24 titles, most popular first
In Joseon, at a time when women had little influence, the orphaned Jang-geum enters the royal kitchen as a young apprentice cook. Determined and hardworking, she sets out to master the secrets of Korean cooking and medicine, in a story inspired by a real woman of the era.
During King Sukjong's reign in Joseon, young Choe Dong-yi loses her father and brother after their group is wrongly accused of murdering noblemen. Hiding who she is, she enters the palace as a servant in the Bureau of Music, determined to prove her family's innocence. The story is based on the real-life Consort Suk.
In 2015, criminal profiler Park Hae-young finds an old walkie-talkie and hears Detective Jae-han, a man somehow speaking from the past who talks to him like an old friend. Working together across time, they crack a 15-year-old kidnapping and murder case, which leads to a cold case team led by Detective Cha Soo-hyun.
Set in the Unified Silla era, the story follows Jang Bogo, a lowly slave determined to make his name on the seas. Along the way he battles pirates, gains a loyal comrade in the charismatic Yeom Jang, and clashes with Madam Jami, a Silla noble competing with him for control of trade in the South Sea.
In the Joseon era, Hur Jun is born to a nobleman father and a low-born mother, and the harsh discrimination he faces leaves him drifting into smuggling. When his mother falls ill, he turns to the respected physician Yoo Ui-tae for help, becomes his student, and discovers a real gift for medicine.
This drama follows the life of King Jeongjo of Joseon, starting with his childhood as Prince Yi San. As a boy, he befriends two young palace workers, Seong Song-yeon and Park Dae-su, and turns to them for help when his grandfather, King Yeongjo, turns against his father, Crown Prince Sado, fearing a coup.
Hwang Jini is the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman and a blind gisaeng, a performer who entertains the elite of Joseon. Her mother sends her to a mountain temple to spare her that life, but young Jini slips away, is captivated by a gisaeng performance, and begins training to become an entertainer herself.
Set in the kingdom of Baekje in the middle of the 7th century, this period drama traces the life of Gyebaek, the famed warrior and general who is remembered for leading Baekje in its final stand against the rival kingdom of Silla at the Battle of Hwangsanbeol.
Based on true events, this miniseries follows the romance between Yun Sim-deok, the first soprano of Joseon, and Kim Woo-jin, a brilliant playwright. It traces how these two gifted artists are drawn to each other and the love that grows between them.
Two royal princes become bitter rivals after falling for the same woman. Loosely inspired by the real lives of Grand Prince Anpyeong and King Sejo, the drama follows how their shared love turns them against each other in the Joseon court.
Orphaned and raised by his gambler uncle, Kim In-ha spends his days with friends in the basement of a movie theater. He forms an unlikely friendship with Choi Jung-won, a straight-laced, wealthy boy whose family owns the theater, and both boys fall for Min Su-yeon, whose father runs the theater's projector.
Jang Mi-ri works at a karaoke bar in Fukuoka, Japan, to pay off her father's debts and save enough to return to Korea and find her birth mother. A chance car accident brings her to hotel president Jang Myung-hoon, who hires her for her fluent Japanese without knowing her university credentials are fake.
A man who once dreamed of being a cook grows up to become a neurosurgeon instead, while a woman takes up cooking because of him. Their story is drawn from the 1995 collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul.
Based on a real figure from the Goryeo dynasty, the series follows Cheonchu, granddaughter of the kingdom's founder, who dreams of reclaiming lands her grandfather lost. When her brother, King Seongjong, names her son as his heir and has his own wife raise the boy, she fights to win her son back amid foreign invasions and court intrigue.
In 15th-century Joseon, Jang Yeong-sil is born a slave but has a rare gift and a deep love of astronomy. His talent catches the attention of King Sejong, who brings him to court, where he sets out to build clocks, gauges and instruments that could change the kingdom.
This drama follows Kim Man-deok, born on Jeju Island to a haenyeo diver and a high-ranking official in exile. Losing her mother soon after birth, she is taken in by a former palace lady who runs a training center for orphans in Hanyang, teaching them the skills of trade. There, young Man-deok meets Jung Hong-soo, the son of a powerful lord.
A team of doctors digs into what really caused a series of industrial accidents and workplace hazards. Each case they investigate is modeled on a real occupational disaster that happened to ordinary people in South Korea, bringing those stories to the screen.
When the future King Gwanggaeto is born, Goguryeo is far weaker than it once was: his grandfather has been killed by Baekje forces, and the armies of Later Yan are on the attack. The drama follows his path toward the throne and his vow to bring back the kingdom's lost strength.
Heo Jun, son of a concubine and a provincial governor, is born into a rigid society that looks down on him. After watching the gifted doctor Yoo Ui-tae save a dying patient, he resolves to become a physician, starting as an herb gatherer and studying rare medical texts at Yoo's clinic with help from Ye-jin.
This historical epic follows Yi Sun-sin, the Joseon naval commander who fought the Japanese invasions of the Imjin War. Told largely through flashbacks, it begins with his boyhood as a quiet, often bullied child who is troubled by the cruelty corrupt officials show to ordinary people.
Two people who each lost someone they loved in a terrible building collapse try to go on with life as though the pain is gone. As their paths cross, they slowly grow closer. The story is inspired by the real 1995 collapse of Seoul's Sampoong Department Store.
Inspired by the life of Park Tae-joon, the founder of steelmaker POSCO, this drama follows people fighting poverty and hopelessness in the years after colonial rule and the Korean War. Driven by a vision of economic progress, Park sets out to build a steel mill that could help modernise the country.
In 1885, Jejungwon opens as the first modern Western hospital in Joseon, founded by Emperor Gojong at the urging of American medical missionary Horace Newton Allen. It treats patients no matter their social standing and takes in a small group of students to train in Western medicine. The series follows their studies and careers.
Stretching from Joseon's birth through King Sejong's time, this saga follows Yi Bang-won, fifth son of the dynasty's founder, who later rules as King Taejong. Devoted to keeping the young kingdom stable, he shows deep loyalty to his father and heir, but the killings carried out in his name stir bitter anger in return.
