These popular K-Dramas of are simply too good to be true
K-Dramas have become the go-to stress reliever for most people because of the wide variety of stories to choose from. Especially in this pandemic, where most people are in lockdown and the top pastime of choice is to binge-watch televisions shows.
The immense success of Korean dramas may have been based not only on production value, especially the recent ones like Squid Game, but in the relatable storylines and characters, no matter how fantastical they may seem.
Unbeknownst to many, some of them were inspired by or loosely based on real-life stories. Read on to find out which of our recent favorite K-Dramas were based on true stories, from the lighthearted stress relievers to the dark and melodramatic.
Fight For My Way
The main characters of this hit Korean rom-com drama, Ko Dong Man and Choi Ae Ra, are loosely based on the life of the mixed martial artist Choo Sung Hoon and his wife, Yano Shiho. The writer of the series, Im Chang Soon, mentioned in an interview that his interest in martial arts fighters started when he saw Shiho crying while watching her husband in a match.
D.P
D.P. or Deserter Pursuit may have been an adaptation of a webtoon titled, D.P: Dog Days, but the disturbing scenes portrayed inside the military training are not too far-fetch from reality. D.P garnered reviews from Korean men who have gone through their military training saying that the drama is “too realistic.”
Move To Heaven
K-drama, Move To Heaven is inspired by the non-fiction essay, Things Left Behind by Kim Sae Byul, a South Korean trauma cleaner. Kim Sae Byul mentioned in an interview that he once cleaned “the house of a man in his 70s, who died alone and was found many weeks later.” Although it was in the form of different characters, the exact setting was featured in an episode of the Netflix original series.
Signal
The crimes shown in the top-rating K-drama Signal were derived from real cases in South Korea. This includes the Park Chorong Bitnari kidnapping case and the Hwasong serial murders that took place in the Gyeonggi province.
Reply 1988
This well loved K-drama’s story was not based in real story, but one of its characters was inspired by a real person. Park Bo Gum‘s role is actually inspired by Lee Chang Ho, who is a real-life Baduk player, and won a lot of local and international Baduk tournaments.
Crash Landing On You
The writer for Crash Landing On You Park Ji Eun revealed that she drew inspiration from South Korean actress Jung Yang’s real life event. The incident which involved Jung Yang happened in 2008 where the actress and her friends rode a leisure ferry boat and sail across the shores of Incheon.
However, the boat was swept away due to bad weather and went as close to crossing the Northern Limit Line that separates South Korea and North Korea, but unlike the events in the series, Jung Yang turned the boat around when they heard the fishermen speak in a North Korean accent.
The writer, Park Ji Eun thought how close North Korea is to her country that a person can get there without realizing it. Park proceed to explore a storyline where the protagonist accidentally lands in North Korea, thus, giving birth to the hit Kdrama Crash Landing On You.
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