Korean Dramas Streaming on Netflix (Apr – Jun 2025)

Here’s a curated chronological list of Korean dramas that premiered on Netflix from April through June 2025. In the second quarter of the year, Netflix released fewer rom-coms and more drama.

♦ Released April 2025: “Karma” and “Resident Playbook”

Karma

• Genre: Crime Thriller, Mystery, Legal Drama, Medical Drama
• Episodes: 6
• Based on: Webcomic Akyeon
• Memorable Quote: “Fate doesn’t knock. It breaks in.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: In common everyday language, karma is often described as “what goes around comes around.” But is that always true? Various individuals who seem to be unrelated become entangled in a web of fate, driven by desperation, deception, and unresolved trauma.

• One story is about two men in a financial crisis. One man discovers he’s the beneficiary of his father’s life insurance, but can’t wait for him to die. He hires a gang member to kill his father. However, their “perfect plan” unravels because a witness is present.
• A successful doctor meets a woman he believes is his “ideal female type”. On their way back home from the date, there is an accident, and he believes he killed someone. Not wanting to ruin his reputation as a doctor, he bribes a stranger to help him hide the body. Later, he discovers that it was a setup and the “ideal woman” was part of the con. Enraged, he kills her, and her accomplice kills him. It could have been a “perfect crime”, only there is a witness.
• A female doctor haunted by a past gang rape. At the hospital, she saves a burn victim whose name matches one of her attackers. She hires a private investigator to find out if he is one of the rapists or if the name is just a coincidence. If he is one of her attackers, as his doctor, what will she do?

There are other interwoven stories, where lives collide in unexpected ways. The encounters raise the question: Are these encounters mere coincidence, or the inevitable result of karma?

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Karma

Resident Playbook

• Genre: Medical Drama
• Episodes: 12
• Based on: Spin-off of Hospital Playlist
• Memorable Quote: “In the delivery room, every heartbeat counts.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: Four OB/GYN residents at a Medical Center navigate the intense world of medical training under the watchful eye of a notoriously strict supervisor known as “The Witch.”

• Resident 1, Oh Yi-Young (played by Go Youn-Jung, “Hunt”, “Death’s Game”, “Moving”, “Alchemy of Souls 1 and 2”, “He is Psychometric”), arrives already wanting to quit, burdened by debt and frequent mistakes. Yet beneath the chaos, she proves to be a capable doctor.
• Resident 2, Pyo Nam-Kyung, questions her life choices as she watches her friends thrive in luxury, but remains focused and competent in her work.
• Resident 3, Um Jae-Il, a former K-pop idol, is passionate but erratic, his overreactions and lack of medical judgment drive his mentors to the brink.
• Resident 4, Kim Sa-Bi, a top student obsessed with metrics, struggles with empathy and patient connection, learning the hard way that success in medicine isn’t measured by numbers alone.

Despite their differences, these residents are determined to become independent physicians and plan to stick it out, at least until their first paycheck.

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Resident Playbook

♦ Released May 2025: “Dear Hongrang” and “Tastefully Yours”

Dear Hongrang

• Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery, Fantasy
• Episodes: 12
• Memorable Quote: “The past may be forgotten, but love remembers.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: The mysterious disappearance of Hongrang (played by Lee Jae-Wook, “The Impossible Heir”, “Death’s Game”, “Alchemy of Souls 1 and 2”), the son of a wealthy merchant, sets off a haunting chain of events. At age eight, he vanished in the forest. His adopted sister refuses to believe he’s dead and has spent years secretly searching for him, often disguised as a man. Numerous impostors have tried to deceive the grieving parents, Sim Yeol-Guk and Min Yeon-Ui, but their lies were met with brutal consequences.

When a young man finally passes all expert identification tests. He claimed to have been abducted by a monstrous snow-white figure, eerily unlike the traditional Grim Reaper. His parents accepted him as their son, but his adopted sister remains unconvinced. Her instincts scream that he’s a fraud, and the tension between them is immediate and mutual. The adopted son, who was trained to inherit the family business, is also suspicious of the long-lost son. While the adopted brother and sister investigate to find out the young man’s true identity, Hongrang is on his own secret mission: to find the snowman who took him.

