12 K-Drama Streaming Platforms Recommended by a Korean (2023)


Tired of scrolling to the bottom of Netflix and closing it?

Here are 12 Korean streaming services you might not have heard of!

You can use them to find new Korean dramas, variety shows and movies.

They’re also great for learning the language!

Let’s check them out!

Lingua Asia_K-Drama Streaming Platforms Recommended by a Korean

ESSENTIAL TIPS:

  • Some streaming platforms arenโ€™t available overseas. Access everything with VPN here!
  • If you want to get fluent in Korean fast, check out Pimsleur here.

Growing up in Korea with K-dramas always on, the stories seemed formulaic to me. Most featured a love triangle, and followed a Cinderella story where a poor yet pretty girl meets jaebeol. Plus lots of goguma (frustrating) scenes where the mother-in-law is super mean.

More about Korean dating

Lots of fun the first hundred times or so, but gets old.

Now there’s more variety than ever. I started watching new dramas a few years ago when they’re either recommended by my friends, brother or are highly acclaimed.

Whether you’re a K-drama fan or not, a quality show is a quality show.

My all-time favorites are:

  • Squid Game (์˜ค์ง•์–ด๊ฒŒ์ž„)
  • Crash Landing on You (์‚ฌ๋ž‘์˜ ๋ถˆ์‹œ์ฐฉ)
  • Hotel del Luna (ํ˜ธํ…” ๋ธ๋ฃจ๋‚˜)
  • Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (๋„๊นจ๋น„)
  • Kingdom (ํ‚น๋ค)

**Congrats to the newly engaged couple, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin!! ๐Ÿฅฐ๐Ÿฅฐ**

To fully enjoy K-drama moments in a busy modern society (๋ฐ”์˜๋‹ค ๋ฐ”๋น  ํ˜„๋Œ€์‚ฌํšŒ), you need OTT (Over The Top: platform or service that allows you stream shows directly from the internet), instead of clearing your evening to watch scheduled TV.

If you thought the streaming wars in the US were heating up, wait til you read about what’s happening in Korea!

Taking the lead of Netflix, HBO Max/Go/Now, Disney+ and many others, Korean streaming services are popping up like mushrooms and running their own Squid Game.

Without further ado, let’s check out 12 Korean streaming services for your K-drama fix!

1. WAVVE (์›จ์ด๋ธŒ)

WAVVE was launched in September 2019 through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between SK Telecom and the three major national television networks (KBS, MBC and SBS). Like the Avengers of Korean broadcasting conglomerates to fight Thanos (Netflix).

It’s a new integrated OTT service that merged POOQ and oksusu, to keep global OTT companies like YouTube and Netflix in check.

This platform may not be available in your country without VPN.

WHY CHOOSE WAVVE?

You can watch famous Korean entertainment shows like Running Man (๋Ÿฐ๋‹๋งจ), Hangout with Yoo (๋†€๋ฉด ๋ญํ•˜๋‹ˆ?) and I Live Alone (๋‚˜ ํ˜ผ์ž ์‚ฐ๋‹ค). WAVVE even offers HBO series like Succession and Luck.

BasicStandardPremium
Price7,900 won10,900 won13,900 won
DeviceMobile + PCMobile + PC + TVMobile + PC + TV
Image QualityHD(720p)FHD(1080p)UHD included (-2160p)
Simultaneous Viewing124

2. TVING (ํ‹ฐ๋น™)

TVING was launched through a joint venture of CJ ENM and JTBC.

This OTT platform was created to counter WAVVE in early 2020, then was joined by Naver afterwards to maximize the synergy of CJ ENM, which has strength in content planning and production, and Naver, which has numerous webtoon and web novel IPs. Another team up, but mostly of villains. Kind of like Suicide Squad.

Just like WAVVE, it may not be available outside Korea without VPN.

WHY CHOOSE TVING?

