For some, Valentine's Day is all about sappy romance movies, sweet and affectionate couples, and endless displays of love. While both hit and cult classic movies may take the cake for featuring some of the most romantic couples, K-dramas give them a run for their money. Couples from When the Camelia Blooms and W, define a dream-like romance.
Fans can't help but rejoice over the "aegyo" and cute shenanigans by some of K-dramas best couples. These couples show deep and riveting love for each other amongst the thrilling drama, heartaches, and fated destinies.
Updated on November 29th, 2022 by Jom Elauria: There have been a lot of entertaining K-dramas that have been released recently, including the charming Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the thrilling Little Women. While K-dramas are known to feature a variety of genres and themes, an overarching aspect of K-dramas are couples that will make viewers swoon in delight. While Valentine’s Day is still a few months away, viewers can check out the best romantic K-dramas that have the most delightful pairings.
Cha Dae-Woong & Gu Mi-Ho (My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho)
Available to stream on Raukuten Viki.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is a K-drama that fuses fantasy with romance. The K-drama follows Cha Tae-Woong (Lee Seung-Ki), who frees a mythical nine-tailed fox known as a Gumiho after being sealed inside a painting for 500 years. Also known as Gu Mi-Ho (Shin Min-Ah), the nine-tailed fox dreams of becoming human and has to count on Tae-Woong to teach her the ways.
The K-drama is full of swoon-worthy moments, due in part to the cuteness of Gu Mi-Ho, who despite having lived for hundreds of years, still finds everything with wonder and has a child-like innocence — so it’s hard to blame Tae-Woong for falling for Mi-Ho. They're a feel-good couple whose romantic journey is filled with funny and heartwarming scenes.
Kim Tan & Cha Eun-Sang (The Heirs)
Available to stream on Kocowa.
The Heirs is a teen love K-drama that shouldn’t be missed by those who can’t resist shows with a forbidden love storyline. In the K-drama, Kim Tan (Lee Min-Ho), an heir to a huge company falls in love with Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye), a girl who comes from an underprivileged background.
K-drama fans can only imagine the drama that would ensue as Tan chooses a girl over his position at his family’s company. The Heirs manages to keep the drama elevated as Tan and Eun-Sang try their best to stay together, despite the threats of Tan’s family. The couple's perseverance to prove Tan's family wrong is inspiring and noteworthy.
Han Ji-Eun & Lee Young-Jae (Full House)
Available to stream on Kocowa.
Full House is a steamy K-drama that focuses on an initially pretend couple. A girl named Han Ji-Eun (Song Hye-Kyo), who lives in a house built by her late father, has been tricked by her best friends into selling her beloved house. However, she soon discovers that her house has been sold to a famous actor named Lee Young-Jae (Rain) who she became close to during a vacation.
Young-Jae proposes to Ji-Eun that they enter a contract marriage as he intends to catch the attention of his crush and make her jealous. But as they became closer, their pretend romance soon turns into reality. With plenty of comedic scenes that involve Young-Jae and Ji-Eun trying to catch each other off guard, the Full House couple will make viewers swoon and laugh at the same time.
Yoo Si-Jin & Kang Mo-Yeon (Descendants Of The Sun)
Available to stream on Kocowa.
The K-drama Descendants of the Sun is incredibly complex as it touches on themes such as war, power, and loyalty. Of course, there’s also a core romance plot in Descendants of the Sun that will keep viewers’ eyes peeled on their screens.
A captain named Yoo Shi-Jin (Song Joong-lo) meets Dr. Kang Mo-Yeon (Sone Hye-Kyo) after an unfortunate incident with him losing his phone. As they fall in love and start to date, they realize that their professions are inherently contradictory. As both Shi-Jin and Mo-Yeon are jealous characters, it’s cruel that they’re constantly separated despite their intense love for each other.
Moon Gang-Tae & Ko Moon-Young (It's Okay To Not Be Okay)
Available to stream on Netflix.
