List of Korean dramas associated with the Korean Wave explained

Following the end of military rule in South Korea and the ensuing liberalization of the country's culture industry in the 1990s, an increasing number of Korean dramas began to be exported abroad. This marked the beginning of the Korean Wave, a broader cultural phenomenon encompassing the rise in global popularity of South Korean television, pop music, film, fashion, animation, literature, food, and cosmetics. During the 2000s, Jewel in the Palace and Winter Sonata achieved notable success within Asia, while in the following decades Squid Game achieved breakout success internationally.

1990s

2000s

2000

2001

Four Sisters
Hotelier

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

- Jumong
Spring Waltz

2007

Coffee Prince
The Legend

2008

2009

2010s

2010

2011

2012

Love Rain
Reply 1997

2013

2014

2015

Reply 1988
^[1]

2016

Signal

2017

•

2018

Mr. Sunshine

2019

Crash Landing on You
The Tale of Nokdu^[2] ^[3]

2020s

2020

Sweet Home

2021

Squid Game

2022

All of Us Are Dead

References

News: Choe . Sang-Hun . 2021-11-03 . From BTS to ‘Squid Game’: How South Korea Became a Cultural Juggernaut . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-23 . 0362-4331.
Book: East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave . 2008 . Hong Kong University Press . 978-988-8052-22-6 . Chua . Beng Huat . Hong Kong . j.ctt1xwb6n . 650784863 . Iwabuchi . Kōichi.
Huang . Shuling . 2011-01-27 . Nation-branding and transnational consumption: Japan-mania and the Korean wave in Taiwan . Media, Culture & Society . en . 33 . 1 . 3–18 . 10.1177/0163443710379670 . 0163-4437.
Book: Jin, Dal Yong . New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media . 2016-03-01 . University of Illinois Press . 978-0-252-03997-3 . en . 10.5406/illinois/9780252039973.003 . 10.5406/j.ctt18j8wkv.
Web site: Ju . Hyejung . 2018-07-30 . The Korean Wave and Korean Dramas . 2023-03-23 . Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication . en . 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.715.
News: Kim . Victoria. 2022-02-10 . How South Korea's music, TV and films were primed for the viral moment . 2023-03-23 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
Book: Korean Culture and Information Service . K-Drama: A New TV Genre with Global Appeal . . 2011-12-01 . 978-89-7375-167-9 . Korean Culture No. 3 . en.
Book: Kuwahara . Yasue . 2014-02-20 . The Korean Wave: Korean Popular Culture in Global Context . Palgrave Macmillan New York . en . 978-1-137-35028-2 . 10.1057/9781137350282.

Notes and References

Web site: 'Who Are You- School 2015' OSTs Has A Hot Popularity In Taiwan. June 3, 2015. Yahoo!. May 23, 2017. June 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213842/https://sg.style.yahoo.com/news/who-are-you-school-2015-osts-has-a-010215579.html. dead.
Web site: '녹두전' 효과 톡톡…웨이브, 유료 가입자·트래픽 동반 상승. Viva100. October 2, 2019. October 3, 2019. October 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191003225935/http://www.viva100.com/main/view.php?key=20191002010000775. live.
Web site: 웨이브 "오리지널콘텐츠' 효과로 유료가입자 순증 4.5배↑". Chosun Biz. Lee Kyung-tak. October 2, 2019. October 3, 2019. October 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191003214904/http://biz.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/10/02/2019100201046.html. live.