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Korean drama (K-drama)

Korean drama (K-drama)
K-pop fans in Warsaw, Poland
© Hanyang University

한류(Hallyu ; Korean wave) is a word that refers to a Korean pop culture including K-drama, K-pop, and K-food that are well liked by foreigners.

Particularly, K-drama became popular in the early 2000s in countries not limited to Asia but also Middle East, Europe, and North and South America.

One of the famous ones are “Autumn in My Heart(가을동화, 2000)”, “Winter Sonata(겨울연가, 2002)”, “Dae Jang Geum(대장금, 2003)”, “My Love from the Star(별에서 온 그대, 2013)”, “Descendants of the Sun(태양의 후예, 2016)”.

Some of the reasons that Korean dramas are popular might be because of the story focused on family, beautiful background music, and/or beautiful Hanbok in the historical dramas.

However, Korean dramas are often criticized for commonly used theme of love triangle/affairs, romance between a working-class woman and a rich man.

Have you ever watched K-drama or heard about it? How was your experience watching it? How are the k-dramas different from those from your home country?

© Hanyang University
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Introduction to Korean

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