesh. It sounds weird, but trust us—it's awesome.
My First First Love
This sweet series follows a college-aged man who finds himself unexpectedly housing four of his friends, following all of their messy, awkward encounters with dates and with each other as they strive to experience first love.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
Set in a charming lil seaside village, this cute series (which is one of Netflix's most-watched non-English television shows ever, nbd) follows the love story between a dentist who's new to town and the handyman who sweeps her off her feet.
Olivia Truffaut-Wong is an entertainment and culture writer and editor who will never turn down a romance or superhero movie. Her work has been featured in The Cut, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, Polygon, Bustle, and more.
Corinne Sullivan is an Editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers a variety of beats, including lifestyle, entertainment, relationships, shopping, and more. She can tell you everything you need to know about the love lives of A-listers, the coziest bedsheets, and the sex toys actually worth your $$$. She is also the author of the 2018 novel Indecent. Follow her on Instagram for cute pics of her pup and bébé.
Watch Next
What Actually Happened in ‘The Crowded Room’?
How to Watch the 2023 U.S. Open From Your Bed
The 🍵 on if Meghan Would Join a ‘Suits’ Revival
'The Witcher' Is Still Mixing It Up for Season 4
