Korean drama, or K-drama, is enjoying phenomenal worldwide success. Thanks to video-on-demand streaming - and given a boost by the pandemic - South Korea is now one of the largest content providers in the world. 
 
In this edition of The Cultural Frontline actress Min-ha Kim, who stars as Sunja in the adaptation of the best-selling historical novel Pachinko, explores the worldwide impact of K-drama and speaks to writers, actors and producers about how it is evolving.
K-drama fans come from all over the world, says Deema Abu Naser who runs the biggest K-drama community on Instagram, @deemalovesdrama. She was recently invited to visit film locations in Korea by Jeanie Chang, who posts about K-drama and mental health as @noonasnoonchi. 
But will K-drama’s new international audience change it for better or worse? 
Now that many dramas are being shared internationally on streaming platforms, they are changing, says Forbes K-drama critic Joan MacDonald. Squid Game made the world sit up and notice K-dramas - but they were already gaining popularity. 
Most Korean dramas are made to be watched by the whole family, and that is part of their worldwide appeal. Korean cinema, on the other hand, was always aimed at an adult audience. 
Korean script writer Hong Eun-mi tells Min-ha that the gap between K-drama and cinema has narrowed - the pandemic led to a slump in the film industry and now many writers and producers are working in K-drama instead.  
Another Korean innovation, webtoons - comics designed to be read vertically on a smartphone – have become a primary source for K-dramas. Some have millions of fans and are published globally, acting as a sort of barometer for any drama reversion, says Minyoung Alissia Hong, an executive at Korean media company Kakao Entertainment.
She saw the potential early on and first suggested turning the webtoon What's wrong with Secretary Kim? into a drama. Itaewon Class soon followed and was a huge success. 
K-dramas are also being remade in other countries - screenwriter Melis Veziroglu Yilmaz adapts Korean dramas for Turkish TV and says there are many parallels between Turkish and Korean culture. She hopes K-drama will remain family-friendly. 
Actress and singer Uhm Jung-hwa welcomes the changes. She recently starred in Doctor Cha, a drama about a middle-aged woman who decides to go back and finish her medical training after 20 years of looking after her family. Uhm Jung-hwa says roles for women have become more interesting since she first started out in the ‘90s, and pre-production has also improved the quality of K-dramas.

Produced by Julie Yoonnyung Lee, Samantha Haque and Vibeke Venema

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