Click here to read the full article.
Stars of “Squid Game” and “KPop Demon Hunters” took the stage in Seoul on Oct. 24 as Netflix celebrated 10 years in Korea with a fan festival, where co-CEO Ted Sarandos previewed upcoming titles including “Tantara”
and “All of Us Are Dead” Season 2.
“Squid Game” was represented by Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun and Park Hae-soo, while Ahn Hyo-seop appeared for “KPop Demon Hunters.” Also on stage were Koo Kyo-hwan and Jung Hae-in of “D.P.,” Kim Hyun-joo of “Hellbound,” Yum Hye-ran of “Mask Girl” and Lee Se-dol of “The Devil’s Plan,” among others.
Dubbed “Netflix Janchi,” the two-day event ran Oct. 24-25 at Sangam Oil Tank Culture Park. Thousands of fans turned out for themed booths, games, merchandise and live music.
“Ten years ago, we dreamed big. But none of us could have imagined that Korean stories would move hearts around the world, and land right at the center of global culture,” Sarandos said.
Of the new titles, Lee Chang-dong’s Venice winner “Possible Love,” headlined by Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Cho Yeo-jeong and Jo In-sung, bows Nov. 6. “Tantara,” starring Song Hye-kyo, Gong Yoo and Kim Seol-hyun, follows on Dec. 11. Still undated are “Grand Galaxy Hotel,” with Lee Do-hyun and Shin Si-a; “She, Wolf,” previously known by the working title “Beauty in the Beast,” with Kim Min-ju, Lomon and Moon Sang-min; “All of Us Are Dead” Season 2, with Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun and Lomon; and “Solo Leveling,” with Byeon Woo-seok.
Netflix launched in Korea on Jan. 6, 2016. Its first international film was Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja.” The first Korean original, the stand-up special “Yoo Byung Jae: Too Much Information,” arrived in March 2018, and “Kingdom” became its first Korean series in January 2019. In July 2021, “Kingdom: Ashin of the North” became the first Korean show to crack the Global Top 10, charting in 58 countries.
Netflix has counted upward of 200 Korean titles on its Global Top 10 since it began compiling the chart in June 2021. “Squid Game” Season 1 holds the record for the longest run at 32 straight weeks, nine of them at No. 1. The show’s three seasons are the streamer’s three most-watched non-English series ever, and “Teach You a Lesson” now ranks No. 10 on that list, making it Netflix’s biggest Korean show after “Squid Game.” No other non-English content draws more viewing on Netflix than K-content, and over four in five of its subscribers worldwide have sampled at least one Korean title.
“For Netflix, Korea is more than a market. It is where we discovered new possibilities, and where we learned how far a story can travel. And it is one of our most treasured partners for the future we are building together,” Sarandos said.
Between 2024 and 2026, first-time directors or writers made more than a third of Netflix’s Korean titles. Park Yoon-seo, an assistant director on “Kingdom” Season 2, made his directing debut this year with YA horror series “If Wishes Could Kill.”
“Netflix gave me an opportunity when I was an assistant director on ‘Kingdom: Season 2.’ I’m glad I was able to give new actors that same opportunity,” Park said. He added that he had suggested casting only newcomers to keep the series fresh, and that Netflix signed off because fame wasn’t the priority.
Baek Seung-min was a second lighting assistant on “Kingdom” and now heads lighting on “All of Us Are Dead” Season 2. “Working with Netflix Korea at important stages of my career has helped me grow professionally,” he said.
From 2016 to 2025, Netflix partnered with more than 80 Korean production companies on shows employing upward of 20,000 actors and crew members, along with 70,000 extras and day workers. Shoots took place in more than 100 cities and towns, with over half outside the Seoul Capital Area in locations such as Busan, Jeonju and Jeju. “When Life Gives You Tangerines” alone drew on nearly 4,000 suppliers and a cast and crew of 600, adding more than KRW90 billion ($60.4 million) to the Korean economy. Netflix’s skills and training programs reached over 6,500 people in Korea between 2021 and 2025.
To get those shows to viewers abroad, Netflix now relies on 122 localization partners globally, 119 of them dubbing studios.
Colorist Park Jin-young, whose credits include “Possible Love” and “Good News,” said Netflix’s arrival in Korea came just as HDR technology was going commercial. “It felt like going from working with 30 colors of paint for 10 or 20 years to suddenly having 100 colors at my disposal,” he said.
Unscripted formats have also exported well. “Physical: 100” became the first unscripted show not in English to lead the Global Top 10, and local versions have followed in Italy and Mexico, with U.S., French and Swedish editions on the way.
The streamer also pointed to effects off screen. According to Netflix, 72% of subscribers who watch K-content have said they’d like to travel to Korea. Jeju drew about 2.24 million overseas visitors in 2025, its most in nine years, coinciding with the premiere of “When Life Gives You Tangerines,” while visits to the show’s Gimnyeong Beach location jumped about 96%. Chef Choi Hyun-seok’s restaurant Choi saw sales rise 300% after “Culinary Class Wars” Season 1, and bookings at restaurants of Season 2 contestants climbed 303%.
In the U.S., new Korean learners on Duolingo rose 37% in the week “Squid Game” Season 3 launched. Applications for Korea’s TOPIK language exam passed 550,000 in September 2025, three months on from “KPop Demon Hunters,” beating the total for all of 2024. Between April 2025 and March 2026, K-content logged more than 12 billion viewing hours on Netflix, behind only U.S. productions, and rights to the “Hellbound” webtoon have sold to 11 countries since the series launched.
Netflix has also opened a Korean-language microsite charting the people, locations and numbers behind its first decade in the country.
