One commonly seen theme in South Korean dramas is second chance romance. It is when a divorced couple gives their relationship a second chance and finding themselves falling in love all over again.
While in reality, most divorced couples do not rekindle their relationship. These South Korean dramas offers hope in second chance romance.
Here are our picks for 8 South Korean dramas about second chance romance you need to watch:
1.Alone in Love (2006)
Kicking off the list is a Korean series that won critically acclaim for its subtle and realistic portrayal of love, marriage and divorce.
Eun-ho (Son Ye-jin) and Dong-jin (Kam Woo-sung) meet one day at the bookstore where Dong-jin works.
Sparks fly between them and they immediately fall in love after a series of dates.
They eventually married but two years later are divorced.
Even so, the divorced couple still meet up for breakfast and have dinner on their wedding anniversary.
This makes them wonder if the fingering feelings they have are love. They both are too afraid to start over and even more afraid to get their hearts broken for the second time.
2.Go Back Couple (2017)
To all married couples out there, if you had the chance to go back in time, would you marry the same person all over again?
Go Back Couple or also known asConfession Couple explores the possibility of this question in which the two main characters have the opportunity to go back in time when they first met after their nasty divorce.
Based on the Naver Webtoon called Do it One More Time, the drama stars Son Ho-jun and Jang Na-ra.
Choi Ban-do (Ho-jun) and Ma Jin-joo (Jang Na-ra) are both 38 years old, married with a young son.
Their daily lives leave them both unhappy and exhausted. After a series of fights and argument, the couple decides to get a divorce.
On the day after their official divorce, they wake up to find themselves as 20 year old university students.
They then decide to make different choices than they did the first time around by firstly trying not to fall in love with each other.
While it has a tiny dose of fantasy in it, the drama successfully portrays the reality of some marriages.
The couple were head over heels with each other in the beginning of their marriage. They began to drift apart as they slowly not communicate with each other and taking each other for granted.
Anyway, how much changes could they make in their pasts that could impact on their futures? Or everything was meant to be in the first place?
3.Cunning Single Lady (2014)
Na Ae-ra (Lee Min-jung) grew up believing she was born to be only pretty and not smart.
While working at her family’s restaurant, she falls in love with Cha Jung-woo (Joo Sang-wook).
After her marriage to Jung-woo, she thought she finally achieved her dreams of becoming a housewife.
Suddenly Jung-woo announced that he wanted to quit his job and start his own company.
Although she disagrees with her husband’s decision, she still supports him with by taking odd jobs.
After suffering from the stress of being the sole breadwinner, Ae-ra divorces Jung-woo four years into their marriage.
Three years after their divorce, Jung-woo is now a wealthy CEO while Aera is still paying for the debt she took during their marriage.
Ae-ra takes up an intern job at her ex-husband’s company. Jung-woo believes that Ae-ra wants him back for his money but all she wants from his a belated apology.
Beside the classic old flame being fanned all over again, the drama also touches on the stigma a woman has to go through after a divorce. In one scene, Ae-ra is harassed and referred as ‘used good’ just because she is a divorcee.
4.Emergency Couple (2014)
This medical drama circles about divorced couple who rekindled their love when they become reunited years later as interns at the same hospital.
Oh Jin-hee (Song Ji-hyo), a dietitian falls in love and marries Oh Chang-min (Choi Jin-hyuk) despite his family’s opposition.
This results to Chang-min being cut off financially by his family after his marriage.
He also gives up his dream of becoming a doctor and becomes a pharmaceutical salesman instead.
The couple begins to fight constantly and eventually get a divorce.
Six years later, they both find themselves as interns at the same hospital where they will have to work in the emergency room together for three months.
Although it was initially set for 20 episodes, it was extended by one episode due to its popularity.
5.18 vs 29 (2005)
What happen if you ended up losing 11 years of your memories inconveniently on the day you supposed to file for divorce?
Park Sun-young plays Yoo Hye-chan a 29-year-old housewife who is unhappily married to a famous actor Kang Sang-young (Ryu Soo-young).
While on her way to court to file for divorce, a car accident drastically changes her life. It causes her to mentally revert to her 18-year-old self.
Sang-young wants to reconcile and tries to help her recover her memory. Meanwhile, Hye-chan finds herself falling in love with her husband all over again.
6.Can’t Lose (2011)
This Korean second chance romance drama is a remake of the 2008 Japanese drama The Sasaki Couple’s Merciless Battle.
It is circles around two bickering, married divorce lawyers who lash out on each other in and out of the courtroom.
The drama stars Choi Ji-woo, Yoon Sang-hyun and Kim Jung-tae.
7.Single Wife (2017)
When Ra-hee (Uhm Hyun-kyung) is about to marry Jae-min (Kwak Hee-sung), she finds out that her divorce with her ex-husband Min-hong (Sung Hyuk) has not been finalised by law.
Ra-hee tries to fix the hiccup so that she can marry again.
‘Conveniently’, Min-hong gets into an accident and develops amnesia, forgetting that he and Ra-hee are already divorced.
What would Ra-hee do now?
8.My Secret Hotel (2005)
Nam Sang-hyo (Yoo In-na) is the head of the wedding planning division of The Secret Hotel.
Everything seems go smoothly until she finds out her next client is Gu Hae-young (Jin Yi-han), her ex-husband.
Meanwhile, Sang-hyo has caught the eye of her boss Jo Sung-gyeom (Min Nam-koong Min), the hotel managing director who has all the female employees swooning.
To make things interesting between the former couple, a murder takes place in the hotel.
