K-DRAMA NEWS - Aug 2025
By Sharon Stern
There is quite a bit of everything going on in August in Dramaland. There are a couple of pretty twisted plots, one drama that borders on X rated, a couple of family/slice-of-life pieces, a time travel to Joseon, a super-hero heaven-hell action series and a legal drama. We’ll see how they all live up to their descriptions!
The Woman Who Swallowed the Sun - 태양을 삼킨 여자
Kocowa – Starring: Seo Ha-Joon, Jang Shin-Young, Yoon Ah-Jung, Oh Chang-Seok
Genre: Revenge drama, melodrama
Baek Seoul-Hee (Jang Shin-Young) is a single mother who runs a snack shop and who is fighting a conglomerate family to avenge her daughter who is the victim in crime, but is accused of being the perpetrator. This is not the only revenge theme to the drama, though. Tak Hwi-Seong (Sea Ha-Joon) was adopted to the US 25 years ago. He returns to Korea, seeking to fix the wrongs of his past. There are two other main characters in the chaebol company looking for their own chances to beat out others and gain what they see are their rightful places. This drama looks pretty intense. It has now been subtitled on Kocowa.
The Defects – 아이쇼핑
Kocowa – Starring: Yum Jung-Ah, Won Jin-Ah
Genre: Thriller, mystery, revenge
I think this drama needs to come with a trigger warning. If you are an adoptee, if you have any kind of abandonment issues with family, this quite seriously may not be the drama for you to watch. For everyone else, it still looks extremely intense.
This drama is based on a webtoon called Ayishopping (as in Child Shopping), the same name as the drama (maybe they should have left it as a direct translation). The story is about an illegal adoption ring that buys and sells abandoned children as though they were a commodity like shoes or a handbag or something. The adoption ring hides behind the façade of a charity foundation. Just typing that makes me feel like it’s more of a documentary than fiction, but the twist is that you can return your used goods for a refund, if you aren’t satisfied. Ick. Kim Se-hee (Yum Jung-ah) is the head of the supposed foundation. Rookie detective Cha Na-bi (Won Jin-ah) investigates the foundation, but finds out quickly that justice isn’t absolutely black or white and is often harder to obtain than you think. And what happens to the product rejects? Will they happily live as content adults? No. The drama is guaranteed to be disturbing, but it is said to deal head-on with some of the worst parts of Korean adoption in the past.
My Girlfriend Is The Man - 내 여자친구는 상남자
Viki – Starring: Yoon San-ha, Arin (Choi Ye-won), Yoo Jung-hoo
Genre: Rom-com
Park Yun-jae (Yoon San-ha) is an astronomy student who meets Kim Ji-eun (Arin) on a blind date. They fall in love and are boyfriend/girlfriend. One day, a man (Yoo Jung-hoo) shows up and tells Yun-jae that he is Ji-eun. They don’t run for the hills and Ji-eun tries to learn how to act like a man from Yun-jae, until she can change back into her own body. The silliness factor seems a bit over the top, but the OST might be interesting, given the stars of the series who are set to do some singing.
My Lovely Journey – 여행을 대신해 드립니다
Viki – Starring: Gong Seung-yeon, Yoo Jung-sang, Kim Jae-young, Hong Soo-hyung, Oh Hyun-joong
Genre: Slice-of-life, romance
Based on Mahiro Harada's Japanese novel Welcome Back, Traveler, the series is about a former idol turned journalist, Kang Yeo-reum (Gong Seung-yeon), who feels like she has failed in life and who does travel writing, going on trips on behalf of other people, meeting generous strangers along the way. Reviewers say to give it until Episode 2, because the first episode is stupid silly, but it turns around into something more sincere by the second episode.
Beyond the Bar – 에스콰이어: 변호사를 꿈꾸는 변호사들
Netflix – Starring: Lee Jin-wook, Jung Chae-yeon, Lee Hak-joo, Jeon Hye-bin
Genre: Office, legal, drama
A rookie lawyer (Jung Chae-yeon) is confident at work, but awkward in her social life. Her experienced colleague (Lee Jin-wook) helps her become an accomplished lawyer and a confident person.
Love, Take Two – 첫, 사랑을 위하여
Viki – Starring: Yum Jung-ah, Park Hae-joon, Choi Yoon-ji, Kim Min-kyu
Genre: Slice-of-life, rom-com
This is a story of a single mother (Yum Jung-ah), who is a construction manager, and her daughter (Choi Yoon-Ji) who is a med student, living in a small town and both trying to listen to their hearts and reconnect/connect to their first true loves.
Our Golden Days – 화려한 날들
Kocowa – Starring: Jung Il-woo, Jung In-sun, Yoon Hyun-min
Genre: Slice-of-life, family, romance
Multi-generational stories weave together to explore human ups and downs in this slice-of-life drama. Ji Hyuk has his life all put together – hard working weeks, hobby-filled weekends. And then an old college friend, Ji Eun-oh, who had confessed to him, reappears and causes confusing feelings and confrontation with past family issues. Ji Hyuk’s best friend, Seong Jae, is a chaebol son with traumas of his own to work through.
AEMA – 애마
Netflix – Starring: Lee Hanee (Honey Lee), Bang Hyo-rin, Jin Seon-kyu, Jo Hyun-chul
Genre: Comedy
Premieres Aug 22 | In the South Korean film industry of the 1980s, there is a top star, Jung Hui-ran (Lee Hanee), with an inflexible personality and a temper to match. She is cast in the movie Madam Aema, created by a top producer, Koo Jung-ho (Jin Seon-kyu). She proves too inflexible and Koo fires her and auditions for a replacement. She is replaced by Sin Ju-ae, a nightclub dancer (Bang Hyo-rin) with aspirations to be an actress. But Jung Hui-ran won’t back down. A rookie director (Jo Hyun-chul) is given the job to pull the film together, but finds himself in the middle of personalities, power struggles and ambition. The movie they are making looks X rated and the trailer seems to mention boobs a lot of times. Just sayin’.
Twelve – 트웰브
Disney+ – Starring: Ma Dong-seok, Park Hyung-sik, Seo In-guk, Sung Dong-il, Lee Joo-bin, Ko Kyu-pil, Kang Mi-na, Sung Yoo-bin, Ahn Jihye, Regina Lei
Genre: Fantasy, superhero, action
Premieres Aug 23 | Twelve animals (the zodiac animals) are called by heaven to become human-like angels and save the human world. Each one has special powers to protect humans. The angels fight a bloody battle against demons and their king, who was hated by and banished by God. This is definitely an action figure series with some very dark tones.
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty – 폭군의 셰프
Netflix – Starring: Im Yoon-ah (YoonA), Lee Chae-min, Kang Han-na, Choi Gwi-hwa
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Premieres Aug 23 | Yeon Ji-yeong (YoonA) is a French chef who is a perfectionist, confident and at the peak of her career. On the day she wins the competition for best French chef, she is time slipped back to the Joseon Dynasty where King Yi Heon rules. The king is a super taster and abhors mediocrity and is very grumpy to boot. The entire court is in fear of presenting each meal. Now Ji-yeong has to maneuver through palace politics that include the king’s favored concubine, Kang Mok-ju (Kang Han-na) while surviving by cooking in a way that won’t get her quite literally axed.
