Are you new to the world of K-dramas and you don’t know how to start? Don’t worry here I am with the top 10 must-watch Korean dramas suggestions just for you. In recent years Korean entertainment, either drama or movies or its pop culture expanded its boundary from local to global. People from every corner of the world currently know about them either for their talent or for their looks. But most of the people love Korean entertainment related fields for their talent. But Korean dramas mainly grabbed most of the attention with their powerful as well as appealing storylines.
From heartwarming romance to thrillers that will give you chills, you can experience it all here. But I’m sure it’s a bit difficult for the beginners to find the best dramas to watch. So I am going to help you to find those dramas that will make your beginning journey smooth. Follow me.
Unmissable K-Dramas You Need to Stream
There are so many dramas that will help the beginners to enjoy their Kdrama journey and also help them to understand the difference of the genres so well. Here I’m highlighting some of them.
What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim? (2018)
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Office Romance.
What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim is such a drama that definitely needs to be in the table of top 10 must-watch Korean dramas. Kim Mi So is the secretary of a prestigious company, she is so hard working and obeys every order of her boss with a smile. But her boss is totally opposite of her. Lee Young Joon is the CEO of the company where Kim Mi So works. He is totally a haughty person. He always makes Kim Mi So work harder than usual. Though it’s all because he wants her to be more experienced. However Mi So joined the company to help her family financially, and when she pays back her father’s debt she decides to leave her job. But to stop her, Young Joon expresses his feelings for Mi So. Their romantic love story starts here and they untie their childhood connection.
Their chemistry makes the audience’s heart sparkle and their fun romance is enjoyable too. This drama is so perfect for the beginners.
Cast: Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo (2016)
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Sports Drama.
Kim Bok Joo is a talented weightlifter, along with being a talented sports girl she is cheerful and innocent. She and her friends roam around the college and eat a lot. None of them are popular among boys. Her father is a fried chicken shop owner. His uncle also lives with them.
On the other hand, Jung Joon Hyung is a handsome swimmer. Though he is talented he was disqualified from many tournaments because of his trauma. His mother left him at a young age and he was brought up by his uncle and aunt with his cousin Jung Jae Yi.
Both Bok Joo and Joon Hyung came from the same school when they knew each other briefly. And now they are in the same sports academy. As time flies, this handsome swimmer and the non-popular weightlifter fall in love and make a promise to love each other forever.
The childish love of these young lovers melts the hearts of the audience and gives them a heartwarming memory to cherish.
Cast: Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk.
She Was Pretty (2015)
Genre: Romantic Comedy.
Now in the list of top 10 must-watch Korean dramas, we have Seojun’s another drama, She Was Pretty.
As a kid Ji Sung Joon was a fatty and ugly boy. Nobody liked him except for one girl. Kim Hye Jin was that one girl who always gave comfort to Sung Joon. She was not only a kind kid but was the prettiest. But soon Ji Sung Joon left Korea and settled in the USA with his father. They never forget each other as 15 years later they again decide to meet. Now in their adulthood everything changes, Ji Sung Joon becomes a handsome young man on the contrary Kim Hye Jin lost all her beauty and charm, she is now an ugly girl that nobody desires. After Hye Jin sees the reverse, she decides not to show her face to Sung Joon, so she sends a pretty friend of hers to meet Sung Joon and tells him she is leaving Korea to study, which was a lie. Later both of them meet as an intern and an editor and work together.
The drama deals with the theme of inner beauty vs outer beauty and is liked by the audience.
Cast: Park Seo Joon and Hwang Jung Eum.
Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (2017)
Genre: Fantasy, Action and Comedy.
How can I write the top 10 must-watch Korean dramas without mentioning this masterpiece.
Do Bong Soon and her family are blessed with a superpower, safe to say the women of the family are blessed with it. Bong Soon keeps it a secret from the boy whom she has a crush on. Her dream is to be the ideal type of her guy friend In Gook Doo. She also wants to create a game that resembles her life. Now Ahn Min Hyuk is a guy who likes Bong Soon at first sight, he is also the owner of a gaming company. Ahn Min Hyuk now wants to know Bong Soon more and spend more time with her, so he offers her a job of being his bodyguard and promises her if she does well he will let her make a game. By spending more and more time with each other both of them fall in love with each other.
This drama is a blend of romance, fantasy, comedy and action that makes the drama enjoyable for the viewers of every level from the beginner to the experienced.
Cast: Park Bo Young, Park Hyungsik and Ji Soo.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)
Genre: Psychological, Romance.
Go Moon Young is a children’s storybook writer. She is famous among the children but her own childhood is a total mess. She bears trauma from her childhood. Moon Gang Tae is a handsome man who works in a psychological clinic. He has an elder brother who is also a psychological patient. Gang Tae’s elder brother Sang Tae is also a huge fan of Moon Young. Both meet each other in a fan meeting and it comes out Gang Tae understands Moon Young very well. Here the twist is both of them know each other from a very young age and Moon Young still remembers him. Moon Gang Tae is stuck in Moon Young’s mind and she starts following him everywhere like a psycho.
