Sign in to your Collider account
Image via KBS2
K-dramas have gained a lot of popularity in recent years, especially with the hit Netflix shows Squid Game and All Of Us Are Dead racking in unfathomable amounts of views.
However, K-dramas were a thing long before Netflix picked up on the sub-genre, and they were especially prominent in the 2000s. So if you’ve found yourself looking for some K-drama recommendations, look no further, because here are some of the ones that defined the 2000s.
10 ‘My Lovely Sam Soon’ (2005)
1 Season 
My Lovely Sam Soon follows Sam Soon (Kim Sun-ah), a woman nearing her 30th birthday. She’s loud, klutzy, bubbly, and she’s a talented pastry chef. But she dreams of a change in her life, whether it be her name, her love life, or her appearance. The series has been deemed the Korean Bridget Jones’s Diary due to its takes on love, life, beauty standards, and most notably its quirky female lead.
My Lovely Sam Soon’s take on the love story is far different from most K-dramas of the time, which made it a big hit with audiences. It still has some classic influence of its predecessors, but overall, My Lovely Sam Soon is a refreshing take on love and relationships, and really lets the female protagonist shine in a unique way that connects with audiences.
9 ‘You're Beautiful’ (2009)
1 Season
Image via Bon Factory Worldwide MI Inc. You’re Beautiful follows a pair of siblings, Ko Mi-nyeo and Ko Mi-nam (Park Shin-hye), who grow up in an orphanage. As adults, Mi-nam becomes a music idol, and Mi-nyeo dreams of becoming a nun. Mi-nam later wins a competition to join the popular boyband A.N.Jell, only he has to have surgery that will take him some time to heal, so his sister Mi-nyeo must take his place for a month. Only the band doesn’t know that she is not Mi-nam, and she intends to keep it that way.
You’re Beautiful helped popularize K-pop worldwide, and even featured members of the group FT Island in the show, which helped boost viewership. Its soundtrack and intriguing premise helped keep audiences locked in. Sure, maybe it’s a bit of a far-fetched premise, but You’re Beautiful is one of the most enjoyable and funny K-dramas.
8 ‘My Girl’ (2005)
1 Season
Image via SBS My Girl tells the story of a young woman named Joo Yoo-rin (Lee Da-Hae), who has a skill for lying and scheming. Because of this unusual gift, she is hired by Seol Gong-chan (Lee Dong-wook), the sole heir of his dying grandfather’s fortune, to pose as his long-lost cousin. Yoo-rin, desperate for the money to help pay off her father’s debts, accepts, only for Gong-chan’s grandfather to make a sudden recovery, thwarting their plan, and hindering their budding romance.
My Girl really helped boost the rom-com genre in Korea, and launched the careers of its stars as well. It perfectly blended humor with romance, while keeping up a semblance of mystery and intrigue as you waited for the other shoe to drop. It quickly became a hit and remains one of the most well-known and popular K-dramas of the 2000s.
7 ‘Jewel in the Palace’ (2003)
2 Seasons
Image via MBC Jewel in the Palace is a historical K-drama, based on the true story of Jang Geum (portrayed here by Lee Young-ae). The show tells the story of an orphaned girl who began as a kitchen cook and went on to become the King’s first female physician. Because of the time period, women held little significance in society, so much of the series we watch as Jang Geum fights to learn Korean cooking and medicine to help heal the King.
Jewel in the Palace is influential due to its portal of a real-life person and how it brought her story to the mainstream media. It served audiences with a strong leading lady, as well as educating them on Korean culture and history, and did so with great success.
6 ‘Stairway to Heaven’ (2003)
1 Season
Image via SBS Stairway to Heaven follows Han Jung-suh (Choi Ji-woo) and Cha Song-joo (Kwon Sang-woo), childhood friends who eventually fall in love as they grow older. It’s a classic friends-to-lovers story but as is the case with most K-dramas, there are plenty of twists that make their relationship anything but simple.
Stairway to Heaven is well known for its tragic story and popularized the “tearjerker” sub-genre of K-dramas. Where others are simply tragic, Stairway to Heaven is devastating and so sad, it rarely lets up. But nonetheless, it’s a beautiful and touching story, and it’s one you don’t want to miss. Just maybe get your tissues ready ahead of time.
Release Date December 3, 2003
Cast Kwon Sang-woo , Choi Ji-woo , Shin Hyun-joon , Kim Tae-hee , Lee Hwi-hyang , Park Shin-Hye , Baek Sung-hyun , Ha Jae-yeong , Kim Ji-sook , Jung Han-yong
Seasons 1
Network SBS
Main Genre Drama
5 ‘Autumn in My Heart’ (2000)
1 Season
Image via KBS2 Autumn in My Heart is a K-drama take on the classic switched-at-birth trope, and primarily follows Yoon Eun-suh (Song Hye-kyo) and Yoon Joon-suh (Song Seung-heon), who are believed to be brother and sister. An accident involving Eun-suh reveals that she isn’t related to Joon-suh at all, and is actually the daughter of another family, and we see her make the move to live with them from then on. However, years later she and Joon-suh reunite and fight to stay together, even as others try to keep them apart, and life and health issues threaten to tear them away from one another.
Autumn in My Heart is one of the most recommended K-dramas, and is often cited as being the one to establish the “tragic love story” trope that most K-dramas include. This helped set up future series, such as Winter Sonata, which is also melodramatic and has a more sombre tone to its romantic storyline. If you’ve ever wondered why K-dramas can be so sad and gut-wrenching at times, Autumn in My Heart is the show to blame.