TVING has tons of fun K-dramas based on webtoons like Work Later, Drink Now (์ˆ ๊พผ๋„์‹œ์—ฌ์ž๋“ค) and Yumi’s Cells (์œ ๋ฏธ์˜ ์„ธํฌ๋“ค) as well as super addictive Mnet shows like Show Me the Money (์‡ผ๋ฏธ๋”๋จธ๋‹ˆ) and Street Woman Fighter (์ŠคํŠธ๋ฆฟ ์šฐ๋จผ ํŒŒ์ดํ„ฐ).

BasicStandardPremium
Price7,900 won10,900 won13,900 won
Smart TVXOO
Image QualityHD(720p)FHD(1080p)4K
Simultaneous Viewing124

3. WATCHA (์™“์ฑ )

WATCHA has a wide selection of classic films, indie movies and TV series that are relatively non-mainstream, compared to Netflix with its blockbuster movies and TV shows. The best part is you can leave user ratings and get recommendations that you’ll actually like (*cough* do better Netflix).

If you want to binge-watch old K-dramas aired in the 2000s as well as entertainment shows and movies, WATCHA is for you. You can view Japanese anime and Hongkong movies too!

WATCHA offers a 2-week free trial.

WHY CHOOSE WATCHA?

WATCHA is great for viewing classics like Harry Potter, Dexter, Coffee Prince (์ปคํ”ผํ”„๋ฆฐ์Šค 1ํ˜ธ์ ), The Moon Embracing the Sun (ํ•ด๋ฅผ ํ’ˆ์€ ๋‹ฌ), Infinite Challenge (๋ฌดํ•œ๋„์ „), Inuyasha (์ด๋ˆ„์•ผ์ƒค) and Case Closed (๋ช…ํƒ์ • ์ฝ”๋‚œ).

BasicStandardPremium
Price4,900 won7,900 won12,900 won
DeviceMobile + Tablet + PCMobile + Tablet + PC + Smart TV + Android TV + Chromecast + PS5Mobile + Tablet + PC + Smart TV + Android TV + Chromecast + PS5
Image Quality2K (1080p)2K (1080p)4K (2160p)
Simultaneous Viewing114
As of March 15, 2019, the price went up. Only existing subscribers of the basic plan can continue with the price of 4,900 won, and new subscribers can sign up for either standard or premium plans.

4. U+Mobile TV (U+๋ชจ๋ฐ”์ผtv)

Launched in June 2014, U+Mobile TV is sort of a VOD service provided by LG U+ (one of the major Korean mobile network operators). Kind of like if Verizon made a streaming platform, if Verizon also made TVs, computers, refrigerators and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Its name used to be “Uflix (์œ ํ”Œ๋ฆญ์Šค)”, a combination of U+ and Netflix, but was changed due to consumer cringe and strongly-worded letters from Netflix. Don’t worry Netflix, we can’t quit you.

You can watch videos on your PC, smartphones, or U+tv, which is the IPTV of LG.

Since this service supports N-Screen (N์Šคํฌ๋ฆฐ, a Konglish word for connected experience across several screens/devices), you can continue viewing the same video on another device. It’s also convenient for Koreans since many own LG TVs, use LG(U+) internet and have an LG(U+) mobile data plan. That’s almost too much LG for one household.

WHY CHOOSE U+Mobile TV?

U+Mobile TV offers movies and drama series as well as independent films submitted to film festivals around the world. U+Mobile TV has numerous movies that are “free for everyone” without a paid monthly subscription too!

Basic24-HourMovie Basic
Price5,500 won1,650 won9,900 won
What you can watch70 real-time channels + over 200,000 movies, overseas dramas, animations, TV replaysSame as Standard plan, but only for 24 hours!Over 40,000 movies and overseas dramas
U+Mobile TV’s price list is too long and complicated, so I only included the basic ones.
Lingua-Asia_Line_Lotus

5. Seezn (์‹œ์ฆŒ)

Seezn is an OTT service launched by KT (another major Korean mobile network operator) in November, 2019. It’s upgraded from the previous OTT service of KT, Olleh TV Mobile(์˜ฌ๋ ˆtv ๋ชจ๋ฐ”์ผ). Koreans have been watching TV on their phones since early 2000s, so this isn’t such a leap for them.

