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#KajoPicks: 10 South Korean legal dramas you must watch

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#KajoPicks: 10 South Korean legal dramas you must watch

If you enjoy a few doses of courtroom dramas, here are 10 Korean legal series for you to check out:

1.While You Were Sleeping (2017)

This South Korean legal drama has a dose of fantasy in it.

Hong-joo (Bae Suzy) lives with her single mother and helps her run a pork restaurant.

She looks like any other woman of her age working as a reporter, but Hong-Joo is haunted by seeing the future deaths of others in her dreams.

However, she does not know when the deaths will happen. She tries to stop her dreams from becoming reality.

Things took a different turn when Hong-joo dreams about the death of her own mother. Can she prevent it from happening?

Meanwhile, Jae-chan (Lee Jong-suk) is a rookie prosecutor. Jae-chan and his younger brother move to new house and they become neighbours with Hong-joo.

One thing leads to another, Jae-chan and police officer Han Woo-tak (Jung Hae-in) together with Hong-joo all have the ability to see the future through their dreams.

Putting aside the trio fantasy adventure, the drama also highlights the corruption and office politics which goes behind a prosecution office.

Watch the trailer here.

2.I Can Hear Your Voice (2013)

When Jang Hye-sung (Lee Bo-young) was in high school, she testified as a witness and her statement caused the murderer of Park Soo-ha’s father to be convicted and imprisoned.

Ten years later, she becomes an apathetic public defender who does her job only for the salary.

In the meantime, Soo-ha (Lee Jong-suk) gains the supernatural ability to read people’s minds by looking at their eyes after witnessing the murder of his father.

After meeting Hye-sung during the trial of his father’s murder, he develops a crush on her.

However, when he meets her again after ten years, Soo-ha finds her completely different from what he has expected.

Things turn deadly when the murderer is released from jail and now is holding grudges on both Hye-sung and Soo-ha for getting him convicted of murder.

In a previous article, we picked this drama one of our favourite ‘noona’ romance. The chemistry between Lee Jong-suk and Park Bo-young in this drama is undeniably compatible.

Originally set for 16 episodes, due to its successful ratings, the series was extended by two more episodes.

3.The Good Wife (2016)

By the title, you can tell that this is a Korean legal drama based on the famous American series The Good Wife starring Julianna Margulies.

The Korean remake of the drama has only 16 episodes and stars Jeon Do-yeon. The drama marked Do-yeon’s first comeback to the small screen after 11 years.

Her last role on television was in the famous 2005 Lovers In Prague.

Do-yeon’s return as it turned out worth the buzz as her performance as Kim Hye-kyung was impressive.

She plays the role of a housewife who is forced to return to her job as a lawyer after her husband is put behind bars.

There are differences between The Good Wife and its original plot in the American series. For example, the sex scandal scene has been shortened to accommodate the storyline into 16 episodes.

While the American series, Margulies’s character Alicia Florrick, works with her tech-savvy son to discover the truth together, the Korean version, Hye-kyung does not involve her children in the criminal cases.

If you enjoy the drama and scandal in the American The Good Wife, this Korean legal drama is definitely worth watching.

4.Suits (2018)

Here is another Korean legal drama based on an American television series.

It follows the story of a distinguished lawyer Choi Kang-seok who recruits a young man Go Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo has a retentive memory but not a law degree.

Kang-seok (Jang Dong-gun) is the equivalent of Harvey Spector in the American version while Yeon-woo (Park Hyung-sik) is the equivalent of Michael Ross.

The Korean equivalent of Jessica Pearson is Kang Ha-yeon (Jin Hee-kyung). Before Megan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex, she was known for her character Rachel Zone in Suits.

Her equivalent character is Kim Ji-na (Ko Sung-hee), a paralegal who is perfect in what she does.

Watch the trailer here.

5.Lawless Lawyer (2018)

Who doesn’t love a bad boy lawyer?

Lawless Lawyer (2018) is set in the fictional city of Kisung which is known to be lawless and corrupt.

The plot follows Bong Sang-pil, a former gangster who has a career change to become a lawyer. On top of using his skill and knowledge as a lawyer, he uses his fists and old gang connection to win a case.

Meanwhile, Ha Hae-yi is an idealist lawyer full of integrity but ends up being temporarily disbarred after after attacking a corrupt judge.

The villain of this story is Cha Moon-sook. She appears to be a caring, noble judge but it is all just a facade. Little the public knows, she orders murder to be carried out, conducts rigged trials and run a corrupt charity.

While fighting against Moon-sook, Sang-pil and Hae-yi falls in love with each other.

The drama is a commercial hit and became one of the most highly rated Korean dramas in cable television history.

It stars Lee Joon-gi, Seo Yea-ji, Lee Hye-young and Choi Min-soo.

Watch the trailer here.

6.Innocent Defendant (2017)

You are the top prosecutor at your office, then one day you wake up and find yourself on death row. What would you do?

Park Jung-woo (Ji Sung) is a prosecutor of the violent crimes investigative division who never loses a case. One day, he finds himself in a prison without any memory of what happen.

His hope lies in Seo Eun-hye (Kwon Yu-ri), a public defender who always lose her court case every single time.

Uhm Ki-joon plays the antagonist, a psychotic killer who kills his own twin brother.

The drama was a hit, all thanks to its plot and impressive performance by Ji Sung.

Watch the trailer here.

7.Ms Hammurabi (2018)

How about a Korean legal drama that was written by a real-life judge?

Ms Hammurabi is written by Moon Yoo-seok, the chief judge of Seoul Eastern District Court who also wrote the book version of this story.

It stars Go Ara, Kim Myung- soo and Sung Dong-il.

The drama circles around the life of judges and the various disputes that they have to settle.

While Moon is known for his novels, Ms. Hammurabi is his first script writing work.

Due to its new perspective on the role of a judge and its real-life depiction of people daily struggles, the series was well-received by Korean viewers.

Watch the trailer here.

8.Witch At Court (2017)

Ma Yi-deum (Jung Ryeo-won) is the ace prosecutor who walks a fine line between legal and illegal investigation.

Using personal attacks, evidence fabrication and inciting perjury, she goes all the way to win her case.

In the same time, she is hot-tempered. One day, she is assigned to the special task force for child sex crimes against women and children.

Joining her on the team is Yeo Jin-wook (Yoon Hyun-min), he is a newbie prosecutor who graduated from law school at the top of his class.

He does not like how Yi-deum carries her job. However after he learns about her painful past, Jin-wook comes forward to protect her.

Thanks to the chemistry of the two main leads, Ryeo-won and Hyun-min won the Best Couple Award in the 31st KBS Drama Awards.

Watch the trailer here.

9.Suspicious Partner (2017)

The Korean drama industry has a gift of throwing in an almost random serial killer in the middle of a seemingly normal storyline.

Suspicious Partner (2017) follows the story of prosecutor Noh Ji-wook (Ji Chang-wook) and prosecutor trainee Eun Bong-hee (Nam Ji-hyun).

Like most main characters in a K-drama world, Ji-wook has a tragic past in which his parents died in a fire.

Then the tragic past somehow get entangles with his present when he finds out. After love starts to blossom between Ji-wook and Bong-hee, Ji-wook learns that it was Bong-hee’s father who set the fire causing his parents’ death.

When the drama was aired, it was famous among the 20-49 demographic. So if you fall into this age group, you might enjoy this drama.

10.Diary of a Prosecutor (2019)

While Ms Hammurabi is written by a real judge, Diary of Prosecutor is based on the essay written by a real-life prosecutor Kim Woong.

Set in the fictional city of Jinyoung, it explores the competitiveness and over-working lives of prosecutors.

Lee Sung-jae plays the role of Jo Min-ho, the Chief of Jinyoung District Prosecutor’s Office Criminal Unit 2.

Unhappy that his team always comes in second when comes to work performance, he brings in a prosecutor from the city, Seoul with hope that it will raise his team’s results.

The prosecutor from Seoul is Cha Myung-joo (Jung Ryeo-won). Her working style is straight forward without spending any extra time on cases, hence her colleagues think she is to careless in her work.

However, the person that Myung-joo unhappy the most in the group is Lee Sun-kyun (Lee Sun-woong).

He was Myung-joo’s senior back in university but entered the prosecution one year later than her. The duo often fight in disagreement when comes to work.

The actual filming scene of the drama took place in a small city of Tongyeong with a population of 139, 869.

There, more than 150 members of the cast and crew actually stay during the five months of filming.

