Netflix announces six new Original Korean films and dramas

K-drama fans, rejoice! Netflix, which brought you fan favourites like Korean Odyssey, Something in the Rain, and What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, is expanding its Korean library to include six new original titles.

2019 has already seen hits like Abyss, Arthdal Chronicles, and One Spring Night made available on Netflix, exclusive to Singapore. The upcoming titles cover a variety of stories and genres, including drama, sci-fi, thriller, horror, comedy, and romance. Get a first look at them here:

Svaha: The Sixth Finger | Trailer

• Netflix Original film
• Launch date: Now streaming
• Starring Lee Jung-jae (Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds, Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days) and Park Jung-min (Bleak Night, Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet)
• Written and directed by Jang Jae-hyun (The Priests)

Svaha is a tapestry of subplots woven like a puzzle with Pastor Park (Lee) hired to expose a religious cult. He learns of a young girl’s murder whose body was found following a tunnel accident and starts to connect the pieces to his investigation. Unfolding in parallel, the obsession of another young girl Geum-hwa by religious fanatic Na-han (Park) slowly builds a mystery that rattles and confuses Pastor Park.

Chief of Staff

• Netflix Original weekly series
• Launch date: 15 June 2019
• Starring Lee Jung-jae and Shin Min-ah (Oh My Venus, My Girlfriend Is a Nine-tailed Fox)
• Written by Lee Dae-il (Life on Mars, Bring It On, Ghost)
• Directed by Kwak Jung-hwan (Ms. Hammurabi, THE K2, The Slave Hunters)

Chief of Staff is a drama series about the world of political aides who are normally outside the spotlight. It portrays aides as the real players in politics, whose desire for power can sometimes be stronger than that of the lawmakers they serve.

Designated Survivor: 60 Days | Trailer

• Netflix Original weekly series
• Launch date: 1 July 2019
• Starring Ji Jin-hee (Daejanggeum / Jewel in the Palace), Lee Joon-hyuk (Stranger), and Heo Joon-ho (Kingdom)
• Written by Kim Tae-hee (Sungkyunkwan Scandal)
• Directed by Yoo Jong-seon (What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, Descendants of the Sun)

Designated Survivor: 60 Days is a Korean adaptation of the popular American TV series Designated Survivor. It follows the main storyline of the original format, but features more of the Korean reality. It tells the story of a politician who ascends from the position of Minister of Environment to President as an explosion at the National Assembly kills everyone in the Cabinet who is ahead of him in terms of the presidential succession.

My First First Love [Season 2] | Talent shoutout

• Netflix Original series
• Launch date: 26 July 2019
• Starring Jisoo, Jung Chae-yeon, Jinyoung, Kang Tae-oh, and Choi Ri
• Directed by Oh Jin-seok
• Second season of Netflix Korean original series My First First Love

The upcoming season of My First First Love will continue to portray how the five characters grow as young adults. The love triangle involving Tae-o, Song-i and Do-hyeon will put them in a spot where they would need to figure things out between friendship and love. Hun and Ga-rin, meanwhile, take one step closer to their career dreams.

Love Alarm [Season 1]

• Netflix Original series
• Launch date: 22 August 2019
• Starring Kim So-hyun (Who Are You: School 2015, Hey Ghost, Let’s Fight, Radio Romance), Song Kang, and Jung Ga-ram

Love Alarm is based on a popular Korean webtoon of the same title by Chon Kye-young, whose other works like Unplugged Boy and Audition have a strong following in Korea. It is a story of friends who find themselves caught in between what they truly desire and what a mobile app says they would want. The app is designed to send an “alarm” when someone who has romantic feelings for you comes within a 10-meter radius.

Vagabond | Trailer

• Netflix Original series
• Launch date: September 2019
• Starring Lee Seung-gi (The King 2 Hearts, A Korean Odyssey) and Bae Suzy (Architecture 101, While You Were Sleeping)
• Co-written by Jang Young-chul and Jung Kyung-soon
• Directed by Yoo In-shik (Mrs. Cop, Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim)

Vagabond is an action-packed Korean espionage drama series about a stuntman Cha Dal-geon (Lee) who gets involved in a tragic airplane crash and ends up discovering a national corruption scandal in the process. Go Hae-ri (Bae), the oldest daughter of a deceased marine, decides to work for the National Intelligence Service as a secret ops agent in order to support her mom and younger siblings, although she had rather hoped for a simpler life, being an ordinary civil servant.