In August 2021, it was separated as an independent corporation and reorganized as the largest shareholder of Genie Music. Fascinating.

As you might have noticed, Korean companies are overachievers.

WHY CHOOSE Seezn?

You can watch popular entertainment shows like I Live Alone (๋‚˜ ํ˜ผ์ž ์‚ฐ๋‹ค), Movie Room (๋ฐฉ๊ตฌ์„ 1์—ด), Hangout with Yoo (๋†€๋ฉด ๋ญํ•˜๋‹ˆ?), King of Mask Singer (๋ณต๋ฉด๊ฐ€์™•) and 2 Days & 1 Night (1๋ฐ• 2์ผ). Seezn also has some original content like Crime Puzzle (ํฌ๋ผ์ž„ ํผ์ฆ).

Seezn PlainSeezn Mix
Price5,500 won9,900 won
What you can watch200 real-time channels + movies and TV shows200 real-time channels + movies and TV shows
+ Content Pack 11,000 Coco and VOD 11,000 Coco (their credit or “coin” you can use to buy VOD like pay-per-view)
Seezn’s price list reads like a Christopher Nolan movie plot, so I only included the basic ones.

6. Coupang Play (์ฟ ํŒกํ”Œ๋ ˆ์ด)

Just like its name suggests, Coupang Play is an OTT service provided by Coupang (Korea’s biggest online shopping company). Just like if Amazon made a streaming service…wait.

It’s a free streaming service provided to Coupang’s Wow members. โ€‹It’s practically free since most Koreans have a Wow Membership to get online shopping benefits like free rocket delivery, free returns, special offers, and now free streaming service! They’ll tell you it’s totally worth it if you ask.

WHY CHOOSE Coupang Play?

You can watch SNL Korea as well as live sports broadcast, including Premier Leagueโšฝ, La Ligaโšฝ and even National Football League๐Ÿˆ. It’s a sweet deal because you can enjoy both shopping and watching TV shows!

Basic
PriceFree with Wow Membership or 4,990 won
DeviceMobile + Tablet + TV
Image Quality1080P(FHD), 720P,(HD) 480P(SD)
Simultaneous Viewing2 (4 profiles)

7. KakaoTV (์นด์นด์˜คTV)

KakaoTV is an integrated video service provided by Kakao (yeshhh, that KakaoTalk) and its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment. It encompasses OTT, TV shows, personal internet broadcast and video player.

Launched in June 2015, it was initially a website to replay other TV shows that worked like NaverTV. But, the video content business of KakaoM has expanded since 2019.

Kakao has a bank too for some reason.

With the need for a platform to distribute their original dramas, entertainment shows and movies, KakaoTV was just launched in September 2020.

Imagine if WhatsApp wasn’t owned by Meta, and they started making movies and TV shows, and launched a streaming video service to show them on. That’s kind of what happened.

WHY CHOOSE KakaoTV?

Kakao is smart. They create really fun content that people want to see just like FACE ID with Lee Hyori. And it’s free as long as you visit KakaoTV frequently!

You can watch K-dramas, No, Thank You (๋ฉฐ๋А๋ผ๊ธฐ) based on a webtoon (as Kakao/Daum has its own webtoon platform) and Lovestruck in the city (๋„์‹œ๋‚จ๋…€์˜ ์‚ฌ๋ž‘๋ฒ•), as well as entertainment shows like Udangtangtang Antenna (๋”๋“ฌ์ดTV: ์šฐ๋‹นํƒ•ํƒ• ์•ˆํ…Œ๋‚˜), Would you like a cup of coffee? (์ปคํ”ผ ํ•œ์ž” ํ• ๊นŒ์š”?) and March of the Ants (๊ฐœ๋ฏธ๋Š” ์˜ค๋Š˜๋„ ๋š ๋š ). These are better than they sound, trust me.

