Top 15 Korean Dramas on Netflix – Best K-Dramas – Harper's BAZAAR

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From thrilling crime shows to heartwarming romances.
South Korean entertainment and culture has become an international force in the past two decades, with films (Parasite and Minari) and shows (Pachinko) gaining critical acclaim and awards buzz in the U.S. Luckily for fans of these works who want to try out K-dramas, Netflix has built an impressive catalog of shows, with many of its best original and distributed dramas having hit the streamer far before the massive success of their breakout hit, Squid Game. From thrilling crime shows and heartwarming romances to paranormal action and slice-of-life drama, here are the best K-dramas to start your dive into Korean television.
This ultimate tale of star-crossed lovers begins with a unique premise: South Korean chaebol heiress meets North Korean soldier after a paragliding accident takes her over the demilitarized zone. Action, political intrigue, buddy comedy, and rom-com sweetness all meet in this drama, with the real-life marriage of actors Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin making this the ultimate must-watch.
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Following five doctors who have been friends since school and even play in a band together, this medical drama immerses itself in the characters’ lives and friendships, showing how they lift each other up in hard times and grow together. If you’ve often skipped over Grey’s Anatomy or House to avoid gruesome surgery scenes (guilty), Hospital Playlist’s focus on the interactions between doctors, staff, and even patients might be just what you’re looking for.
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This jam-packed drama follows the rivalry between a headstrong young bar owner, played by The Marvels actor Park Seo-Joon, and the father-son heads of a successful food company. As the main class warfare plot plays out, with the young man building his pub into a franchise, his ragtag team of employees, including a previously-incarcerated man, a trans woman, and a Black Korean, get their own subplots, with these stories not commonly seen on Korean TV getting empathetic portrayals.
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The first Netflix original k-drama to make an international splash, Kingdom combines two genres that are hallmarks of Korean entertainment: historical epics and zombie horrors. When political intrigue in the Joseon era mixes with a strange virus giving citizens a craving for flesh, the Crown Prince and his allies must save what’s left of the country.
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This stunning historical drama inspired by true events tells a fascinating story set in the late 1800s. A Korean-born U.S. Marine returns to his home country during an expedition and falls for an aristocrat and sharpshooter fighting to save Korea from colonization by Japan. This epic drama features gorgeous cinematography, excellent writing, and legendary performances from Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-ri.
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Crime thrillers are also an integral K-drama genre, with Signal being one of the leaders of the form. Based on a series of real-life cases from South Korea, the show follows a detective from 1989 and a criminal profiler from 2015 who work together to investigate the same serial killer, thanks to a walkie-talkie that lets them communicate despite living in different times. Joined by another 2015 detective, the group solve cold cases together, stopping criminals in the past and changing the future.
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This dramatic ensemble show will make you question whether all your high school efforts to get into the perfect school were really worth it. As four super-rich families from an exclusive community do everything in their power to get their kids into a top university, their ruthless machinations lead to betrayal, abuse, and even death. Besides being an incredible show in itself, the drama also shines a spotlight on South Korea’s intense education system and how it’s exploited by wealthier families.
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In case you skipped Squid Game-mania last year, the brutal sensation is worth the watch for the actors’ excellent performances and director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s incisive satire of wealth disparity and sensationalized violence. Netflix has also made it clear that the dystopian show will be making a comeback, so might as well follow the Squid Game universe as it develops.
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Led by famed actor Song Joong-ki as a Korean-Italian mafia consigliere, this engrossing drama has both epic action sequences and hilarious ensemble comedy. Some of the best Korean action dramas deftly weave together light comedy and romance and engrossing action, with Vincenzo adding in plot twists that keep viewers clicking next episode.
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This is another drama that mixes several genres with a hilarious and heartwarming romance adding in dramatic challenges and a thriller subplot. A local police officer falls in love at first sight with a single mother and owner of a bar named The Camelia. As he wins her over and their relationship progresses, they have to deal with societal pressures, especially on Dong-baek as a mother, all while a serial killer is threatening their town.
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The three shows of the Reply series are the ultimate nostalgia dramas, following three communities of students and their parents living in their respective years (1997, 1994, and 1988) and dealing with real-life events from the Olympics to the IMF Financial Crisis. Though the series was made in reverse chronological order (and there are Easter-egg surprises for viewers who watch in that order), the third of the series, Reply 1988, is an especially sweet show about the love between a tight-knit group of friends and their families.
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Legal drama fans who love to follow the drama behind the scenes of engrossing cases (…anyone? just me?) should check out this well-written story of law students who get thrown into real-world cases after one professor is arrested for the murder of another. The twists and turns of the main trial, plus a well-done subplot addressing dating violence, keep the show compelling from beginning to end.
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For a top-tier romance drama, take two actors with outstanding chemistry—in this case, rom-com queen Park Min-young and veteran actor Kim Jae-wook—, give them lovable, well-written characters, and throw them in a secret workplace romance or a fake dating plot (or both)! This show about a museum curator and secret fangirl who falls for the new director of the museum is a perfect, adorable watch.
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This acclaimed drama brings together a noble psychiatric caretaker, his autistic older brother, and an emotionally-challenged children’s book author who become drawn to each other and gradually help each other heal from their traumatic pasts. In addition to addressing subjects like trauma and abuse in a refreshingly progressive manner, the dark fairy tale vibe and outstanding performances from the trio of actors have won this drama critical acclaim.
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Fans of the classic romantic comedy—ridiculous circumstances, steamy scenes, races to the airport and all—will love this new drama, which fits every romance trope in the book into 12 episodes. The show’s two main couples have great chemistry and distinct personalities to root for, as the show either embraces rom-com storylines that give us the feels, or subverts the plots that usually make us roll our eyes.
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