Watch the trailer for this Korean legal drama here.

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Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit

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Slovenia, or officially known as the Republic of Slovenia, is a beautiful country located in southern central Europe.

Thanks to few Korean dramas being filmed in this mountainous country, it has catapulted itself as a tourist hotspot among Asian travellers, especially South Koreans.

Reports show that tour operators saw anincrease in the number of South Korean visitors after K-drama Dear My Friends used Slovenia a filming location in 2016.

This number was further increased thanks to the hit drama Black Knight (2017) which was shot around the country.

The drama follows the story of self-made CEO Moon Soo-ho (Kim Rae-won) who is in love with his childhood crush Jung Hae-ra (Shin Se-kyung) even after they had been separated for years.

In the meantime, Hae-ra is a travel agent who ironically has never travelled outside of South Korea. When they finally reunite as adults, their reunion takes place in Slovenia.

Looking through these breathtaking locations in Slovenia, it is understandable why they are irresistible to visit for both filming crew and tourists alike.

Even though the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging around the world, it does not mean you cannot plan for your future vacation.

Here are five beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit one day:

1.Predjama Castle

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit
Predjama Castle. This is where Hae-ra accidentally falls and rolls down the hill while Soo-ho with the perfect sun rays behind him come to the rescue.

In Black Knight, Soo-ho and Hae-ra were seen taking photos in front of this majestic castle.

The place is a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth located about 11km from the town Postojna.

The Patriarch of Aquileia built the castle in Gothic style sometime during the 13th century, It was purposely built under a natural rocky arch high in the stone wall to make it difficult to access.

Legend has it that in the 15th century, there was a robber baron named Erasmus of Lueg.

He came into conflict with the Habsburgs. They are one of the royal families of Europe who sat on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. Erasmus killed Habsburgs’ commander of the imperial army Marshal Pappenheim.

The then Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III was angry with Erasmus so he sent his force to seek vengeance.

This forced Erasmus to hide at Predjama Castle. Despite the Emperor’s powerful force, Erasmus managed to survive and protect himself from the attack thanks to the secret tunnel between the castle and nearby Postojna Cave.

According to one popular belief is that Erasmus was betrayed by one of his servants and was killed in his lavatory by a shot from a cannon. Not a pleasant way to die is it?

Since then, the ownership of the castle has changed hands numerous times. After World War II, the Yugoslav Communist authorities confiscated the castle and turned it into a museum.

Pledjama Castle was also one of the filming locations for Jackie Chan’s Armour of God (1986).

2.Ljubljana city

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit
Ljubljana river.

Ljubljana is not only the capital city of Slovenia, it is also the largest.

The history of this city can be traced back to the 12th century. It was the capital of Carniola, a historical region that comprised parts of present day Slovenia.

One of the filming locations in the city for Black Knight is Butcher’s Bridge. It is where Soo-ho and Hae-ra meet again as adults for the first time.

Opened to the public in 2010, the bridge is a footbridge which crosses the Ljubljana river. Shortly after the opening, couples started to put on padlocks on its steel wires to declare eternal love for each other. It is a phenomenon similar to the one on the Parisian Pont dest Arts.

If you are feeling hungry, head to Sorbora Steak House for some proteins.

In the drama Memories of the Alhambra (2018), the main characters Jung Hee-joo (Park Shin-hye) and Yoo Jin-woo (Hyun Bin) meet up for lunch supposedly at Granada, Spain. The steak house where they filmed that scene is in fact at a whole different country at Ljubljana.

Speaking of Memories of the Alhambra, other shooting sites for the drama at Ljubljana include Cobblers’ Bridge and Hercules Fountain.

Overall, the city has so much to offer for tourists especially museums, art galleries and castles.

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit
Ljubljana. at night.

3.Otočec Castle

Do you know there are approximately 500 fortresses, castles and manor houses scattered across Slovenia?

They have a variety of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque architecture so visitors can explore them to their hearts content.

However, there is only one water castle in Slovenia and it is actually hotel. Located on a small island in the middle of the Krka River in Otočec.

In the drama Black Knight, the entrance and the courtyard of Otočec Castle appear as the vacation home owned by Soo-hoo.

Meanwhile in reality, the castle is a small luxury hotel with a world-class restaurant on site.

Tracing back its history, the castle was once owned by Ivan Lenkovic , the chief commander of the Croatia-Slavonia March which used to be part of Habsburg Monarchy.

It was built some time in the middle of 13th century. While it is almost impossible to own a castle like a Korean drama character in real life, you can still stay at this castle hotel for around RM1300 per night.

4.Bled

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit
Bled Castle

While you might not be able to ride around Bled town on a convertable like Soo-ho and Hae-ra did in the drama, it does not mean you should skip this town when visiting Slovenia.

The town is located near the border with Australia, about 50km northwest of Ljublijana.

Its biggest tourist attractions are glacial Lake Bled and the iconic Bled Castle.

According to earliest records, Bled Castle is the oldest Slovenian castle dating back as early as 1011.

Emperor Henry II donated the castle to the Bishops of Brixen and it became their residence for eight long centuries.

Today, the castle has turned into a museum with exhibitions focusing on Lake Bled’s history.

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit
Lake Bled

5.Piran

Beautiful Korean drama filming locations in Slovenia you must visit

Piran is another picturesque town featured in the drama Black Knight where Soo-ho and Hae-ra enjoyed ice-creams together. If you noticed in the series, Piran is actually a coastal town.

The town is located in the southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adiratic Sea.

Piran is known for its medieval architecture with narrow streets and compact houses.

Before it was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 178 BC, the hills area of Piran was occupied by the Illyrians ( a group of Indo-European tribes).

The name of the town most probably originates from the Greek word for red ‘pyrrhos’. It most probably due to the reddish flysch stones commonly found in the town’s areas.

Like the other locations on this list, Piran is also one of Slovenia’s major tourist attractions.

All photos are under courtesy of Pixabay.com

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KajoPicks: 10 serial killers from Korean dramas who terrify us

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There is one thing you should know about serial killers in Korean dramas; they do not usually appear in thrillers or crime dramas.

Sometimes, they appear in romance or even comedy dramas.

Regardless of which genre they appear in, some of these serial killers from Korean dramas are terrifying to watch.

Here are 10 serial killers from Korean dramas who terrify us:

1. The Painter Killer in Born Again (2020)

The main theme of this drama is reincarnation; about three people who remain entangled in a love triangle and murder even after being reincarnated.

In the 1980s, Gong Ji-chul (Jang Ki-young) was a lone wolf living under a controlling father.

Meanwhile, Jung Ha-eun (Jin Se-yeon) and Cha Hyung-bin (Lee Soo-hyuk) are a couple very much in love with each other.

Ha-eun is the owner of a secondhand bookstore called ‘Old Future’ and Hyung-bin works as a detective.

While chasing the true perpetrator behind a string of murders, the three of them get caught in between the cases and eventually died.

30 years later, the three of them are reincarnated. Gong Ji-chul becomes Cheon Jong-bum, a medical student. Hae-eun is reborn as an archaeologist named Jung Sa-bin while Hyung-bin is a prosecutor named Kim Soo-hyuk.

What happens when the string of murders that took place in the 80s repeat themselves? Did the original killer die, get reincarnated and start murdering again? Was the real killer never caught in the first place? Or did the murderer find a protege to carry on the murderous torch?

As for the terrifying serial killer in this drama, the culprit kills in the name of ‘art’. He paints his victims after laying them down in their graves the way he wants.

While this serial killer is terrifying, what is more disgusting are his cult followers who love his ‘works’. They even have secret chat group to talk about their ‘fandom’.

This reminds of us serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer and Aileen Wuornos who have secret online groups for fans on social media platforms such as Facebook.

Watch the trailer here.

2. The Genius Killer in Gap-dong (2014)

Speaking of real-life serial killers, here is a drama inspired by one.

Set in 1986 in fictional Iltan city, a young girl is found brutally murdered. Since then, a series of murders has been found committed in the area.

The police nicknamed the suspect “Gap-dong”. The authorities also mistakenly identify the killer, causing the wrong suspect to commit suicide to prove his innocence. His death inspires his son Moo-yeom to become a police officer to clear his father’s name.

Seventeen years later, a new victim shows up sharing a similar pattern with the victims of Gap-dong. Are they the works of Gap-dong or a copycat killer?

These cases were evoked by the Hwaseong serial murders, a series of rapes and murders that occurred in the rural city of Hwaseong in Geonggi Province between Sept 15, 1986 and Apr 3, 1991.