Price
Upon the first release of each episodeFree
After one week of the release500 won per episode

8. Viki (๋น„ํ‚ค)

A streaming service with international roots, so you won’t need a VPN to use it. Viki has been making a marketing push as of late, but most of the good licenses have already been bought up by Netflix.

They have a few shows you can’t find elsewhere, depending on where you live. The platform hosts mainly Chinese Dramas, so if you’re looking for a different experience you can check it out.

You can also watch the latest K-dramas, Ghost Doctor (๊ณ ์ŠคํŠธ ๋‹ฅํ„ฐ), The Red Sleeve (์˜ท์†Œ๋งค ๋ถ‰์€ ๋๋™) and Now, We Are Breaking Up (์ง€๊ธˆ, ํ—ค์–ด์ง€๋Š” ์ค‘์ž…๋‹ˆ๋‹ค) on Viki!
(My friend highly recommended “The Red Sleeve”, and it’s on my list to watch next.)

Lingua-Asia_Line_Lotus

9. Disney+ (๋””์ฆˆ๋‹ˆ+ or ๋””์ฆˆ๋‹ˆํ”Œ๋Ÿฌ์Šค)

Disney is a bit late to the K-drama party, but they have deep pockets and aren’t afraid to use them.

They’ve already started production on 5 dramas with big names like Black Pink’s Jisoo and Daniel Kang. Disney+ has plans to go even further with 50 Asia Pacific productions by 2023.

Fun Facts: Mistranslations

Lingua Asia_Disney+ Korean Subtitle Issue
  1. Vision’s name was mistranslated as “์ „๋ง (which means vision or prospect)” in Korean, instead of “๋น„์ „”, in WandaVision.
  2. In Frozen, Olaf says, “Youโ€™re welcome to join us in the castle”, and it was mistranslated to “๊ฐ€๋ž‘์ด๋ฅผ ํ•จ๊ป˜ ํ•ด์š” (Let’s share crotch together)”, which led to many Korean children asking difficult questions to their parents.
  3. G.O.A.T(Greatest Of All Time) was literally translated as “์—ผ์†Œ (goat, the animal)” in The Simpsons.
  4. Buzz says “Extraรฑas y Desconozco” in Korean pronunciation, “์—‘์Šค๋œจ๋ผ๋ƒ์Šค ์ด ๋ฐ์Šค๊ผฌ๋…ธ์ฆˆ๊ผฌ” in Toy Story 3, which confused both Spanish and Korean speakers alike.

Here’s hoping Disney gives a few more hoots with their Korean content.

MonthlyYearly
$7.99
9,900 won
$79.99
99,000 won

10. Hulu (ํ›Œ๋ฃจ)

https://youtu.be/k2Ey7ISjFzw

Hulu has some classic titles that are a must for K-drama fans like “Winter Sonata”. It might be worth getting a membership just to binge them.

11. AsianCrush (์•„์‹œ์•ˆ ํฌ๋Ÿฌ์‰ฌ)

Similar to Viki, but with more Korean content and Asian horror. AsianCrush seems to making more of a push for originals than Viki. But users tend to complain about slow buffering times. Worth a look if you’re out of ideas and don’t want to use a VPN.

12. Netflix (๋„ทํ”Œ๋ฆญ์Šค)

Of course, we have to include Netflix, which is going all in on Korean content.

They’re doing a mostly great job adapting Webtoons and light novels. They’ll continue putting out stuff to watch, so check back with them once in a while.

BasicStandardPremium
Price9,500 won13,500 won17,000 won
Image Quality480p1080p4K + HDR
Simultaneous Viewing124

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2 thoughts on “12 K-Drama Streaming Platforms Recommended by a Korean (2023)”

  1. Anything coming from Korea is useless for most people. They don’t have English subtitles, or subtitles in any other language, so unless you speak Korean — worthless.

    Reply

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