The whole concept is so unique and appeals to the viewers to understand the theme of this drama.
Cast: Kim Soo Hyun, Seo Ye Ji and Oh Jung Se.
Start-Up (2020)
Genre: Business, Technology and Romance.
Seo Dal Mi has a messy family background where her mother left her father and made her and her sister choose, either their father or mother. Dal Mi chooses her father and wants to be someone like her father while on the other hand, her sister chooses her mother. To divert her mind from this, her grandmother requested a boy to write her letters. When her father dies she lives with her grandmother and wants to start up a company and drops out from university. Her idol is Steve Jobs. Here in all of this, an unknown person gets involved named Nam Do San who is great in mathematics. Nam Do San is the founder of a small company called Samsan Teach. Nam Do San and his friend later help Dal Mi to make her dream come true. Another person who has helped Dal Mi from her young age to the current time is Han Ji Pyeong.
The story is more than just a love story, it inspires a lot of people who want to start their own business.
Cast: Nam Joo Hyuk, Bae Suzy and Kim Seon Ho.
Hospital Playlist (2020)
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Medical Drama.
Five friends who are very successful doctors are the center of the drama. When they were in college they created a band where they used to perform their favorite song. Along with the doctors, the story showed the lives of the patient skillfully.
The story is full of emotions like love, hope, happiness and pain. The portrait of the friendship of the main characters makes the audience happy. All the characters were so admirable. This drama makes us think about the lives of doctors, nurses and even the lives of the patients.
This drama will compel you to laugh with the characters as well as cry with them.
Honestly, I will be forever biased with this drama, I will urge you to watch this one. Once you watch it you will know why people love this drama so much. This drama also has a second season, and I am sure you will not be bored watching this.
Cast: Jo Jung Suk, Yoo Yeon Seok, Jung Kyung Ho, Kim Dae Myung and Jeon Mi Do.
Business Proposal (2020)
Genre: Romantic Comedy.
Shin Ha Ri has a stable job, she works for a company. She has a sister like best friend JinYoung Seo. One day Young Seo asks a favor from Shin Ha Ri and convinces her to go on a blind date that her father sets for her, Shin Ha Ri always helps Young Seo with this because Young Seo wants to marry for love. As always Shin Ha Ri goes on that date pretending to be Young Seo. She does weird stuff to call off that arranged marriage but that man accepts the date and wants to marry Shin Ha Ri taking her as her friend. Now nothing ends here, the person with whom Ha-Ri went on a date is the CEO of the company where she works. The CEO Kang Tae Moo was also forcefully sent to the date by his grandfather. He decides to marry whomever his grandfather wants him to because these blind dates are disturbing his work. So for this, he decides to marry Shin Ha Ri whom he knows as Jin Young Seo. On the other hand, the real Jin Young Seo falls in love with the friend and secretary of Kang Tae Moo.
The story seems to be complicated but it’s not complicated at all, rather the Tom and Jerry fight is enjoyable in fact the leads being enemies to lovers are more interesting.
Cast: Ahn Hyo Seop, Kim Sejeong, Sol In A and Kim Min Kyu.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022)
Genre: Legal, Slice-of-Life.
Woo Young Woo is a special child, when she was a newborn baby her mother left her to her father. Her father raises her so well. Woo Young Woo is now an attorney at a respected law firm but she is not so welcome by her colleagues there because of her autism spectrum. But some of them obviously love her. She meets some genuine friends of hers. She solves all the cases there with her amazing capability and soon she becomes one of the most admirable attorneys of that firm.
The way of solving the case is so interesting, but what is even more interesting is the presence of the whales around her.
The cinematography of the drama is highly impressive, whenever Young Woo gets an idea a whale appears from nowhere, and we also get to see a huge whale swimming in the air in every episode, everything about this drama is so amazing.
Cast: Park Eun Bin, Kang Tae Oh.
Sweet Home (2020)
Genre: Thriller, Horror and Supernatural.
Cha Hyun Soo is a high schooler, who lost all his family members in an accident. After that, he moves into a small apartment and tries to commit suicide every day. At that time a strange thing happened, humans were turning into ugly monsters. In the building where Hyun Soo lives, he meets other residents of the apartment including Lee Eun Yu. Everyone was trying their best to live. Some people in the apartment and Pyeon Sang Wook, who is an outsider, stand together bravely to fight against the deadly monsters. Now Cha Hyun Soo forgot about taking his life and he too stood against those monstars.
The sight of the monsters is so frightening. And the story is well developed which makes this drama a must watch for every fan.
The story season 2 and season 3 and rumor says to have another season.
Cast: Song Kang, Lee Jin Wook, Lee Si Young and others.
These are my top 10 must-watch Korean dramas. And these dramas for sure will help you to make a smooth landing in the Kdrama world. Whether you are a romantic genre lover or you love thrillers, if you are a beginner then you surely should start your watchlist from here. Starting with light hearted drama will make your further journey to be exciting. These dramas will give you a perfect introduction to Kdramas. All these dramas above are loved and celebrated by all the fans, I can assure you that these dramas have zero haters. So don’t waste your time thinking, start now.