The victims – all women – were found bound, gagged raped, and strangled to death with their own clothes.

The cases remained unsolved for 30 years until Lee Choon-jae was identified as the suspect in 2019.

Watch the trailer here.

KajoPicks: 10 serial killers from Korean dramas who terrify us
Lee Joon in Gap-dong (2014)

3. The Psychopath Killer in Hello Monster (2015)

The drama circles around genius profiler Lee Hyun (Seo In-guk) who returns home to South Korea after receiving an anonymous email.

The email comes from a serial killer who purposely sends him clues about a series of murders targeting women with similar appearances.

Apparently, it is somehow related to Lee Hyun as his father was murdered and his brother disappeared.

The culprit behind the past is a teenage serial killer named Lee Joon-young, perfectly played by Do Kyung-so.

Working with him on these cases is Cha Ji-an (Jang Na-ra), a police officer whose father mysteriously disappeared together with Lee Joon-young.

This drama gained wide praise for its performance particularly Park Bo-gum’s performance.

4. The sexy CEO Killer in Voice Season 1 (2017)

While Kim Jae-wook’s portrayal in this drama is sexy and dangerous, it also took a toll on the actor’s mental and physical health.

He plays the role of Mo Tae-goo, a CEO by day, and a serial killer by night. Tae-goo not only enjoys killing people, but also flaunting the bodies of his victims.

In an interview, Jae-wook revealed “After shooting the gory scenes in which I had to torture and murder a person, I had breathing problems and I couldn’t stop shaking.” He also couldn’t bear to look himself in the mirror after shooting this drama.

This police procedural series centers around Kang Kwon-jo (Lee Ha-na) who works at an emergency 112 call center. Together with police detective Moo Jin-Hyuk (Jang Hyuk), the duo try to catch Tae-goo.

“Merciless” is the perfect word to describe Jae-wook’s portrayals of Tae-goo in the drama. Imagine a killer who treats his victim like a cat playing with a barely alive rat – that is how Tae-goo kills his victims.  

Watch the trailer here.

5. The manipulative killer in Voice Season 2 (2018)

Voice was so good that it was renewed for a second season. In the second season, Kwon Yul appears as Bang Je-soo who is a serial killer that goes around collecting body parts of his dead victims.

Using his intelligence, Je-soo manipulated others to kill too.

Overall, the drama sets record for the highest premiere rating of an OCN drama.

It also surpassed the first season’s ratings.

The drama has Lee Ha-na reprise her role as Kang Kwon-jo while Lee Jin-woo plays the role of a new team leader Do Kang-woo.

Watch the trailer here.

6. The Don’t-Act-Up Killer in When The Camellia Blooms (2019)

The main focus of this drama is Oh Dong-baek (Gong Hyo-jin), a single mother who moves to the fictional town of Ongsan and opens a bar named Camellia.

She captured the heart of a young, playful detective named Hwang Yong-sik (Kang Ha-neul).

In the same time, Kang Jong-ryul (Kim Ji-seok) who is the father of Dong-baek’s son is trying to win her back.

This seems to be a normal love triangle until it is interrupted by a serial killer targeting Dong-baek.

His signature move? Writing the word ‘Don’t Act Up’ on a wall to scare his victim.

Putting aside the dead bodies lying around in the drama, When the Camellia Blooms is one of funniest and highest rated dramas in 2019.

Watch the trailer here.

7. The bar code killer in A Girl Who Can See Smells (2015)

Adapted from the webtoon of the same title, this drama stars Park Yoo-chun, Shin Se-kyung, Min Nam-goong and Yoon Jin-seo.

When Choi Eun-seol (Shin Se-kyung) arrives home, she finds her parents murdered.

They are found with a bar code carved into their skin, all indicative of the work of the ‘bar code’ serial killer.

On the same night, Choi Moo-gak (Park Yoo-chun) is at the hospital visiting his younger sister. To his horror, he finds her dead with her throat slit.

How are these murders connected?

As for the title, it refers to Choi Eun-seol who wake up with the ability to see smells as visible colours and shapes after the deaths of her parents.

Using her unique ability, Eun-seol tries to find the bar code killer.

8. The serial killer who still kills after his death in Possessed (2019)

How committed are you to your job? Would you possess someone just to continue your ‘life’s work’ even after death?

The serial killer in Possessed (2019) is so committed to killing people that he even possessed others to kill after he died.

The story focuses on Kang Pil-sung (Song Sae-byeok), a police officer who was abandoned by his family.

Just like Pil-sung, Hong Seo-jung (Go Joon-hee) was also abandoned by her mother at a young age.

Besides their sad past, the duo also shares a supernatural ability. Seo-jung is able to read people’s minds and see ghosts while Pil-sung can see ghosts too.

Using their supernatural traits, they try to catch the serial killer who possessed others to kill.

9. The Evil Twin Killer in Innocent Defendant (2017)

First of all, all applause to Uhm Ki-joon who plays two complete characters in this legal drama. He takes up the role as Cha Sun-ho and Cha Min-ho, identical twins who are heads to a major company.

Min-ho is the evil one who suffered from abuse as a child and constantly being compared to his twin.

The end result is he becomes a psychopathic maniac who kills people without mercy.

Overall, the drama is about a prosecutor who is wrongly convicted for murder and now is on death row.

Despite his knowledge in laws and prosecution, Park Jung-woo (Ji Sung) is having a hard time proving his innocence because he is inconveniently suffering from amnesia.

The story continues as he struggles to clear his name and catch the real killer.

Watch the trailer here.

10. The Masked Kidnapper in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (2017)

Althoufh this drama is not about a serial killer per se, the villain in this series is just pure creepy.

Strong Woman is inspired by a French folktale about Bluebeard and his seven wives, a wealthy man who has the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid the fate of her predecessors.

In this drama, Kim Jang-hyun (Jang Mi-kwan) is the psychotic kidnapper who keeps on targeting young women.

Mi-kwan revealed in an interview that he was inspired by Christian Bale in the movie American Psycho for his role as Jang-hyun.

After capturing a number of helpless women, Jang-hyun finally meets his match in Do Bong-soon (Park Bo-young) who was born with superhuman strength.  

Watch the trailer here.

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KajoPicks: 10 juicy Korean dramas about adultery to watch

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Do you know that committing adultery was a crime up until a few years ago in South Korea?

This law was overturned in 2015 by South Korea’s Constitutional Court.

The court ruled that one’s sex life was private and it was the right of an individual ‘to pursue happiness’.

Before that, anyone who cheated on their spouse could be charged and if convicted, could spend up to two years in prison.

In Korean drama-land, having the main characters as cheaters or being cheated on is a juicy, salacious plot idea.

And viewers actually enjoy these blood-boiling dramas circling around adultery.

So here are KajoMag’s favourite Korean dramas about adultery that you should watch:

1.World of the Married (2020)

KajoPicks: 10 juicy Korean dramas about adultery to watch
Would you kill your spouse for committing adultery? Credits: Youtube

This list of dramas about adultery can never be complete without World of the Married (2020).

It created so much hype and invoked so much hatred that the actress who played as the mistress in the drama received hateful comments on her Instagram.

Some viewers could not even differentiate between reality and fantasy in this drama because that is how good the acting was.

Based on BBC One’s drama series Doctor Foster, it tells the story of a married couple whose betrayal leads to a back-and-forth revenge.

To date, it is the highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history.

The story focuses on Ji Sun-woo (Kim Hee-ae), a respected doctor and the associate director of a hospital.

She has been married to Lee Tae-oh (Park Hae-joon) for more than a decade.

Tae-oh works as a struggling film director who is feeling insecure and inferior for having a successful wife.

So what does an insecure man do? They got into affairs with much younger women who think highly of them.

Tae-oh’s mistress Han So-hee (Yeo Da-kyung) is the only child of rich parents and used to getting what she wants.

And of all the things she could have, she wants another woman’s husband.

While most viewers are drawn to the juicy revenge and scandalous plots of this drama, the story’s actual message the impact of divorce on children.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Secret Affair (2014)

Oh yes, you can tell this drama is about adultery and infidelity based on the title itself.

While Kim Hee-ae gets cheated on in World of the Married (2020), here is Secret Affair (2014) where she does all the cheating as Oh Hye-won.

At the age 40, she seems like a woman who is living a fulfilling life. She carries herself elegantly and full of sophistication as the director of planning for the Seohan Arts Foundation.

