It is one of the great ironies of the world that the genre giving us the best contemporary love stories also offers the most chaste depictions of romance. The only entertainment industry to have consistently delivered on love stories over the past 20 years is South Korean television with its K-dramas. And they’ve done this while adhering to a strict set of guidelines that keep scandalous elements (like nudity) out of their storytelling.
While Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood and most other film industries have struggled to tell love stories that are both contemporary and engaging — we’re keeping our fingers very tightly crossed for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani — K-dramas have kept the rom-com flame alive. They’ve continued the traditions of the golden era of Hollywood when romances were born of repartee and the pinnacle of chemistry was a polite meeting of primly-zipped lips. In K-dramas, love happens over conversations, and everyday interactions make hearts flutter because of the emotional subtext. Then, with unfailing punctuality, at the drama’s halfway mark (this is usually episode 8), we get The Kiss.
Even the most fervent fan has to admit that the way K-drama does kisses — respectful gap between the two actors; hands that do not roam; eyes wide open with shock before fluttering to a close, unmoving lips, the trickle of a single tear — leaves much to be desired. However, Lee Jun-ho and Lim Yoon-A’s decidedly steamy kiss from King the Land, which drops on Netflix this week, inspired us to draw up a list of some of our favourite liplocks from K-dramas. If you think we missed a good one, let us know in the comments.
To say Nana and Park Sung-hoon eat each other’s faces is an understatement. Nana plays Goo Se-ra, a madcap young woman who unexpectedly becomes a politician, and Park is Seo Gong-myung, an unyielding bureaucrat who is assigned to be Se-ra’s secretary. Into the Ring is one of the most intelligent and sweet romances you’ll ever see and the lead pair have great chemistry. The first kiss happens in Se-ra’s office, which gives it an edge of taboo, and it will make your jaw drop.
This is a standard issue romance between a rich brat and a hardworking un-rich woman. The premise is tired and the drama is unabashedly silly. If you’re a fan of Lee Jun-ho and/ or Lim Yoon-A, who play the leads, you’ll wade through all the episodes. Everyone else can skip to the end of episode 8, when Gu-won (Lee) attempts to cook a fancy meal for Sa-rang (Lim) on their first date, only to set off the fire alarm and sprinklers. All this to give us Lee Jun-ho in a wet, white shirt and a scorcher of a kiss that begins with him murmuring against her lips, “Do I have permission?” Yes sir, you do.
We don’t recommend watching this one at work because when Ju Ji-hoon says, “My heart is mine to handle. Use me if you need to,” chances are you’ll find yourself going from human to hormone puddle. Hyena, featuring an outstanding performance from Kim Hye-soo as a scrappy and unapologetic lawyer, is worth watching for its plot and to see how Kim commands the spotlight as an older woman. The love story between Kim and Ju’s characters is tangential, but in episode 8, the two of them show you how grown-ups kiss.
Gong Yoo is known for being an excellent on-screen kisser (this elite club includes actors like Ji Chang-wook and Park Seo-jun) and Goblin is excellent proof of this pudding. The love story between the characters played by Kim Go-eun and Gong Yoo is troubling if you think about the age gap and how young Kim’s Eun-tak is when she starts living with Kim Shin. However, the drama is careful to wait until she’s all grown up before giving us some heart-fluttering moments like when Kim Shin pulls Eun-tak into his arms for a kiss on a rooftop or when she jumps up to kiss him while wrapping all of herself around his person. (For those who enjoy watching women climb Gong Yoo, check out Coffee Prince.)
Every now and then, there will be a set of secondary leads who steal the show. Kim Min-kyu and Seol In-ah did just that in Business Proposal, which remains one of India’s favourite K-dramas if Netflix’s rankings are to be believed. The first time Young-seo (Seol) and Sung-hoon (Kim) hook up, it’s the result of a drunken night. The flashback is sexy but the drama making fun of Young-seo blacking out is not. However, Young-seo’s memory gap sets the scene for the scene in which she confesses to Sung-hoon that she can’t remember their one-night stand. Which Sung-hoon takes as his cue to deliver a repeat performance that she won’t forget. First step: Take off his glasses and throw them aside. Who knew chucking eyewear could be foreplay?
Park Min-young plays an art curator who has a secret alter ego as a fangirl. Her Private Life does a great job of exploring fandom and showing how the love of a fan, while genuine and heartfelt, is very different from the romantic love that a person feels for their partner. Park and Kim Jae-wook are delightful as the lead pair and their first kiss takes place in an empty art studio. Technically, there’s nothing particularly graphic about the scene (Park has done far more suggestive love scenes. Look up What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim). However, Kim and Park are on fire as they stumble around the studio, ignoring the real world around them.
Shin Hye-sun, who is the star of the ongoing See You in my 19th Life, plays So-yong, a Joseon-era princess who has been possessed by the spirit of a 20th-century man. This is awkward in many ways, one of which is So-yong discovering she (despite being very much a straight man inside this woman’s body) has got the hots for her husband, Cheol-jong (Kim Jung-hyun). Cheol-jong and So-yong both have secrets that they don’t want uncovered and at one point, the simplest way to make sure their covers aren’t blown is by embarking upon an epic, all-consuming, furniture-smashing kiss.
Romance isn’t really the point of Vincenzo, which is one of the most fun and stylish K-dramas of recent times. Consequently, the halfway mark comes and goes with Song Joong-ki and Jeon Yeo-been doing little more than flirting with one another. However director Kim Hee-won delivers the goods (and how!) with a scene that brings together comedy and cliché, with Vincenzo (Song) and Cha-young (Jeon) pretending to be a couple. They find themselves in a scenario when Vincenzo has to propose to Cha-young in front of a small audience. To seal the deal, Vincenzo is told he needs to kiss his bride to-be. He demurs, but Cha-young swoops in to make the most of this moment. We approve.
This is a drama that deserves more love — as much for the irreverent fun it pokes at modern art as its plot which examines class prejudice through the lens of a romance. Park Gyu-young plays the brash and hardworking Moo-hak, who is the epitome of nouveau riche. The object of his affection is Da-li (Kim Min-jae, most recently seen in Celebrity), who belongs to a rich and respected family but remains an outsider since she was adopted. One of the many adorable moments in Dali and the Cocky Prince is when Moo-hak, attempting to be chivalrous, tells Da-li that she should stay at his place (there’s a killer on the loose. Minor detail) and she needn’t worry about him attempting anything. To which Da-li asks what would be the point of spending the night with him if he isn’t going to make a move. She also tells him that she understands if he’s traditional or shy about taking their relationship any further. Moo-hak’s 180-degree change of opinion is a delight to behold. The drama also has one of the most adorable morning-after scenes.
Shin Se-kyun was the star of Run On, which is one of the most charming romances from the K-drama stable, but in the kissing department, it’s a complete disappointment. Offering a sharp contrast is The Bride of Habaek, starring Shin and Nam Joo-hyuk, which is absolute rubbish as far as writing goes, but look up “staircase kiss”, and thank us later. It’s quite literally a step up and the scene is shot in a way that emphasises the intimacy of the scene through details, like Shin’s stumbling bare feet. It also helps that both Shin and Nam are heartstoppingly cute and really go for it in a way that will make you feel viscerally conscious of the fact that there are more than a million nerve endings in our lips.