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Dear Hongrang

Tastefully Yours

• Genre: Romantic Comedy
• Episodes: 10
• Memorable Quote: “Flavor isn’t just taste, it’s emotion.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: Han Beom-Woo (played by Kang Ha-Neul, “The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure”, “Curtain Call”, “Forgotten”, “River Where The Moon Rises”, “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo”, “Misaeng: Incomplete Life”, “Squid Game 2 and 3”) is determined to outshine his older brother in the competitive world of fine dining. Both run upscale restaurants, but Han’s has only earned one star while his brother boasts two. Their mother, disappointed by their lack of three-star recognition, declares that whichever son achieves the prestigious Diamant 3-star rating will inherit the family’s culinary empire.

Just before opening his restaurant, Han discovers that another eatery serves HIS “unique” signature dish. When he tracks down the rival, he finds a young woman who is a talented but obscure chef, and her restaurant is a hidden gem. Han Beom-Woo thought he could get her to close if he pressured her. It didn’t work. He ended up investing in her restaurant, and they agreed to work together and create a truly exceptional dining experience worthy of the prestigious Diamant 3-star rating.

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Tastefully Yours

Our Unwritten Seoul

• Genre: Romantic Drama
• Episodes: 12
• Memorable Quote: “Sometimes, the story we never wrote is the one we live.”
• Official Trailer: Netflix K-Content. “Our Unwritten Seoul.” YouTube, 13 May 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzngpAm1P1c.

Plot Summary: Twin sisters Mi-Rae and Mi-Ji share a bond that defies expectations and endures through hardship. Named “Future” and “Unknown” by their father, the girls grow up swapping identities, Mi-Rae, the frail but brilliant one, and Mi-Ji, the strong but less academically gifted twin. Their early impersonations lead to serious consequences, especially when Mi-Ji secretly takes Mi-Rae’s herbal medicine, risking her sister’s health.

In adulthood, Mi-Rae lives in Seoul, while Mi-Ji stays behind to care for their grandmother. Mi-Ji discovers her sister is suffering from workplace bullying and financial pressure, teetering on the edge emotionally. To protect Mi-Rae, Mi-Ji swaps identities like they used to do. Mi-Ji is not the type to endure being bullied. But can the twin sisters pull off the switch without being caught?

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Our Unwritten Seoul

♦ Released Jun 2025: “Mercy for None” and “Squid Game – Season 3”

Mercy for None

• Genre: Action, Crime
• Episodes: 8
• Based on: Webtoon
• Memorable Quote: “Mercy is for the weak. I’m done being weak.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: Nam Gi-Jun is a former gangster whose past refuses to stay buried. Eleven years ago, he carried out a brutal mission to eliminate a rival gang, paving the way for the Big Boss to expand his criminal empire. But internal power struggles erupted when the Big Boss’s son feared being passed over as the new leader. He tried to eliminate those in his way, but the son’s failed assassination attempt led to his own death. Nam Gi-Jun took the blame and also killed the Big Boss to protect the others. He was severely injured and left the underworld behind, vowing never to return, as long as nothing happened to his little brother. Only … his little brother was murdered. Nam Gi-Jun returns to uncover the truth behind his brother’s death and intends to exact vengeance, showing mercy for none.

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Mercy for None

Squid Game – Season 3

• Genre: Thriller, Drama
• Episodes: 6
• Memorable Quote: “This time, I play to end the game.”
• Trailer: Watch on YouTube

Plot Summary: Gi-hun, No. 456, enters this ruthless survival game for the third time, hoping it will be the last time. He returns to destroy the Squid Game from within, facing sabotage and deadly trials.

• Where to Watch: Netflix – Squid Game Season 3

Have you watched any of these Korean dramas?