One day, she comes across Lee Sun-jae (Yoo Ah-in). A genius pianist, Sun-jae is 20 years Hye-won’s junior.

They begin a scandalous, passionate affair together which they have to keep as a secret no matter what.

3.VIP (2019)

Jung-sun (Jang Na-ra) comes from an affluent family and graduated from a prestigious university. She lands a high-level job at Sung Un Department Store without much difficulty.

Her work as the department store’s VIP management team is to serve their top one percent of customers who are special VIPs and VVIPs.

Her husband Park Seong-joon (Lee Sang-yoon) is her team leader at work.

One day, she receives an anonymous text telling her about Seong-joon’s adultery.

Jeong-soon begins to dig up the truth about her husband and ends up finding out more than she can bargain for.

Watch the trailer here.

4.Temptation of Wife (2008)

In this revenge thriller drama, the husband Jung Kyo-bin (Byeon Woo-min) is a world-class jackass.

He cheats on his wife Goo Eun-jae (Jang Seo-hee), divorces her, forces her to abort their baby and leaves her to die.

Eun-jae then suddenly makes a surprise comeback from the dead showing up with a complete different attitude, a mole and brand new identity as So-hee.

Due to this, the drama gained much criticism when nobody seemed to recognise Eun-jae just by virtue of a single mole on her cheek.

Ridiculous? Maybe. The drama, however, remains one of the most viewed dramas of all time. It even had two remakes in China and the Philippines.

5.I Have a Lover (2015)

Speaking of two people who look alike, I Have a Lover (2015) is about a pair of twins Hae-kang and Yong-ki (Kim Hyun-joo) who were separated 30 years ago.

Hae-kang is living her life as an ambitious and successful lawyer with her husband Choi Jin-eon (Ji Jin-hee).

After they lose their daughter, their marriage is pretty much loveless and dysfunctional.

Jin-eon goes on to start an affair with a younger girl Seol-ri (Park Han-byul). Later on, the couple divorces.

Hae-kang gets into a mysterious car accident and loses her memory. Baek-seok (Lee Kyu-han) mistaking Hae-kang as Yong-gi and saves her life.

From there, Hae-kang continues her life believing herself to be Yong-gi and falls in love with Bae-seok.

But what happen when her adulterous former husband shows up? Will she falls for him all over again?

6.My Wife’s Having An Affair This Week (2016)

Also known as Listen to Love, this Korean drama is based on the 2007 Japanese series by the same title.

What if you find you find out your wife is having an affair? Who do you turn to?

Hyun-woo (Lee Sun-kyun) fell in love with Soo-yeon (Song Ji-hyo) when they were in college.

After eight years of marriage, he thought he had the perfect family. His wife is beautiful and devoted to their son.

His world comes crashing down on him when he sees a hotel reservation message sent by a male stranger on Soo-yeon’s phone.

At first, he does not think much about it. However, Hyun-woo slowly start to realise that his wife is having an affair.

He starts to question everything in his life including how he is like as a husband and father. To seek advice, he begins to talk to strangers online to figure out how to save his marriage.

7.My Husband’s Woman (2007)

Before Kim Hee-ae played the dutiful wife in World of the Married (2020), she was the mistress Hwa-young in My Husband’s Woman (2007).

After graduating from college, she meets a Korean-American man whom she later marries. She then moved to the US to live with her husband.

Years of marriage, Hwa-young and her husband are unable to conceive. Later due to a failed business, her husband falls into deep depression and commits suicide.

After the loss of her husband Hwa-young returns to South Korea.

There, her best friend Ji-soo (Bae Chong-ok) helps her build a new life.

She also meets Joon-pyo (Kim Sang-joong), Ji-soo’s husband.

So how does Hwa-young repay her best-friend’s kindness after all she has done? She falls in love with Joon-pyo and starts an affair with him.

In the meantime, Ji-soo eventually finds out and the psychological warfare begins.

8.Misty (2018)

Twisted, intense and a very intriguing whodunnit storyline; Misty (2018) marks Kim Nam-joo’s return to the small screen after six years.

She plays the role of Go Hye-ran, an ambitious anchorwoman for the popular news show News 9.

One day, she needs to interview a famous golfer named Kevin. As it turns out, the man is her former lover.

The sexual tension between them is high and both of them have various rendezvous together. It should not been a problem if they both were not married.

Hye-ran’s husband is Kang Tae-wook (Ji Jin-hee), a public defender whom she married for his powerful family background.

Kevin is married to Hye-ran’s friend from school Eun-joo (Jeon Hye-jin). The affair turns deadly as Kevin is found dead and Hye-ran is the prime suspect.

For some unknown reason, Hye-ran’s estranged husband steps in to be her lawyer. Is it out of love and their marriage or is there something else going on?

The first four episodes are rated 19 by the Korea Communications Commission due to violence and sexual content so you know things are steamy in the beginning.

Watch the trailer here.

9.Woman of Dignity (2017)

What is worse than a woman who is proud of ruining someone else’s marriage? A mother who encourages her daughter to do so.

Woo Ah-jin (Kim Hee-sun) is an elegant and charismatic woman who marries into a rich family.

Thanks to her character and wisdom, she gains the favour of her father-in-law and a president of a multi-millionaire company.

Ah-jin is entrusted to find a caregiver for her father-in-law. She find Bok-ja (Kim Sun-ah) whom she thought was a simple woman from the village.

Things turn upside down in that household when Bok-ja manages to convince the president to transfer his money and company to her.

Making it worse for Ah-jin, she finds out her husband is cheating on her.

The story continues with Ah-jin trying to gain back her father-in-law’s wealth as well as making the unapologetic mistress and husband pay for their betrayals.

10.The Hymn of Death (2018)

Here is a Korean drama based on a real-life adultery.

Yun Sim-deok (1897-1926) is Korea’s first professional soprano. In 1921, she met Kim U-jin, an English literature student.

They both fell in love with each other but there are two problems, U-jin is married and divorce is out of the question.

Starring Lee Jong-suk and Shin Hye-sun, the drama is based on the real-life romance of U-jin and Sim-deok.

Since it is based on true story, viewers who know the story beforehand can already predict the ending.

Watch the trailer here.

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KajoPicks: 10 Korean thriller dramas from OCN you should watch

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Orion Cinema Network (OCN) is a movie channel on basic cable in South Korea. It is one of the cable channels in the country besides Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company (jTBC), Channel A and Total Variety Network (TvN).

Among Korean drama fans, OCN channel is known to air the best thriller dramas.

If you are looking for thriller dramas, here are 10 of them you should watch from OCN:

1.Voice (2017)

After his wife is murdered while he is at work, Moo Jin-hyuk (Jang Hyuk) is crippled with guilt. The successful detective’s life spirals out of control after her death.

In the meantime, Kang Kwon-joo (Lee Ha-na) is a driven rookie officer working at the emergency 112 call center.

While working there, a brutal murder takes place and her police father was the first to arrive. Unfortunately, her father is killed by the killer and Kwon-joo hears everything over the phone.

After the incident, she goes to the US to further her studies and returns to Korea as a voice profiler.

Together with Jin-hyuk, the duo go on a hunt for the serial killer who is responsible for the deaths of their loved ones.

All thanks to its popularity, OCN renewed the series for the second season in 2018 and the third season in 2019.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Tunnel (2017)

We listed this drama as one of our favourite Korean time-travel series as well as series inspired by the Hwaseong serial murders.

Starring Choi Jin-hyuk, Yoon Hyun-min and Lee Yoo-young, the drama first sets in 1986.

Park Gwang-ho is a successful detective assigned to a series of killings. One day, something mysterious happens when he passes through a tunnel while pursuing a suspect. He finds himself time-travelling 30 years into the future.

There he meet Kim Seon-jae, an elite but eccentric detective. As it turns out, the serial murders in the 80s continue to happen in the present.

The duo works with psychology professor Shin Jae-yi to solve these unsolved murders.

Watch the trailer here.

3.Missing Noir M (2015)

In this police procedural-thriller drama, Missing Noir M circles around the special missing persons task force.

This task force only takes 1 per cent of the toughest unsolved cases. Its leader Gil Soo-hyun (Kim Kang-woo) is a genius who worked for the FBI.

His partner is Oh Dae-young (Park Hee-soon), a senior detective with a strong sense of justice.

Soo-hyun goes by the book and is very analytical while Dae-young is the I-have-a-hunch kind of detective.

Can they put aside their different working styles and solve cases together?

Watch the trailer here.

