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Pierce Conran

After a quiet July, the summer schedule of K-drama launches heats up in August with a range of shows, including the most expensive Korean small-screen production of all time.
We preview nine of the best K-dramas series debuting during the month.
1. The First Responders season 2
Lead cast: Kim Rae-won, Son Ho-jun, Gong Seung-yeon


The SBS show, streaming globally on Disney+, will return for a second season of heart-pounding suspense and action in The First Responders 2.
The series follows the tribulations of three emergency workers, one each from the police force, fire department and paramedic squad, played by Kim Rae-won, Son Ho-jun and Gong Seung-yeon respectively, who team up to save people against the clock in death-defying situations. (SBS, August 4)
2. My Dearest
Lead cast: Namgoong Min, Ahn Eun-jin


This period drama set during the rule of the Joseon dynasty in Korea (1392–1897) follows a romance that blossoms between a mysterious aristocrat (One Dollar Lawyer’s Namgoong Min) and a confident noblewoman (Ahn Eun-jin of The Good Bad Mother).
The romance occurs in 1637 when the Chinese Qing dynasty invades Korea, a time when all hope seems lost. While they meet and get to know each other, the aristocrat holds on to a dangerous secret and the noblewoman begins to break out of her shell. (MBC, August 4)
3. Moving
Lead cast: Ryoo Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Zo In-sung


Moving is the most expensive Korean production of all time, with a budget of 65 billion won (US$51 million), and is a superhero action-drama adapted from the webtoon of the same name by Kang Full.
It follows three high-school students who develop superpowers inherited from their parents, such as flying, superfast healing and the ability to travel at lightning speed.
The trio try to keep their powers under wraps, while their parents struggle to keep them from being used by people with wicked intentions.
The starry cast includes Ryoo Seung-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Zo In-sung, Cha Tae-hyun and Ryoo Seung-bum. (Disney+, August 9)
4. The Killing Vote
Lead cast: Park Hae-jin, Park Sung-woong, Lim Ji-yeon


In this dystopian K-drama based on a webtoon, vile criminals who escape the clutches of justice are subjected to a nationwide text-message poll. If over 50 per cent of people vote for them to be given the death penalty, a mysterious figure known only as “Dog Mask” will make their wish a reality.
In this world, the police chase after Dog Mask, among them a detective played by Park Hae-jin and Lim Ji-yeon’s cyber bureau police officer. The show also features Park Sung-woong as a legal scholar jailed for the murder of the rapist who attacked his daughter, and known to his fellow prisoners as the “Professor”. (SBS, August 10)
5. Cold-Blooded Intern
Lead cast: Ra Mi-ran, Uhm Ji-won


Ra Mi-ran plays a skilled saleswoman who puts her career on hold to have a child. After spending seven years raising that child, she wants to get back into the workforce.
She goes for an interview at the “Market House”, where one of her higher-ups is an old colleague played by Uhm Ji-won. She is offered an internship there by her acquaintance, but with a cruel caveat. (TVING, August 11)
6. Behind Your Touch
Lead cast: Han Ji-min, Lee Min-ki, Suho


Out in the crime-free village of Mujin, Bong Ye-boon (Han Ji-min) works as a veterinary surgeon with a special ability: she can see the past of any living creature whose behind she touches.
Her powers lead her to join forces with Moon Jang-yeol (Lee Min-ki), a hotshot detective who has been demoted from his Seoul job to the countryside. They first tackle small mysteries together, until a serial killing case shocks the village. (JTBC, August 12)
7. Mask Girl
Lead cast: Go Hyun-jung, Nana, Ahn Jae-hong


Beasts Clawing at Straws director Kim Young-hoon makes his small-screen debut for Netflix with the webtoon adaptation Mask Girl.
Go Hyun-jung plays an ordinary office worker who used to dream of performing on the stage. At the end of her work days, she now dons a mask and becomes “Mask Girl”, a live-streaming online personality.
A colleague and fan of Mask Girl, played by Ahn Jae-hong, learns of her real identity and together they become involved in an unexpected case. Soon, the man’s mother also becomes involved when he mysteriously disappears. (Netflix, August 18)
8. My Lovely Boxer
Lead cast: Lee Sang-yeob, Kim So-hye


Lee Sang-yeob of Bloodhounds passes his boxing gloves to Kim So-hye as he plays a sports agent to her prizefighter in My Lovely Boxer.
Lee’s character, Kim Tae-young, is a cold-blooded operator who milks talent from different sporting fields of money until they are all burned out.
To help a friend, he is tasked with bringing young female boxer Lee Kwon-sook (Kim) back to the ring after a three-year hiatus. (KBS2, August 21)
9. Destined with You
Lead cast: Rowoon, Jo Bo-ah


Jo Bo-ah plays Lee Hong-jo, a lowly civil servant who does her best at her job but struggles with petty complaints. She has a quiet personal life until she comes into possession of a mysterious chest that connects her to Jang Shin-yu (Rowoon of the K-pop outfit SF9), a successful lawyer suffering from an unfamiliar disease.
A curse has run through his family for generations all the way back to the time of the Joseon dynasty – and Hong-jo appears to have stumbled across the key to lifting it once and for all. (JTBC, August 23)


