Crazy Over Korean Drama

Haist! I am a Korean dramas and movies addict. Well, who's not anyway? Unlike the TV drama in the Philippines, Korean drama has an interesting plot and fast paced story. They also have great soundtrack that will moved you. What I like most is there is no profanity, severe violence and open-mouth kissing. They are kid-friendly! For the past years, I have watched (read English subtitles) many Korean dramas from start to finish. 

Here are some of my favorites and recommended much watch drama (in no particular order).

1. Stairway to Heaven

Jung-suh and Song-joo grew up together. They were always there for each other. Tragedy begins when Song Joo begins his studies overseas without Jung-suh. Jung-suh’s father remarries Tae Mira. Mira takes in her two children from a previous marriage, Tae-hwa and Yuri. Yuri is envious of the life that Jung-suh leads and is determined to take everything away from her, including Song-joo. Tae-hwa begins to develop feelings for his stepsister, however Jung-suh still loves Song-joo. Five years later, tragedy occurs when Jung-suh gets into a car accident causing her to lose her memory. Together with Tae-hwa, they start anew. Song-joo is led to believe that she is dead. However, when they meet again one day, he is determined to remind her of the love they had for one another. When fate finally seemed to be on their side, Jung-suh is diagnosed with eye cancer.

2. Love Story in Harvard

Love Story in Harvard portrays the dream and love pursued by foreign students studying in Harvard. It demonstrates bright, hard-working, and romantic characters and storylines.

A young love story set at the famed Ivy League school in the United States. Kim Hyun Woo (Kim Rae Won), a 1st year law student at Harvard Law, enters into a rivalry with classmate Hong Jung Min (Lee Jung Jin) for the affections of beautiful medical student Lee Soo In (Kim Tae Hee). The two men are both from prestigious families, while Soo In is from a poor family. Can the trio resolve their romantic differences and chase their dreams at the same time?

3. Lovers in Paris

Tae Young lives in Paris and is working on a screenplay. She meets Gi Ju while working at a friend’s stall and Soo Hyuk, when her bicycle breaks down. Soo Hyuk and Tae young become friends. Gi Ju asks her to act as his fiance for work reasons. Things go badly and everyone returns to Korea.

Back in Korea Tae Young, Gi Ju and Soo Hyuk begin to develop friendships with Tae Young and end up feeling more feelings towards her than they initially thought. However, Gi Ju is Soo Hyuk’s uncle and they had grown up like best friends since they were only about 7 years apart. Their feelings towards her slowly begin to be revealed causing heartache for all the people around them.

4. Nine-Tailed Fox

Shi Yeon is a Nine-Tailed Fox living undercover in the human world. By day, Shi Yeon is an employee at a natural history museum. By night, she’s a top-ranking woman warrior in the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, charged with preserving the delicate balance between man and fox. But her world is sent spinning when an atrocious serial murder – where the victims have had their internal organs gouged out – is uncovered. Detective Min Woo believes the murders may relate to the organ trafficking trade, and goes undercover in a seedy organ smuggling ring. But Min Woo’s cover is blown, and it’s only through the intervention Nine-Tailed Fox warrior Mu Young and Shi Yeon that he’s able to survive! But he’s seen their true identities as Nine-Tailed Foxes…can he be allowed to live?

5. My Girl 

When Gong Chan (Lee Dong Wook) meets the lively and beautiful Yoo Rin (Lee Da Hae), he finds out that she has connections to his missing cousin, whom his grandfather has been searching for. He asks Yoo Rin to lie about being his long missing cousin until he can find his real cousin. She says yes, but soon their feelings for each other get in the way of their plans. Gong Chan’s friend, Jung Woo (Lee Joon Ki) falls for Yoo Rin while Gong Chan’s ex-girlfriend, Seo Hyun (Park Si Yeon), a pro tennis player, tries to win him back. Will the two ever tell each other how they feel? Will Gong Chan ever find his real cousin? 