4.Save Me (2017)

Based on the webtoon Out of the World by Jo Geum-san, this drama airs on OCN from Aug 5 to Sept 24 in 2017.

After her father’s business fails, Sang-mi and her family move from Seoul to the suburb of Muji County.

On the surface, there is peaceful church in the county. Behind closed doors, the church is the religious cult Goseonwon.

In their new school, Sang-mi’s brother Sang-jin is being bullied. Due to this, he commits suicide, leaving his family falling apart.

The cult leader then takes this chance to lure Sang-mi’s parents into Goseonwon.

Trapped by the cult, Sang-mi has nowhere to go and her parents are completely brainwashed.

Three years later, her classmate Han Sang-hwan, the son of the county chief who is now a law student, and his two friends Jung-hoon and Man-hee have a chance encounter with Sang-mi.

She whispers to them, “Save me.”

Watch the trailer here.

5.Trap (2019)

Kang Woo-hyun (Lee Seo-jin) is a respected anchor at a broadcasting station. He has a lovely family and his life seems perfect.

One day, he goes on a trip with his family and a tragic situation occurs.

Meanwhile, Ko Dong-kook (Sung Dong-il) is a veteran detective with uncanny instinct.

He takes Kang Woo-hyun’s case and starts to investigate about his family.

Watch the trailer here.

6.Hell is Other People (2019)

Yoon Jong-woo is a handsome writer who comes from the countryside. After landing a new job in a new city, he moves in room 303 at Eden Dormitory.

His next door neighbour in room 304 is Seo Moon-jo, a mysterious dentist.

At first, Jong-woo is willing to cope with the almost rundown place until he saves enough money to move out.

Then mysterious things start to happen around the dormitory, making him wanting to stay in order to investigate these occurrences.

Watch the trailer here.

7.Watcher (2019)

Fifteen years ago, a murder took place which turned the lives of three people upside down. Perhaps by fate (or Korean drama logic), these three people were brought together to search for answers.

Do Chi-Gwang (Han Suk-kyu) is an elite detective. But after awhile working in the force, he realises that all the important tasks are handed to the corrupt police. Hence, he decides to join the internal affairs investigation team.

In the meantime, Kim Young-koon (Seo Kang-joon) is another police officer who is affected by the murder case 15 years ago. At first glance, he seems to be uncaring and have a cold personality .

Actually, it is just a facade to hide himself and his struggle with the past. He too, joins Chi-gwang and his internal affairs investigation team.

The final member of the group is Han Tae-joo (Kim Hyun-joo). She used to be a prosecutor before quitting to become a lawyer. Together, they slowly begin to unravel what actually happened 15 years ago.

With 16 episodes, the drama manages to keep the suspense throughout the series. Many viewers praised it for being able to keep them in its grips until the very end.

Watcher (2019) is directed by Ahn Gil-ho who is known for his works Stranger (2017) and Memories of the Alhambra (2018).

Watch the trailer here.

8.The Lies Within (2019)

Dead body? Check. Missing person? Check. A conspiracy theory? Check. The Lies Within (2019) has all the above components which make the basics of a thriller drama.

It circles around Jo Tae-sik (Lee Min-ki), a detective who moved to a police station in a small country village.

Thinking that he could get away from the nasty crimes of big city, a dead body shows up in his area.

It belongs to Lawmaker Kim Seung-cheol. At first, his death looks like a car accident but his hunch tells Tae-sik there is more than meets the eye.

His suspicion grows when he finds out that Seung-cheol’s son in-law goes missing.

In the mean time Kim Seo-hui (Lee Yoo-young) is the youngest daughter of Seung-cheol. Together with Tae-sik, she aims to find out what happen to her father and missing husband.

Developed and produced by Studio Dragon for OCN, this thriller drama is based on a novel by Joo Won-gyu.

Watch the trailer here.

9.Bad Guys (2014)

This answers the question, what if the Suicide Squad was made up of a bunch of South Korean inmates.

Detective Oh Gu-tak (Kim Sang-joong) comes up with a brilliant plan; to use criminals to investigates and hunt down other criminals. Who know the minds of criminals than the criminals themselves right?

So he releases three convicts from jail to form his team.

Lee Jung-moon (Park Hae-jin) is a psychopath serial killer. Putting that aside, he is the youngest member of Mensa with an IQ of 165 and doctorate degrees in Math and Philosophy. (Of course.)

The second convict is a mob boss, Park Un-cheol (Ma Dong-seok).

Lastly, Jung Tae-soo (Jo Dong-hyuk) a professional killer who never been caught but suddenly turned himself in one day.

10.Tell Me What You Saw (2020)

KajoPicks: 10 Korean thriller dramas from OCN you should watch

Oh Hyun-jae (Jang Hyuk) was once a top criminal profiler. Everything crumbles around him when he loses his fiance in an explosion caused by a serial killer. The serial killer is never caught.

Since then, he gave up his career and live in seclusion.

Five years later, a new murder case happens using the same method as that serial killer.

This prompts Hyun-jae to return to his field in order to catch the killer. He is joined by Cha Soo-young (Soo-young), a rookie detective who has a photographic memory.

Produced by Studio Dragon, this drama is one of the high-rated series from OCN in 2020.

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KajoPicks: 10 South Korean dramas about reincarnation to watch

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Korean dramas love playing with the ideas ‘I will love you even in my next life’. With Buddhists accounting for 46 per cent of the South Korean population, the idea of reincarnation is not a foreign concept for the viewers there.

The idea of reincarnation in a Korean drama usually offers one common question, who was the character in their past life?

Here are 10 South Korean dramas about reincarnation you should watch:

1.Goblin (2016)

Kicking off the list is Goblin, a high-rated Korean drama written by Kim Eun-sook.

Kim Shin (Gong Yoo), is a decorated military general from the Goryeo Dynasty.

After all he has done for the country, he is framed as a traitor and killed by the young king.

Years after his death, he is cursed to be the immortal goblin as punishment for the kills he committed in the wars to protect his country.

The only way to put an end to his immortality is the Goblin’s bride. She is the only one who can see the sword in his body and pull it out to end his painful immortality.

In the meantime, Ji Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun) is a bubbly high school student who summons the goblin by chance.

Their story starts to unfold after the Goblin’s nephew Yoo Deok-hwa (Yook Sung-jae) leaves the Goblin’s house to a Grim Reaper (Lee Dong-wook) and the two end up living under the same roof.

Meanwhile, Eun-tak works as a part-timer for Sunny (Yoo In-na) who runs a chicken shop.

What are the connections among the four of them and how do their fates overlap?

The drama is entertaining to watch for those who want to escape from a reality for awhile.

2.Chicago Typewriter (2017)

Han Se-joo (Yoo Ah-in) is a famous writer who is in a slump struggling with writer’s block.

As he continues to struggle, he comes across a fan of his work, Jeon Seol (Im Soo-jung) and Yoo Jin-oh (Go Kyung-pyo), a mysterious ghost writer.

What the trio do not know is that they all have connections which date backs during the 1930s Japanese occupation of Korea.

Are there any reasons why they meet up again in this present life?

Watch the trailer here.

3.Black Knight: The Man Who Guards Me (2017)

If a love story transcends 200 years in a Korean drama, there must be reincarnations in it. How about an obsession that lasts for two centuries? Must it take 200 years to accept the fact that your love is not accepted?

Jung Hae-ra (Shin Se-kyung) works for a travel agency but never travelled abroad herself. Her life was turned upside down, after the death of her parents and her family went bankrupt.

After reaching a breaking point of her life, she tries to kill herself. Then she remembers she ordered a wine-coloured coat she had ordered at Sharon’s Boutique as a child.

Due to her family’s sudden bankrupt, she never had the chance to pick the coat.

After picking up the coat from the mysterious owner, good things start to happen to her. Why?

Besides the love and immortality themes, the story touches on gentrification happening in Seoul.

Like any other big cities in the world, Seoul is struggling on embracing the new development and keeping the old in the same time.

Black Knight manages to highlight some of the problems and ways to work around gentrification.

Watch the trailer here.

4.Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)

This Korean drama about reincarnation is inspired by Korean folklore written by Joseon scholar Yu Mong-in. It tells the story about country magistrate Kim Dam-ryung who released mermaids into the ocean after they were caught by the fishermen.

The drama first sets sometime at 1598. A newly appointed governor Dam-ryung (Lee Min-ho) stays for a night at an inn run by Yang (Sung Dong-il).