Recently, K-dramas have tried to shine a light on more sensitive topics, which include mental health. The 2020 K-drama It’s Okay to Not be Okay is about Moon Kang-Tae (Kim Soo-Hyun) a psychiatric ward worker who falls in love with a patient named Ko Moon-Young (Seo Yea-Ji), despite her personality and trauma-filled childhood.
What’s irable about the couple is that they both help each other find a way to accept and understand their shortcomings. Despite the dark themes the K-drama features, the couple is not forgotten and viewers can still feel the love with all the steamy kisses and romantic dialogue. The couple truly understands each other's plights and that's what makes them a K-drama pairing that couples everywhere should aspire to be.
Hong-Joo & Jae-Chan (While You Were Sleeping)
Available to stream on Disney+.
This K-drama isn't meant to be confused with the American romance/comedy of the same name. Instead, this is a legal drama-fantasy revolving around a young female journalist and a rookie prosecutor. Fans fell in love with the main characters who soon fall in love with each other.
Fans will recall countless cute and emotional scenes, like when Hong-Joo (Bae Suzy) is itted to the hospital and Jae-Chan (Lee Jong-Suk) rushes to her side. In the scene, he diligently asks if she's okay and picks her up by her legs. There's even a comical jealousy scene in episode eight by Jae-Chan. Let's not forget he also shuts her up with a kiss in episode 13. Swoon.
Se-Hee & Ji-Ho (Because This Is My First Life)
Available to stream on Netflix.
Not all relationships start the way they should. In this drama, a socially awkward Se-Hee (Lee Min-Ki) goes into a living arrangement with a homeless writer and agrees to not develop feelings, but fate has other plans. Se-Hee proved to be smooth in romance despite being cold at times.
He and Ji-Ho (Yoon Ji-Ho) soon fall in love despite their life troubles. Fans swooned in episode 11 when Se-Hee tells Ji-Ho that they never had a proper real kiss. Ji-Ho its she didn't do it well and Se-Hee swoops in to show her how it's done - all while watching a beautiful sunset.
Min-Kyu & Ji-Ah (I'm Not A Robot)
Available to stream on Kocowa.
Despite having low ratings during its time on-air, I'm Not a Robot did incredibly well with overseas fans. It's a complex yet riveting story of an unexpected romance, AI, and a dangerous illness, often seen in K-drama tropes. Min-Kyu (Yoo Seung-Ho) has a severe allergic reaction to the human touch and falls in love with Ji-Ah (Chae Soo-Bin), believing she's an AI.
Their love story is full of ups and downs and romantic moments. After uncovering the truth, Min-Kyu realizes he really fell in love with the human, Ji-Ah. Fans were heartbroken to see the series end, but content that the couple got their fairytale ending and even a "dip" kiss as the snow falls.
Song-Yi & Min-Joon (My Love From The Star)
Available to stream on Prime Video.
My Love From the Star is a highly acclaimed drama from 2013 due to its science fiction and fantasy elements or perhaps the romance between the two main characters, which both happens by chance and yet was fated all along. Min-Joon (Kim Soo-Hyun) has been stuck on Earth after failing to return to his home planet.
Centuries later, he finds himself neighbors with Seong-Yi (Jun Ji-Hyun). He gets entangled in her unpredictable life and his secret identity is in peril. Fans came to ire their story as they fell in love and Min-Joon does everything possible to save Song-Yi from an enemy. Fans got chills when he stops time at her award show, covers her up in his coat and they share a tearful gaze and ionate kiss.
Bok-Joo & Joon-Hyung (Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo)
Available to stream on Kocowa.
Childhood friends find love in this K-drama that had a bit of everything and enthralled fans. Bok-Joo (Lee Sung-Kyung) dreams of being a professional weightlifter and crosses paths with Joon-Hyung (Nam Joo-Hyuk). They have no recollection of each other until an event brings back old memories.
The pair soon fall in love and display one of the cutest relationships seen in K-dramas. In one scene, she its her feelings and bravely plants a kiss on him. Joon-Hyung is shocked, to say the least, but gleeful and pulls her in close for more. Another instance was when he takes her out on a date and only orders one drink with two straws. He later holds her hands during the fireworks.