Release Date September 18, 2000
Cast Song Seung-heon , Song Hye-Kyo , Won Bin , Han Chae-young , Han Na-na , Choi Woo-hyuk , Moon Geun-young , Lee Ae-jung , Sunwoo Eun-Sook , Jeong Dong-hwan , Lee Han-wi , Kim Hae-sook , Kim Na-woon , Kim Hyeong-jong , Seo Yoon-jae , Ahn Seo-jung
Character(s) Yoon Joonseo , Yoon Eunseo / Choi Eunseo , Han Taeseok , Choi Shinae / Yoon Shinae , Shin Yumi , Yoon Joonseo (Young) , Yoon Eunseo (Young) , Choi Shinae (Young) , Im Gyeongha , Professor Yoon , Yoon Jihwan , Kim Soonim , Kim Moonjeong , Choi Jongcheol , Lee Ganghee , Jaegyeong
Creator(s) Oh Soo Yun
Main Genre Drama
4 ‘Winter Sonata’ (2002)
1 Season
Image via Pan Entertainment Speaking of Winter Sonata, it followed Autumn in My Heart as part of director Yoon Seok-ho’s endless love series, which is a four-parter telling a different love story in every season, with Winter Sonata, obviously being the Winter portion.
Winter Sonata follows a young man named Joon-sang (Bae Yong-joon) who falls in love with his friend and classmate Yoo-jin (Choi Ji-woo). But, in true K-drama fashion, their love story can’t just be plain and simple, so there is an amnesia storyline and some brainwashing done, that tears the two apart for several years. But fate inevitably pulls them back together down the road, they just have to find a way to keep the outside world from interfering. Winter Sonata really catapulted K-dramas into the mainstream, and is responsible for the Hallyu wave, which is the term used for the growth of popularity seen in Korean media and culture on a worldwide scale.
3 'Coffee Prince' (2007)
1 Season
Image via MBC Coffee Prince follows Choi Han-gyeol (Gong Yoo), a young man who has no interest in getting a job or any kind of responsibility. In an effort to get his grandmother off of his back though, and to stop setting him up on blind dates, he hires Eun-chan (Yoon Eun-hye) to pretend to be his male lover. Only, Han-gyeol doesn’t know that Eun-chan is actually a woman, she just dresses like a tomboy to help acquire jobs. Things eventually escalate when Han-gyeol begins to develop real and complicated feelings for Eun-chan, and Eun-chan has to decide when to tell him her true identity.
Coffee Prince was a groundbreaking series at the time of its release due to its exploration of gender identity and LGBTQ+ themes, which are both topics that weren’t often explored so outright during that time. It helped pave the way for more progressive stories to be told, and for LGBTQ+ love stories to be normalized in media – which they always should have been in the first place. So thank you for breaking through some pretty hefty barriers, Coffee Prince, it doesn’t go overlooked.
Release Date July 2, 2007
Cast Lee Ji Wan, Yoon Ji-yoo, Kim Ja-ok, Park Won-sook, Kim Yeong-ok, Ban Hye-ra, Lee Han-wi, Kim Jae-wook, Gong Yoo, Kim Chang-wan, Kim Dong-wook, Choi Il-hwa, Lee Eon, Chae Jung-an, Lee Sun-kyun, Yoon Eun-hye
Rating TV-Y7
Main Genre Comedy
Genres Drama, Comedy
Seasons 1
2 ‘Full House’ (2004)
1 Season
Image via KBS2 After her childhood home is sold by her friends without her knowledge, Han Ji-eun (Song Hye-kyo) fights to get it back. The only problem is that it is now in the possession of a handsome actor she met on a vacation, Lee Young-jae (Rain). In an effort to buy back her house, she works as a maid for him, and eventually agrees to a contract marriage as he wants to make his crush jealous.
Full House was a hit due to its unique premise of fake marriage and forced proximity, so much so that it became a success worldwide.
Full House was a hit due to its unique premise of fake marriage and forced proximity, so much so that it became a success worldwide. It’s a fan favorite among audiences because of the drama that follows such a bizarre story, and it’s one that you shouldn’t skip over when looking for essential K-dramas.
1 ‘Boys Over Flowers’ (2009)
1 Season
Image via KBS2 Arguably the most well-known K-drama of the 2000s, Boys Over Flowers follows a girl named Geum Jan-di (Ku Hye-sun) who finds herself suddenly involved in the lives of the most popular group of boys at her school, F4. The boys are mean, and Gu Jun-pyo (Lee Min-ho) in particular is quite cruel to Jan-di at first, but the pair slowly begin to realize that their feelings for one another go much deeper than animosity.
Boys Over Flowers is based on the manga Hana Yori Dango, so there was already an audience in place for the TV adaptation, but the worldwide success was unprecedented. The series launched the “flower boy” trope (which is a term for characters, typically male, who have exceptionally beautiful features, and are also deeply complex). Its drama-ridden love story also played a big part in its success as audiences undeniably love an enthralling romance, and Boys Over Flowers delivers, alongside impeccable fashion, music, and acting performances.
Release Date January 6, 2009
Cast Ku Hye-Sun , Lee Min-ho , Kim Hyun-joong , Kim Bum
Main Genre K-Drama
Seasons 1
Keep Reading: Sorry, But this K-Drama Is Cooler than 'Grey's Anatomy'
English (US) ·