That evening, Yang shows Dam-ryung a captured mermaid named Se-hwa (Gianna Jun). The mermaid is actually his childhood friend who saved him from drowning when he was a child.

Later that night, Dam-ryung releases her into the ocean.

In the same time, Dam-ryung has premonition that in the far future dangers will afflict on himself and Se-hwa.

Thus, he commissions a time capsule containing a portrait of himself with a message to his future reincarnation.

Fast forward in the present day, Joon-jae (also played by Lee Min-ho) is a smooth talking conman who swindles money from rich women.

Using the money from his scams, he escapes to Spain for a vacation. There, he meets a mysterious woman.

However, when he returns to Seoul, Joon-jae realises there are gaps in his memories.

What happen to him and who is the mysterious woman? Plus, will Dam-ryung get the message across to his future self?

5.Abyss (2019)

If you are reincarnated into someone else’s body immediately after being murdered, it is natural to find the murderer of your past body.

Go Se-yeon is a beautiful prosecutor and his friend Cha Min is an unattractive but a rich heir.

After their deaths in separate incidents, they are both revived into different bodies by an unknown being using an ‘Abyss’.

While Se-yeon takes on a plainer look than before, Cha Min is reincarnated into a very attractive looking person.

Together, they work to find out why did they reincarnated and the nature of their deaths.

Watch the trailer here.

6.49 Days (2011)

The concept behind this drama is inspired by Korean shamanism ‘bardo’ in which a soul usually wanders the earth for 49 days before moving on to the next life.

The drama focuses on Ji-hyun (Nam Gyu-ri), a pampered yet kind bride-to-be. She seems to have everything in life, parents who adore her, friends who admire her and fiance who loves her.

One day, she is caught in an accident. When she wakes up, she sees her own body being carted into an ambulance and nobody notices her existence except for a man on a bike.

He is the Scheduler (Jung Il-woo), a death reaper of sorts who takes souls to their final destinations.

The Scheduler tells Ji-hyun that if there are three people (besides her own family) who genuinely shed tears over her comatose condition, she can wake up from her coma.

She is so confident, thinking that her two best friends and fiance would definitely cry for her.

Little does she know that not everything seems like she thought it would be.

7.My Love from the Star (2014)

This is a love story between an alien and a celebrity. When an alien arrives in Korea during the Josean period, he falls for a young girl named Yi-hwa.

She dies while saving him, and the alien Do Min-joon (Kim Soo-hyun) waits for his time to return to his home planet.

During his 400 years of a lonely and isolated life, he meets a celebrity named Cheon Song-yi who looks exactly like Yi-hwa when she was younger.

Soon, Do Min-joon’s quiet, private world is shaken by Song-yi’s chaotic celebrity life as they slowly fall for each other.

Overall, the series turned out to be one of the most famous and influential Korean dramas of all time.

All of clothes, accessories and make-up products worn by Jun Ji-hyun were a craze among fashionista.

As Kim So-hyun’s character keeps on quoting from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, the book became top of the bestseller lists in Korean bookstores that year.

8.Mystic Pop Up Bar (2020)

Based on popular webtoon Twin Tops Bar by Bae Hye-soo, the drama stars Hwang Jung-eum, Yook Sung-jae and Choi Won-young.

It tells the story of Weol-ju who is the hot-tempered owner of Mystic Pop-up Bar. Her customers do not know that she is in fact of 500 years-old, cursed to settle the grudges of 100,000 souls in atonement for her sins.

One day, she meets Han Kang-bae who has the ability to make people confess the truth by making physical contact with them.

In order to get rid of this unique ability, he is willing to work for Weol-ju.

Who is Kang-bae in his past life and why his fate with Weol-ju is intertwined again in this present day?

Watch the trailer here.

9.Hotel Del Luna (2019)

KajoPicks: 10 South Korean dramas about reincarnation to watch

Speaking of an ill-tempered immortal woman in K-drama-land, one cannot not mention Jang Man-wol in Hotel Del Luna (2019).

Starring Lee Ji-eun and Yeo Jin-goo as the owner and manager of a hotel respectively, the drama is one of the highest rated Korean drama in cable television history.

It follows the story of a supernatural hotel which caters only to ghosts who have unfinished business in their past lives.

Moreover, the hotel serves as a stopover before they move on to the afterlife and get ready for reincarnation.

The owner, Jang Man-wol has been stuck to serve the hotel for the past 1000 years due to her past sins.

Hence, what happen when she comes across with the reincarnations of people she knew centuries ago?

10.Born Again (2020)

By the title of this drama, you already have a clue that it is a drama about reincarnation.

Honestly, the reincarnation method and concept in this drama is ridiculous. There is no head or tail on how it happened and why. Lovers are simply reincarnated and remember their past lives.

Putting these aside, the drama is entertaining to watch as it is full of suspense and thriller.

It is the 1980s and Detective Cha Hyung-bin (Lee Soo-hyuk) is in love with Ha-eun (Jin Se-yun), a bookshop owner suffering from heart disease.

At the same time, serial killer Gong Ji-chul (Jang Ki-yong) has also fallen in love with her.

One thing after another, their paths collide and three of them die. In the present time, the three of them are reincarnated.

And the murders commited in the 80s are happening all over again. Is it because Gong Ji-chul is reincarnated or was he not the real killer in the first place?

Watch the trailer here.

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KajoPicks: 10 South Korean revenge dramas you need to watch

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On KajoMag.com, we have covered Korean revenge movies so here are our favourite Korean revenge dramas you need to watch:

1.Doctor Prisoner (2019)

KajoPicks: 10 South Korean revenge dramas you need to watch

What would you do if you were fired unfairly from your job? Normal people would file a complaint with the labour department, but in this Korean revenge drama, the main character goes as far as applying for a job at the prison.

Doctor Prisoner (2019) centers around an ace doctor named Na Yi-je (Min Nam-gung) who works at a university hospital’s emergency care center.

However, his medical license gets suspended as a result of a medical malpractice incident which he did not cause.

He then gets his certificate as a medical internist and applies to work at a prison.

His plot is to cozy up to all the big-shots in the prison such as business tycoons, celebrities, sports stars to win allies.

Using his connections, he is planning to get revenge against the hospital that ousted him.

2.The Innocent Man (2012)

Song Joong-ki as Kang Ma-ru, is a smart but poor medical student who has to singlehandedly look after his little sister.

He was in love with Jae-hee (Park Si-yeon) who left him for a rich CEO, as she always dreamt of being rich. (Cuz, who doesn’t?)

Six years after Jae-hee leaves, he becomes an arrogant playboy who works as a bartender. Now, he is no longer the ‘innocent man’.

He then meets Seo Eun-gi (Moon Chae-won) as part of his revenge plan against Jae-hee.

Slowly, Ma-ru starts to care for her and eventually falls in love with her. In the end, can he really see through with his revenge onJae-hee?

3.Secret Love (2013)

How much do you love someone? Are you willing to sacrifice your future by going to prison for your boyfriend?

When Do-hoon (Bae Soo-bin) kills a woman in a hit-and-run accident, he asks his girlfriend Kang Yoo-jung (Hwang Jung-eum) to admit she was the one who drove.

Yoo-jung agrees and ends up in prison. Then Do-hoon dumps her when she is in prison.

In the meantime, Jo Min-hyuk (Ji Sung) is burning with revenge after the death of his girlfriend who was killed in the hit-and-run accident.

After realising the truth that Yoo-jung was not the one behind the wheel, Min-hyuk begins to help her making a fresh start in life.

4.Monster (2016)

When you lose all your family wealth, causing you to fall from being a rich, spoilt heir to blind beggar, it is natural for you to seek for revenge.

Born Lee Guk-cheol (Kang Ji-hwan), he was the heir to Sudo Hospital, until the deaths of his parents and aunt.

While he survived several murder attempts against him, he lost everything and became a beggar.

Blinded by the car accident that killed his parents, Guk-cheol’s sense of hearing is heightened to superhuman level, an ability he would continue to possess as an adult.

Years later, he undergoes surgery to cure his blindness and change his appearance.

He obtains a new identity – Kang Ki-tan, using it to take revenge on those responsible for his misfortune.

5.I Hear You Voice (2013)

KajoMag picked this drama as one of our favourite ‘noona’ drama since the main characters are in love with each other and six years apart.

Revenge-wise, it offers viewers a slice of thriller and suspense with a murderer running around trying to kill the main characters.

Lawyer Jang Hye-sung (Lee Bo-young) is a public defender who doesn’t care about her clients and only does her job for the salary.

