The relationship between North and South Korea has long been a controversial issue. However, it does not prevent South Koreans from creating shows featuring their neighbors. Because North Korea has always been so hidden and repressive, learning and seeing anything about them has always been fascinating. So, if you like K-dramas or want to watch anything with North Korean allusions, here are ten K-dramas with primary North Korean references.
10. Doctor Stranger
North Korea took Park Hoon (Lee Jong-Suk) and his father as children. Park Hoon was taught to be a doctor by his father, already a doctor in North Korea. Park Hoon rose to the rank of brilliance like a chest surgeon. After that, he flees to South Korea. Park Hoon begins working as a cardiologist at a South Korean hospital but feels out of place. He would go to any length to bring his sweetheart from North Korea.
9. Iris
Lee Byung Hun plays Kim Hyun Jun, a South Korean soldier scouted by Choi Seung Hee for the National Security Service. Hyun Jun seeks vengeance on his former best friend while juggling his complicated relationship with Seung Hee and attempting to thwart IRIS, a secret group trying to prevent the unification of North and South Korea.
8. Blow Breeze
The plot revolves around a romance between a brilliant lady, Mi-Poong (Lim Ji-Yeon), who escaped from North Korea, and a guy, Jang-Go (Son Ho-Jun), a rule follower in Seoul. Blow Breeze delves into the harsh reality of leaving the North and the difficulties of establishing a new life in South Korea as an ordinary citizen. Though the narrative revolves around Mi Poong and Jang Goo's love, the drama includes many family dramas.
7. Iris II
The drama follows a variety of South Korean secret operatives as well as their North Korean colleagues. One of Iris II's narrative aspects is still quite relevant today, albeit in an unexpected way: the program mentions how South Korea previously aspired to build nuclear weapons.
6. Korean Peninsula
Hwang Jung-min portrays a famous South Korean scientist who falls in love with Kim Jung-Eun, a North Korean scientist. The two experts are working together as part of a historic inter-Korean partnership to mine methane hydrate gas off the coast of Korea. However, political unrest threatens both their love and their scientific work, pushing the two to reunite them and their countries by any means necessary.
5. Athena: Goddess Of War
It is the spin-off of the Iris series and happens in the same universe as them. Jung-Woo was assigned the assignment to fly to Italy to seek out North Korean militants. Jung-Woo and Ki-Soo travel to Italy (Kim Min-Jong). Ki-Soo is a South Korean defector who used to be a spy from North Korea. Ki-Soo specializes in knowledge about the European continent. Ki-Soo had previously been one of the North Korean defectors whom Jung-Woo had to keep an eye on.
4. Spy Myung Wol
Han Myeong-Wol is a North Korean spy attempting to stop the increasing tide of South Korean pop culture in the country. She targets those who enjoy South Korean dramas, movies, or pop music, but she aspires to be a special forces agent one day. Myeong-Wo fails the special agent test which she wanted to become. However, she isn't giving up on her dream of becoming a special agent like her father.
3. Spy
When North Korean commander Jang Song-Thaek is killed, Park Hye-rim, a North Korean sleeper spy, is reactivated after spending decades in South Korea as an ordinary housewife. However, there are some things that aren’t just right. Her son has become a South Korean intelligence analyst, and now she has to choose between her son and the country.
2. Descendants Of The Sun
Captain Yoo Si Jin and Dr. Kang Mo Yeon strive to manage their relationship while remaining committed to their duties as soldiers and doctors, respectively. Descendants Of The Sun strikes the ideal blend of action, politics, and romance while also portraying a side of North Korean supporters that is frequently overlooked by the media.
1. Crash Landing On You
Yoon Se-Ri is the heiress of a South Korean corporation. A mishap caused by high winds forces Yoon Se-Ri to make an emergency landing in North Korea one day while paragliding. She meets a North Korean army officer there, Ri Jeong-Hyeok. He attempts to protect and conceal her. Ri Jeong-Hyeok starts liking Yoon Se-Ri.
