Top 5 Korean TV Shows to binge-watch with your partner

When this Korean fantasy was launched earlier this year, it became the most-watched Netflix series to date. 456 players are cajoled into playing a series of games that have their origins in Korean playgrounds. Each of these contestants has been selected because they share one attribute: they are in severe financial difficulty. The allure of participating in Squid Game is that the overall winner of the competition will scoop 45.6 billion South Korean won (the equivalent of almost $39 million). But as the hapless Seong Gi-hun, a gambling addict, and his co-players discover after being knocked unconscious and waking in a mysterious island lair, the contests are anything but childish. Losers end up in coffins.

Written by aspiring children’s writer Jo Yong, this is a romantic drama that will be an excellent starter to your Korean date night. It tells the story of a caretaker on a psychiatric ward, Moon Gang-tae, who although he displays empathy to his patients and colleagues, struggles with self-esteem issues. An orphan, he only really connect with his elder brother. Then he meets an author of children’s books, Ko Moon-young, who has an antisocial personality disorder. An unlikely romance begins to smoulder, one you will enjoy watching unfold.

Hugely popular when first released in winter 2019, and filmed on location in Korea, Mongolia and Switzerland, this drama features some of the cast of the Academy Award-winning Korean movie Parasite. Here the romantic tension arrives courtesy of a South Korean heiress, Yoon Se-ri, who paraglides over the demilitarized zone and into North Korea. She encounters an army captain, Ri Jeong-hyeok. Despite escaping his clutches, they meet again in a North Korean village, where she makes new friends and appreciate the simpler things in life – as well as falling for the reserved officer.

Starring Gon Hyo-jin, the hugely popular Korean actress dubbed ‘the Queen of romantic comedies,’ this arresting romance/thriller became the country’s highest-rated mini-series when it was aired in 2019. It tells the tale of a single mother, Oh Dong-baek, who opens a bar named Camellia. Here she attracts the attention of a suitor, Hwang Yong-sik, a tough cop with a reputation for meting out summary justice on criminals. Through in a murderer and small-town attitudes, and you have all the ingredients for an intriguing drama.

The central theme of this unusual meld of science fiction, thriller and romance is augmented reality. Jung Se-joo is a games developer who creates an alternate reality that is fiendishly addictive to participants. If they put on a high-tech lense, they can not only discover secret weapons but give battle in the world away from this dimension. When a bug is discovered, the plot thickens. There’s also romance in the air, meaning this captivating mishmash of genres will be the perfect way to conclude your Korean date, setting you up for the next liaison!