When she was a teenager, she testified on the witness stand causing the murderer of Park Soo-ha’s father to be convicted and imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Soo-ha has the supernatural ability to read people’s minds by looking into their eyes. He gains it after witnessing his father killed.

Ten years later, the murderer has been released from prison. Now, he is getting revenge on Hye-sung and Soo-ha as well as their loved ones.

6.City Hunter (2011)

Dive South Korean officials plan a covert operation, codenamed “Operation Cleansweep”, to enter North Korea and kill several top members of the North’s high command.

Lee Jin-pyo (Kim Sang-joong) and Park Moo-yeol (Park Sang-min), two Presidential Security Service bodyguards and best friends organised a 21-man team for the mission.

The operation is successful, but as the troops swim out to return, the Navy submarine assigned for their extraction, snipers aboard the submarine open fire on them.

An already injured Moo-yeol sacrifices his life to save Jin-pyo. Jin-pyo then swims back to shore and returns to South Korea.

There he finds out that the assault team’s service and personal records have been erased.

Promising to avenge his fallen comrades, Jin-pyo kidnaps Mu-yeol’s infant son, and names him Lee Yoon-sung (Lee Min-ho).

He flees to the Golden Triangle to raise the child as his own and trains the boy intensively in combat.

Yoon-sung returns to South Korea to avenge his father’s killers.

7.Iris (2009)

Two elite National Security System (NSS) agents and best friends, Hyeong-jun (Lee Byung-hun) and Sa-woo (Jeong Jun-ho) both are in love with fellow agent Seung-hee (Kim Tae-hee).

However for the sake of his friend, Sa-Woo suppresses his feelings for Seung-Hee.

Hyeon-Jun is then sent off on a solo mission to Hungary.

In Hungary, Hyeon-jun accomplishes his mission but wounded while making his escape.

Shortly after that, he finds out that he was betrayed by his friend Sa-woo.

At that time, Seung-hee steps in to help Hyeon-jun escape, but a car explosion separates the two and both are misled to believe that the other person are dead.

Hyeon-jun is then saved by an unknown organisation and learns of the secret society “IRIS”.

One year later, Hyeon-jun returns to Korea to seek revenge. During this time, the two Koreas are set to reunify, while the group “IRIS” are intent on stopping the reunification.

Full of action and suspense, Iris (2009) is one of the most expensive Korean series ever make.

8.Golden Cross (2014)

Speaking of secret societies here is a drama about a secret society known as ‘Golden Cross’.

It secretly controls the Korean economy and marketplace using its deep connections and financial power.

In the midst of it, prosecutor Kang Do-yoon (Kim Kang-woo) gets entangled in the society when his sister is murdered and his father gets framed for it.

Due to this, Do-yoon is set to get his revenge against the powerful man behind the organisation, Seo Dong-ha (Jeong Bo-seok).

Things gets complicated when Seo happens to be the father of the woman he loves. So do you seek vengeance on your potential father in-law?

Watch the trailer here.

9.Defendant (2017)

How do you prove your innocence when you have amnesia? Park Jung-woo (Ji Sung) is a renowned prosecutor at the Seoul Central Prosecution Office.

One day, he wakes up in a prison cell and is told that he has killed his wife and that his daughter is currently missing.

To make things worse, he suffers from temporary amnesia not remembering what happened.

Can Jung-woo proves his innocence as well as find the real culprit behind it?

The drama also stars Um Ki-joon, Kwon Yu-ri, Oh Chang-seok and Uhm Hyun-kyung.

Watch the trailer here.

10.Pinocchio (2014)

This Korean revenge drama showcases how irresponsible media organisations could ruin families and affect public perception.

It also shows how the rich and powerful could control the media by deverting the public’s attention to juicy, but ultimately unimportant news.

After a misleading news report destroys his family, Ha-myung (Lee Jong-suk) begins to live a new life as Dal-po.

He hides his intelligence and past memories behind a facade.

After years of being a taxi driver, he decides to become a reporter to prove his family’s innocence.

However, not everybody is like him who takes the high ground in taking revenge. Some people who just take the violent and bloody way to seek vengeance.

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#KajoPicks: 10 Korean action dramas you must watch

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If you are looking for Korean action dramas to watch, here are 10 of KajoMag’s favourites:

1.Criminal Minds (2017)

Inspired by the American television series Criminal Minds, this Korean action drama stars Lee Joon-gi, Son Hyun-joo, Moon Chae-won, Yoo Sun and Lee Sun-bin.

It follows a group of highly trained profilers in the fictional National Criminal Investigation (NCI Team).

How much action can you expect from this series? Well, first of all it stars Lee Joon-gi who is widely known as for his skills in martial arts.

In this drama, he plays Kim Hyun-joon, a character equivalent to Derek Morgan portrayed by Shemar Moore.

Meanwhile, Son Hyun-joo plays Kang Ki-hyung, the equivalent of Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson).

For those who love Emily Prentiss, don’t worry, Ha Sun-woo (Moon Chae-won) will play the equivalent of this character.

The freakishly ageless JJ or Jennifer Jareau is portrayed by, the Korean remake has Lee Sun-bin as Yoo Min-young.

The team’s genius is Lee Han (Go Yoon) who is similar to Spencer Reid in the American series.

Just like how the American version Criminal Minds cannot live without its Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), this Korean version has its equivalent character named Nana Hwang (Yoo Sun).

If the crime cases feels familiar, that is because they have been adopted by from the American series.

Watch the trailer here.

2.Two Weeks (2013)

In this Korean action drama, Lee Joon-gi uses his martial art skills to play a small-time gangster Jang Tae-san.

Eight years after going to prison to take the fall for his gang boss, Tae-san is now running a small pawnshop.

One day, his former lover shows up telling that their daughter has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant.

Tae-san sees it as an opportunity for him to do something good in his criminal life.

However, things get hard for him when he is framed for the murder of an undercover agent.

While being transported in the police car, it gets into an accident. Tae-san takes the opportunity to escape.

Now, he has to run away from the police and an assassin who is being hired to kill him. Tae-san needs to stay alive and prove his innocence before the bone marrow transplant surgery in two weeks time.

Watch the trailer here.

3.The K2 (2016)

The main character of this Korean action drama is Kim Je-ha (Ji Chang-wook). He is a former military operative stationed in Iraq until he returns to South Korea after being framed for the murder of his lover.

When his skills get noticed by Choi Yoo-jin, Je-ha is hired to work for security agency JSS Security under the codename K2.

His first task? To guard Go Anna (Im Yoon-ah) who is the secret illegitimate daughter of Choi Yoo-jin’s husband, Jang Se-joon.

Je-ha and Anna slowly develop feelings toward each other.

Anna might be the main female character but Song Yoon-ah’s portrayal as Choi Yoo-jin is really convincing.

She is ambitious and ruthless in her plan to have her husband become the President of South Korea so that she can become the First Lady.

During the press conference for the drama, Chang-wook said that The K2 would be his last action drama.

He said, “Among all the projects I have done so far, this was by far the hardest. It was so hard it made me resolve to never do another action drama.”

“I worked out so much for this drama. I practiced a lot of martial arts at action school, and because my character is a former mercenary, I wanted to build muscle too, for a masculine look.”

So if you want to watch a shirtless Chang-wook and him fighting bad guys for the last time, this drama is definitely worth-watching.

4.Healer (2014)

Before Chang-wook starred in The K2, he was in another Korean action drama called Healer (2014).

In this drama, he plays the role of an illegal night courier named Seo Jung-hoo who works under the alias “Healer”.

His goal is to save enough money to buy an uninhabited island off the coast of Panama and to live there alone. It is like every introvert’s dream.

Things change for him when he receives an order to find and protect a girl named Young-shin from being killed.

Viewers can expect it is one of those Korean action dramas in which male lead falls in love with the person he supposed to protect.

In an interview back in 2015, Chang-wook admitted that the action scenes in Healer truly challenged his mental strength.

He said, “Honestly, it is scary. Before jumping off high places, various thoughts run through my mind. What if the cord snaps or how much would I get hurt if I fell down.”

At the same time, he was thankful for his stunt double for the action scenes.

Watch the trailer here.

5.Heartless City (2013)

Yoon Soo-min (Nam Gyu-ri) grew up in an orphanage with Lee Kyung-mi where they treat each other like real sisters.

When Kyung-mi is murdered while undercover, Yoon Soo-min (Nam Gyu-ri) is driven to pick up when she has left.