6. Only You

Eun Jae (Han Chae Young) was a stubborn and head-strong girl who had a passion for cooking. She did not have any interest in going to college and with the help of her hig school friend, Jung Hyun Sung (Lee Chun Hee)ran away to Italy to enroll in a cooking school. Jung Hyun Sung who loved her dearly went along with her.

Han Yi-Joon (Jo Hyun Jae) came from a wealthy family. He travelled to Italy looking for his mother and there he ran into Eun Jae, who had also been seeking the same person to learn the secrets to making great pasta. She comforted Yi-Joon, who was distraught over his mother’s remarrying, and they ended up making love. Yi Joon left Eun Jae the next morning over some misunderstanding. Eun Jae became pregnant and had no choice but to give up her dream and to return to Korea.

7. Goong (Princess Hours)

Goong is a story about young love in face of tradition, politics, and intrigue. In the imaginary world, modern-day Korea is a constitutional monarchy and the Royal Family lives in a grand Palace, the Goong. Story opens with the sudden death of the reigning the King. Faced with the decreasing popularity among the public for the Royalty, a grand wedding for the Crown Prince, Lee Shin, is decided to be the best publicity move to improve the image of the Royalty and at the same time prepare Shin for immediate succession. The intended bride? The headstrong, awkward, and sweet spirited Shin Chae Kyung that just happens to go to the same exclusive art school. Chae Kyung was betrothed to become the next Crown Princess by her grandfather and Shin’s grandfather.

After 14 years of living in England with his mom, Lee Yul appears all of a sudden. He is Shin’s cousin as well as the former Crown Prince. Everything seemed to be going normally until Chae Kyung’s optimistic spirit wins the heart of internally lonely, Yul. As the Crown Prince Shin and simple-minded Chae Kyung’s relationship appear to developing deeper feelings, a series of scandals are exposed to the public right after the pair were officially announced married. Will love prevail all in a world of political pressures and martial hardships? Or will being in the spotlight of the public be too much for the young newlyweds to endure?

8. One Mom and Three Dads

 Song Na Young and her husband, Jung Sung Min, desperately want a child but her husband is unable to get her pregnant. Her husband’s friends decide to help them. But Na Young suddenly loses her husband in an accident and she gives birth to her daughter but does not know which of her husband’s friends fathered her child. The father of Na Young’s child can either be Han Soo Hyun, Choi Kwang Hee, or Hwang Kyung Tae.

9. Boys Over Flowers

 Jan Di is an average girl whose family owns a dry cleaning store located near the luxurious and well known Shin Hwa College. Jan Di meets the four richest and most spoiled boys known as the F4. After saving a boy from jumping off the roof of Shinhwa High School, she is admitted into the school on a swimming scholarship. Jan Di tries to avoid confrontation with the F4 at all cost because she knows what happens to those that stand against them. However, when Jan Di’s friend, Oh Min Ji, accidentally gets ice cream on the leader of the F4′s shoes, she’s forced to declare war on the leader of the F4, Goo Joon Pyo.

10. Baker King, Kim Tak Goo 

Kim Tak Goo is the eldest son of Goo In Jong, the president of Samhwa Enterprise, a legend in the baking industry. Although he is an extremely talented baker and seemed destined to succeed his father as president, Goo In Jong’s family plotted to rob him of his inheritance because he was born to In Jong’s mistress. Tak Goo’s determination to become number one in the baking industry drives him to rebuild his career from scratch despite the many trials he faces.

11. 49 Days 

Shin Ji Hyun was enjoying absolute bliss as she was about to marry her fiancé, Kang Min Ho, but her perfect life is shattered when she gets into a car accident that leaves her in a coma. She is given a second chance at life by a reaper, but it comes with a condition: she has to find three people outside of her family who would cry genuine tears for her. In order to do this, she borrows the body of Yi Kyung, a part-time employee at a convenience store for 49 days. 

