At least one episode in the morning, one at lunchtime and several in the evening, until 1am... Francine, 66, describes herself as a "fiend for K-dramas" – or South Korean TV series. In early 2020, as a retiree, she subscribed to Netflix to help fill her newfound free time. Then came the pandemic and its successive lockdowns. "I watched series from all over the world, like Scandinavian thrillers, for example. French series were never my cup of tea. And then I stumbled across a Korean series." She can't remember what it was called, as she has now "watched hundreds of them, some three or four times over".

Francine then signed up to two other streaming platforms, including Rakuten Viki, an American streaming site specializing in Asian shows. "It's simple, when I watch these series, I forget everything... Everyday hassles, problems at the town hall," she explained. She nevertheless maintains a busy schedule, as the deputy mayor of a village of 2,500 inhabitants near Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie on France's western coast.

Series from Japan, China and Korea were once watched by European fans of Asian pop culture via insider channels. Nowadays, however, thanks to streaming platforms' expanding catalogs, Korean dramas are available to a wider audience and, along with K-pop music and cinema, are one of the most vibrant manifestations of South Korea's soft power.

Exact figures from the streaming platforms on the number of French people watching these shows and which generation they belong to are hard to come by. "If a lot of people my age are getting into it, it's also because you need time to watch episodes that often last an hour," explained Francine, even if these series generally wrap up in one season. Overall, viewership of Korean romantic comedies (90% of which come from outside their country of origin) has increased more than threefold between 2018 and 2022, Netflix told Le Monde.

The company has also started producing its own series in the country, such as Squid Game, the platform's biggest hit to date. In May 2023, it announced it would invest $2.5 billion in producing Korean shows over the next four years.

A change of scenery

Antoine Coppola, a filmmaker and lecturer at Seoul's Sungkyunkwan University, recalls that long before they conquered Europe, Korean dramas, initially aimed at a female and young adult audience, made inroads in East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Japan. "In 2002, Winter Sonata was a big hit in Japan, and the Koreans realized they had a card to play. For example, this series created the template of the South Korean 'Prince Charming' hero," which also appeals to foreign viewers.

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