With a lot of Korean dramas over the past years that one can indulge in, romantic comedy dramas remain close to our hearts and we’re not surprised why. Its charm is rooted in how it closely mirrors real life — the same as seeing it from rose-coloured glasses. Always staring with an iconic meet-cute, Korean romantic comedy dramas are perfect if you’re looking for something light and fluffy.
Though of course, there are few tear-inducing scenes in between but the guarantee of a happy ending sure keeps us wanting more. More than the lead couple’s story, it’s also fun to watch how the story unfolds. How they dream and teach us how love and hope make all the difference. Even with all of its ups and downs, life is indeed beautiful and definitely worth falling in love with.
The 12 Best Korean Romantic Comedy Dramas
We rounded up 12 of the best Korean Romantic Comedy Dramas that we recommend binge-watching. All are guaranteed to be worthy of your time and we wouldn’t be surprised if you easily finish them in one go. Let us know which is your favourite in the comments below.
1. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
2. Weightlifting Kim Bok-Joo
3. Touch Your Heart
4. The Legend of the Blue Sea
5. Oh My Venus
6. It’s Okay That’s Love
7. A Business Proposal
8. Reply 1988
9. True Beauty
10. What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim
11. Because This Is My First Life
12. Fight For My Way
1. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021)
Bid farewell to the city life (for the meantime) and fall in love with the simpleness of village life. This is true for Yoon Hye-jin (Shin Min-ah) when she lost her job as a respected dentist in the city. She then moves to the Gongjin, a quaint seaside village.
Intending to keep it lowkey, she unsurprisingly attracted the attention of the locals and eventually crosses paths with Hong Du-sik (Kim Seon-ho). Du-sik is a reputable jack-of-all-trades who takes on odd jobs in the village. Even though unemployed, he is busy helping people with what they need and ensures that they are taken care of.
With their differences already laid out, it’s surely a good watch to see how these two later grew fond of each other.
2. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo dabbles in its characters’ hopes and dreams. Kim Bok-Joo (Lee Sung-Kyung) is a good-natured weightlifting athlete who aims to follow in her father’s footsteps and excel in weightlifting.
She then reunites with a childhood friend Jung Joon-Hyung (Nam Joo-Hyuk) who also attends the same university as a swimming athlete. Bok-Joo later develops a crush on Joon-Hyung’s brother, Jung Jae-Yi (Lee Jae-Yoon).
These two continuously bicker and tease each other so it’s interesting how they end up together.
3. Touch Your Heart
Because of their undeniable chemistry from the hit Korean Fantasy Drama, Goblin, Yoo In-na and Lee Dong-wook reunites in Touch Your Heart.
This Korean Romantic Comedy Drama tells the story of Oh Jin-shim (Yoo In-na), a top actress who’s popularly known as Oh Yoon-seo, gets involved with a scandal that affected her career negatively. With her enthusiasm to have her comeback and get a major role in an upcoming drama, she opted to get a field experience in law as Kwon Jung-rok (Lee Dong-wook)’s secretary.
4. The Legend of the Blue Sea
Reminiscent of an old tale we love, The Legend of the Blue Sea follows the story of a con artist Heo Joon-jae (Lee Min-ho) and how he serendipitously met the mermaid Shim Cheong (Jun Ji-hyun) in Spain. Though the two separated early on the story, Shim Cheong proves that love knows no distance as she travelled far to South Korea in order to find Joon-jae.
Besides this, the plot further thickens as their incarnation from the past parallels their present story. Along with fate, it’s also important to appreciate that we are still gifted with free will and a chance to change the ending.
5. Oh My Venus
Starting with Kang Joo-eun (Shin Min-ah)’s memory from high school that establishes her as the Venus of Daegu. Despite achieving her dream to be a lawyer, she gained weight and eventually felt undeserving of her title from high school. Even her long-term boyfriend broke up with her on their 15th anniversary.