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The 15 best K-dramas of 2025 ranked, from Melo Movie to When Life Gives You Tangerines

K-drama news

9 of the best new K-drama series to watch in August 2023: Mask Girl on Netflix, Moving on Disney+, The First Responders season 2 and more

Nana as Kim Mo-mi in a still from “Mask Girl”, one of nine new K-drama series to watch in August 2023. Photo: Jun Hea-sun/Netflix

Disney+ K-drama review: Shadow Detective season 2 – Lee Sung-min crime thriller series reaches a gripping conclusion

Lee Sung-min as Taek-rok in a still from “Shadow Detective” season 2. Photo: Disney+

Lee Sung-min as Taek-rok in a still from “Shadow Detective” season 2 on Disney+. After a bright opening and midsection that gets bogged down, it works up to a riveting conclusion. Photo: Disney+

Kyung Soo-jin as Lee Seong-a in a still from “Shadow Detective” season 2. Photo: Disney+

Kim Shin-rok as Yeon Ju-hyun in a still from “Shadow Detective” season 2. Photo: Disney+

Jeong Jin-yeong as Choi Do-hyung in a still from “Shadow Detective” season 2. Photo: Disney+

Bloodhounds’ Woo Do-hwan set for Netflix K-drama Mr. Plankton; King the Land’s Lee Jun-ho eyed for Cashero – Korean drama casting latest

Woo Do-hwan (above, in a still from “Bloodhounds”) is set to star in Netflix K-drama “Mr. Plankton”. Photo: Netflix

Woo Do-hwan (above, in a still from “Bloodhounds”) is set to star in Netflix K-drama series “Mr. Plankton” as a drifter who sets off in search of his biological father. In other K-drama casting news, Lee Jun-ho has been offered the lead role in superhero series Cashero. Photo: Netflix

Lee Yoo-mi in a still from “Mental Coach Jegal”. Photo: tvN

Chun Woo-hee in a still from “Delightfully Deceitful”. Photo: tvN

Park Bo-gum in a still from “Seobok”. Photo: CJ Entertainment

Lee Joon-ho in a still from “King the Land”. Photo: JTBC

K-drama Not Others: Sooyoung, Jeon Hye-jin lead silly mother-daughter comedy

Choi Soo-young (left) and Park Sung-hoon in a still from “Not Others”.

Choi Soo-young (left), aka Sooyoung from Girls’ Generation, as police lieutenant Kim Jin-hee, and Jeon Hye-jin as her physical therapist mother Kim Eun-mi  in a still from the new Korean drama “Not Others”.

Jeon Hye-jin as physical therapist Kim Eun-mi in a still from “Not Others”.

Choi Soo-young (left) as police lieutenant Kim Jin-hee and Park Sung-hoon as her police partner and superior Eun Jae-won in a still from “Not Others”.

Choi Soo-young (left) and Jeon Hye-jin in a still from “Not Others”.

Choi Soo-young in a still from “Not Others”.

Disney+ K-drama midseason recap: Revenant – supernatural thriller starring Kim Tae-ri explores the darkness within all of us

Kim Tae-ri as Gu San-yeong in a still from “Revenant”. As Disney+’s occult K-drama unfolds, Kim Tae-ri and Oh Jung-se’s lead characters fight an internal battle between light and darkness, in a metaphor for the inner struggles we all face and how we hide them.

Oh Jung-se as Yeom Hae-sang in a still from “Revenant”.

Kim Tae-ri as Gu San-yeong in a still from “Revenant”.

Netflix K-drama review: Celebrity – Park Gyu-young of Sweet Home and Squid Game season 2 leads shallow series about the dark side of social media fame

Park Gyu-young as Seo Ah-rin in a still from “Celebrity”. Photo: Netflix

Park Gyu-young as Seo Ah-rin in a still from “Celebrity”. The “Sweet Home” actress leads the Netflix show that explores our paradoxical relationship with social media, but is hampered by a weak storyline. Photo: Netflix

Park Gyu-young (left) as Seo Ah-ri and Jun Hyo-seong as her childhood friend Oh Min-hye in a still from “Celebrity”. Photo: Netflix

Lee Chung-ah as Yoon Shi-hyeon in a still from “Celebrity”. Photo: Netflix 

Park Gyu-young as Seo Ah-ri (left) and Kang Min-hyuk as Han Jun-kyung in a still from “Celebrity”. Photo: Netflix

Park Gyu-young as Seo Ah-ri in a still from “Celebrity”. Photo: Netflix 

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The First Responders returns for more heart-pounding suspense in season 2, while superhero action-drama Moving follows three students who develop superpowers
Meanwhile, Netflix K-drama Mask Girl tells the story of an ordinary office worker who moonlights as a live-streaming star


From the second season of The First Responders to period drama My Dearest to the webtoon adaptation Moving, Mask Girl and The Killing Vote, 9 new K-drama series to watch in August 2023.
