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The 10 best K-dramas of 2023 … so far, from The Glory and Bloodhounds to Dr. Romantic 3

  • Which Korean drama series have had you on tenterhooks for the next episode to drop, or binge-watching, in the first half of 2023? We’ve ranked our top 10
  • Included are medical drama Dr. Romantic 3, crime epic Big Bet Part 2, political drama Queenmaker and revenge drama The Glory Part 2 – but where do they rank?

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Woo Do-Hwan (left) as Kim Gun-woo and Lee Sang-Yi as Hong Woo-jin in a still from “Bloodhounds”, one of our top 10 K-dramas aired so far in 2023. Which other series make our cut? Photo: Soyun Jeon, Seowoo Jung/Netflix

As we approach the halfway point of 2023, we look back over the varied offerings that have populated Korean television schedules over the last six months.

Below are our picks of the 10 best K-dramas aired so far this year.

10. Payback: Money and Power

Lead cast: Lee Sun-kyun, Moon Chae-won

Final Nielsen rating: 11.1 per cent

A shaggy Lee Sun-kyun gallops on horseback through the Mongolian steppe. Back in Korea, a clean-shaven Lee conducts an orchestra of illegal traders as he outfoxes a greedy loan shark.

If these images alone are not enough to whet your appetite, then Payback: Money and Power probably is not for you. But if they are, sit back and enjoy this finance world action-thriller as it rushes through familiar beats with confidence.

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