Passed out because of alcohol, medication, and a corset in a plane, Kim Young-ho (So Ji-sub) saved her. Joo-eun eventually took the upper hand of knowing his identity as John Kim and blackmailed him to help her lose weight.
A story not only about our couple but also a celebration of Joo-eun’s journey in winning back her confidence and loving herself more.
6. It’s Okay That’s Love
Jang Jae-yeol (Jo In-sung) is a bestselling mystery novel author and loved radio DJ. He meets Ji Hae-soo (Gong Hyo-jin), a first-year resident psychologist, on a TV show where they did not see eye to eye on certain things. Things took an interesting turn when he eventually moved in with Hae-soo and her roommates.
Bringing awareness to mental health disorders, It’s Okay That’s Love does it charmingly without prejudice — it attempts to let the audience understand.
7. A Business Proposal
Starting from a blind date that went wrong, A Business Proposal deserves merit for its charming characters and lighthearted plot. We follow Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) who goes on a blind date in place of her friend. She then meets her date, Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop), who turned out to be the CEO of the company she works for.
With his grandfather’s pressure to send him on blind dates, he decided to offer Ha-ri a huge amount of cash in exchange for pretending to be his fiance This is without knowing yet that she’s his employee.
Watch out for the interesting turn of events that will lead these two to discover the truth and eventually choose love above all else.
8. Reply 1988
Tapping into our fond memories of the past, Reply 1988 takes us back in time. This story follows five friends from different families, living in the same compound. We witness how they are as an individual — with all their dreams and quirks — and as friends whose bond together made this time in each other’s life more meaningful.
Furthermore, we also see how the time has changed so much but giving foresight on paying attention to the important things — friendships built, memories made, and dreams dreamed. Though of course, things don’t always end up the way we want them to but this still doesn’t take away the beauty of the journey.
9. True Beauty (2020-2021)
Based on a webtoon with the same title, True Beauty easily won over the hearts of young audiences. With deep insecurities and how the standard of beauty today affected her, Im Ju-kyung (Moon Ga-young) found comfort in hiding her true self with make up. This eventually scaled up her popularity — up until her handsomely popular classmate Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo) learned of her secret.
More than looks, this Koream drama reminds us that we are all human and we all have insecurities. What we all need is to love ourselves more and surround us with people who accepts us for who we really are.
10. What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim
Lee Young-joon (Park Seo-joon) is a narcissistic Vice-chairman of a company with Kim Mi-so (Park Min-young) as her secretary. Mi-so worked with Young-joon for nine years and abruptly announced her resignation. He was taken aback and decided to win her back — let her stay as his secretary and keep her by his side.
Though seemingly shallow, the story witnesses the two’s journey in healing from their past traumas and eventually acknowledging love with an open heart.
11. My Love From The Star
My Love From The Star follows the story of an alien who landed on Earth during the Joseon dynasty. Named Do Min-joon (Kim Soo-hyun), he never aged and remained wise over the years. He took on different identity every decade while awaiting for his time to come home.
During the present time, he works a college professor and lives at a condominium where he crosses paths with Cheon Song-yi (Jun Ji-hyun). Song-yi is a childhood top-tier actress and trouble just follows her where she goes.
Despite his intent to not harbor emotional entanglement with humans, he later grew fond of Song-yi.
12. Fight For My Way
Telling the story of four friends living across each other striving to succeed in their respective career choices, Fight For My Way is reflects us in many ways and in each of our characters. This sense of familiarity helped us root for them, the same way we hope someone would root for us.
Though unable to achieve the life they dreamed of from high school, Ko Dong-man (Park Seo-joon) and Choi Ae-ra (Kim Ji-won)’s stayed by each other’s side through thick or thin. Their dynamics as bestfriends took an interesting turn when they two start to acknowledge their feelings for each other.
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The list could go on but these 12 Best Korean Romantic Comedy Dramas can sure put you in a good mood and, at the same time, hopeful for love. Whatever stage you are in life — a student who dreams of the future or even a professional striving to live a better life — there’s always a Korean Romantic Comedy Drama perfect for you!
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