While searching for Kyung-mi’s murderer in the criminal world, Soo-min falls for the drug lord Jung Shi-hyun (Jung Kyung-ho).

Not a good idea for a undercover agent especially when Shi-hyun is a suspect in Kyung-mi’s murder.

Watch the trailer here.

6.City Hunter (2011)

Want a story that lives by the motto “revenge is a dish best served cold”?

Based on the Japanese manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo, City Hunter (2011) starts with a real-life event called the Rangoon bombing. It took place on Oct 9, 1983 when there was an assassination attempt against the fifth president of South Korea Chun Doo-hwan.

In the actual Rangoon incident, the president survived while 21 were killed, and 46 injured. Three with links to North Korea were hunted down and arrested in connection.

The events that happen in this Korean action drama are fictionalised events following the bombing.

In retaliation for the loss during the bombing, five high ranking South Korean officials plan a covert operation to go into North Korea and kill North Korean agents without the president’s knowledge.

Bodyguards Lee Jin-Pyo and Park Moo-Yul are instructed to gather men to take part in the dangerous mission.

The men are dropped near the North Korean coastline to enter North Korea to carry out their assassinations and are told that a submarine will be waiting for them to take them back to South Korea when they’re done.

So how many ways can you screw up this operation? The five high ranking South Korean public officers, who initiated the covert operation, change their minds while the operation is taking place.

They decide to give up on the 21 special force members taking part in the covert operation.

So when the special force members complete their tasks, they swim into the ocean looking for the submarine to take them back to South Korea.

They spot the submarine waiting for them and attempt to board the submarine.

Instead, a sniper on the submarine kills all of the special forces members except Lee Jin-Pyo – who survives and swims back to South Korea.

Jin-pyo kidnaps Moo-Yul’s baby and raises the baby Lee Yun-seong (Lee Min-ho) in Thailand while training him into an elite soldier.

After many years, he returns to South Korea to avenge his father’s death.

Watch the trailer here.

7.Bad Guys (2014)

This is the Korean version of The Suicide Squad.

When there is a rising number of violent crimes in the area, Detective Oh Gu-tak (Kim Sang-joong) decides to release three convicts from jail to form his crime-fighting team.

In the team, there is Lee Jung-moon (Park Hae-jin), the youngest member of Mensa with a genius IQ of 165 and doctorate degrees in math and philosophy.

But behind his boyish look, Jung-moon is in fact a psychopathic serial killer.

Then there is Pak Un-cheol (Ma Dong-seok), a mob boss who made his way to the top gangster chain in 25 days and is a top dog in prison.

The final member is Jung Tae-soo. He is once a hired hit man who never made a single mistake (in his career as an assassin) but suddenly turns himself in one day.

Watch the trailer here.

8.Last (2015)

Based on the webtoon of the same name by Kang Hyung-kyu, this Korean action drama stars Yoon Kye-sang and Lee Beom-soo.

Kye-sang plays Jang Tae-ho, a successful fund manager. Things turn upside down for him when a seemingly fool-proof financial deal goes horribly wrong, leading to a loss of 35 billion won and his business partner’s death.

While running from loan sharks, he discovers a secret society of homeless people living inside Seoul Station.

Tae-ho is determined to get his life back by finding out what went wrong with his financial deal.

9.Vagabond (2019)

Directed by Yoo In-sik, Vagabond (2019) is one of the highest rated dramas in 2019.

The plot follows the events after a mysterious plane crash kills over 211 civilians including Cha Dal-gun’s (Lee Seung-gi) nephew.

However, his investigation to search for the truth leads him to cases of corruption. That is when he meets Go Hae-ri (Bae Suzy), a covert operative for the National Intelligence Service.

Most actors would go to an action school before starring in any Korean action dramas including Seung-gi and Suzy.

Speaking about the action scenes in the drama, the director revealed in an interview, “All the actors really went through a lot. The martial arts team took on the role of action coordinator. Dangerous stunts were done by stunt doubles. And the less dangerous ones were done by the actual actors themselves. But the scene in which the main character jumps off a building and the scene in which he is hanging off a car were actually done by Lee Seung-gi himself.”

Watch the trailer here.

#KajoPicks: 10 Korean action dramas you must watch
Vagabond, one of the must-watch Korean action dramas.

10.Iris (2009)

We cannot talk about Korean action dramas without mentioning Iris (2009). It has a reported budget of over 20 billion won. This makes it one of the most expensive Korean dramas to make.

The drama follows two elite National Security System (NSS) agents, Hyun-jun (Lee Byung-hun) and Sa-woo (Jeong Jun-ho) falling for fellow agent Seung-hee (Kim Tae-hee).

Hyun-jun is sent on a solo mission to Hungary where he is betrayed by another fellow agent. Seung-hee comes to his rescue but they both are involved in a car explosion.

In the midst of the chaos, they both got separated and are misled to believe that other person is dead.

Meanwhile, Hyun-jun is saved by an unknown voice and from there he learns about the secret society of “IRIS”.

One year later, Hyun-jun returns to South Korea to seek revenge. During this time, the Korean peninsular is set to reunify.

In the same time, the group “IRIS” is going all the way to stop the reunification.

Watch the trailer here.

Do you have any other Korean action dramas that should be on this list? Let us know in the comment box.

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KajoPick: Top 5 K-dramas about time travel to watch

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Too many dramas, too little time….

KajoPick: Top 5 K-dramas about time travel to watch
(Picture source: Pixabay)

The concept of time has always been an interesting theme to watch.

And the good thing about time-travel stories is that, Korean series seems to never be short of them.

Here are some of KajoPicks top five time-travel K-dramas to binge-watch over the weekend.

Signal

This time-travel K-drama does not actually involve people travelling between time.

It does however, reconnect two strangers from two different periods of time through a walkie-talkie. (This might sound familiar to those who’ve watched Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid in Frequency).

Signal focuses on a young detective, Park Hae-young from the year 2015 who discovers an old walkie talkie.

He later finds out that he can communicate with another detective from the other end, Lee Jae-han from the year 2000.

While at first neither could believe that they each come from a different time period, they work together to investigate unsolved cases in the present while also solving cases from the past.

One of those cases also involves the disappearance of Lee Jae-han 15 years prior.

Working together with Park Hae-young in solving the case of the missing detective is Cha Soo-hyun who once had a crush on Lee Jae-han.

Total episodes: 16

Tomorrow With You

Yo So-joo is a CEO of a real estate company who has the ability to time travel through the subway.

During one of his trips to the future, he foresees that his future self will die.

So, to prevent it from happening, he marries Song Ma-rin, a photographer to help him evade his death.

This time-travel K-drama sort of reminds me of The Time Traveler’s Wife.

However, unlike the movie, (spoiler alert) you can expect a happy ending from this one.

Total episodes: 16

Tunnel

In 1986, a detective named Park Kwang Ho, finds himself transported 30 years into the future when he chases a criminal through a tunnel.

Confused, he tries to get back to the past to his wife and daughter. Helping him is a detective with the same name as him.

Meanwhile in the future, Park Kwang Ho helps solve a cold case that he was working on in the past.

Total episode: 16

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryo

I am not going to lie. I’m going to spoil this drama for everyone.

If you are the type who does not like sad endings, then don’t bother watching this drama.

This time-travel K-drama revolves around a young woman from the 21st century being transported back to the Goryeo period.

She wakes up in the body of Hae-soo and encounters 14 princes of the royal family.

She falls in love with the brooding fourth prince, but it does not end happily for the tragic couple.

What I thought initially would be a comedic time-travel K-drama series, Moon Lovers quickly turns darker in the second half.

When the series ended, some fans felt that the ending of the series was left hanging and demanded a second season.

I thought the ending was fine the way it is. Not to spoil the romance for everyone, but she deserved better.

Total episodes: 20

Go back Couple

This time-travel K-drama asks the question, what would you change if you could go back in time?

Go Back Couple focuses on married couple Choi Ban-do and Ma Jin-joo would were once head over heels with each other.

But after a decade of marriage and a baby, now they just cannot stand each other.

Their relationship reaches a boiling point after a quarrel one night when Jin-joo accuses her husband of cheating on her.

But the truth is, Ban-do who was a medical sales representative was working late every night trying to provide for his family.

After quarrelling one night, they both find themselves waking up in their past as 20-year-old university students.

Neither were able to figure out how it happened or when they would get back to the future again.

But as they were both given the chance to go back to the past again, they were conflicted on whether they would change the past for a better future.  

Total episodes: 12

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