12. My Princess

An ordinary college student, Lee Seol, finds out she’s a princess. The grandson of Daehan Group, Park Hae Young, is put in charge of educating Seol on proper etiquette. However, Hae Young is put in a precarious situation when he finds himself drawn to Seol, the girl who will take away his inheritance if the monarchy is restored. 

13. Innocent Man

The drama is a melodrama which depicts the story of a man called Kang Ma Roo (Song Joong Ki) who has been hurt by a woman he loves called Han Jae Hee (Park Si Yeon) and how he continues his own life by using several women. He sacrificed his well being for his girlfriend only to be dumped by her for another man. Then, he sets off to take revenge on her with the help of his best friend. He approaches Seo Eun Gi (Moon Chae Won), the daughter of the chaebol group executive in order to execute his revenge.

14. Missing You

This drama is a melodrama that will portray a story of a teenage couple who fall in love and get painfully separated, and then meet again as adults by playing game of love hide and seek.

Han Jung Woo (Park Yoochun) has been a homicide detective for 2 years and he is looking for his childhood love. Lee So Yeon (Yoon Eun Hye) is a fashion designer and often dream of Han Jung Woo searching for her…

Meanwhile, Kang Hyung Joon (Yoo Seung Ho) is a cold-hearted, charismatic fund manager, who tries to take revenge on Han Jung Woo because of the troubled relationship within their family. 

15. Love Rain 

“Love Rain” depicts a 1970′s pure love and a love from the present day at the same time. It shows how the offsprings of a previous ill-fated couple, who met in the 1970s, managed to meet and fall in love. 

Seo In Ha (Jang Geun Suk) and Kim Yoon Hee (Yoona), a art student and a shy beauty, met and fell in love with each other during college in the 1970s but unfortunately their love was fated to never be. 

Now in the present 21st century, Seo In Ha’s son, Seo Joon (Jang Geun Suk) (a liberal photographer) meets and falls in with Kim Yoon Hee’s daughter, Kim Ha Na (Yoona), a cheerful and energetic girl who’s personality is different from her mother’s. 

Will their love for each other keep them together or will they have to face the same fate as their parents?

16. Pretty Man

  This drama is based on 17 volumes of comic book series “예쁜 남자 ~열 여자 정복기~“ by Chon Kye Young which was first published on 2009-Sep-11.

Dokgo Ma Te (Jang Geun Suk) is an ambitious man and wants to make a lot money using his beautiful appearance. He sets out to date ten of the most successful women in Korea. A strange woman then appears in front of Dokgo Ma Te. Her name is Kim Bo Tong (IU), an ordinary girl come from poor background who’s been in love with him for ten years. Can she make Dokgo Ma Te love her?

17. Secret 

Everyone has their own secrets. Secrets can help people succeed and even fall in love; but secrets can also destroy people. Secrets can sometimes make us happy, worried, or even blind us to reality. This drama is about secrets. It is an exploration into the trials and tribulations of people who live with secrets. These secrets drive the four characters desire to find love and exact revenge.

This melodrama is about a “fatal romance” between a man who loses his girlfriend in an accident, and falls in love with the woman responsible for her death.

Jo Min Hyuk (Ji Sung) was born into a wealthy family. He has everything including good looks, intelligence, but he doesn’t have kindness. He loses his girlfriend in a hit-and-run accident.

Kang Yoo Jung (Hwang Jung Eum) goes to prison, because of the hit-and-run accident that killed Min Hyuk’s girlfriend. Her boyfriend, Ahn Do Hoon (Bae Soo Bin) is the one that actually committed the hit-and-run accident, but Yoo Jung took the blame. She is then betrayed by her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Shin Se Yeon (Lee Da Hee) is the one with an unrequited love. She’s described as “thirsty for love,” and she’ll be a character in pain because she can’t have the one person she wants.

For those who are not familiar with what I'm talking about, visit www.koreandrama.org or www.dramafever.com

Posted in: 49days, Addicted to Korean Drama, baker king, boys over flowers, drama, goong, Korean, love rain, love story, melodrama, missing you, pretty man, romance, secret, South Korea