Korean High School Dramas

One of the best Korean dramas are the youthful high school themed dramas. Light-hearted stories that explore the students’ life, love, heartbreak, friendships, dreams and problems that they face.

Another bonus is the amazing young actors and idols that you may enjoy watching. Here is a list of must see, best high school Korean dramas.

 

White Christmas (2011)

I really liked this drama because it’s different from the usual K-dramas. An amazing psychological thriller that focus on real social problems, students’ life, love and friendship.

Synopsis:

Susin High School, nicknamed “Prison High,” is an elite school attended by the top 1% of students in the country. Their stellar marks are the result of constant pressure and a strict punishment system, to the point where students avoid from any activities outside of studying. During winter break, at a time when everyone else are celebrating Christmas Eve, seven students and a teacher remain at school and they soon realize that the anonymous letters each of them received were not the result of a harmless prank; there was a murderer in their midst. A question lies unspoken: Are monsters created, or are humans born monsters?

Cast: Baek Sung Hyun, Hong Jong Hyun, Kim Woo Bin, Sung Joon

 

 

School 2013 (2013)

Synopsis:

Seungri High School ranks as one of the worst of the 178 high schools in Seoul based on academic scores. Class 2 is at the bottom of grade 2 at Seungri High. In order to improve the student’s scores the school hires Se-Chan, the top Korean language teacher from famous institute in Gangnam. Look at the students’ life full of school violence, bullying, friendship and competition while studying for the exams.

Cast: Lee Jong Suk, Kim Woo Bin, Kwak Jung Wook, Daniel Choi

 

 

God of Study (2010)

Synopsis:

Kang Seok Ho is an ordinary lawyer who takes a position to revive a third rate high school Byeong-Mun High. He creates a special class promising admission to the most prestigious college in Korea. Five rebellious delinquent students join the class in order to prove they can do it with hard work and dedication.

Cast: Kim Su Ro, Yoo Seung Ho, Lee Hyun Woo, Park JiYeon

 

 

King of High School Life Conduct (2014)

Synopsis:

A naive, immature, and clueless high school hockey player somehow ends up working at a company in place of his brother. He lives a double life as a student and a high positioned office worker and falls in love with a woman who is a temporary employee at that same company. Will he manage to keep his identity a secret until the end?

Cast: Seo In Guk, Lee Ha Na, Lee Tae Hwan

 

 

The Heirs (2013)

Synopsis:

The series follows a group of rich, privileged, and elite high school students as they are groomed to take over their families’ business empires. These wealthy students seem to have everything under control, except their love lives. Troubles arise as the heirs realize the differences between money and the real world, and they soon learn what love is.

Cast: Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, Kim Woo Bin, Krystal

 

 

To the Beautiful You (2012)

Synopsis:

Goo Jae Hee sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes attracted to one of the high jump competitors, Kang Tae Joon. She begins to idolize the young athlete and eventually transfers to Korea to attend the same school as him after he suffers an accident that could potentially end his career. There is a catch, however: Tae Joon attends an all-boys high school and Jae Hee must disguise herself as a boy to enter.

Cast: Sulli, Minho, Lee Hyun Woo, Kang Ha Neul

 

 

Reply 1997 (2012)

Synopsis:

The warm glow of nostalgia lights up this high school drama following a group of six friends through the last decade of the 20th century. It examines the extreme fan culture that emerged in the 1990s when first generation idol groups such as H.O.T. and Sechs Kies took central stage in K-pop. It keeps you in suspense as the timeline moves back and forth between their past as 18-year-old high schoolers in 1997 and their present as 33-year-olds at their high school reunion dinner in 2012, where one couple will announce that they’re getting married.

Cast: Jung Eun Ji, Seo In Guk, Eun Ji Won, Hoya

 

 

Boys over Flowers (2009)

I couldn’t miss mentioning one of the most popular classic high school based drama that has a remake in each Asian country. It is based on Japanese shōjo manga series Hana Yori Dango.

Synopsis:

Geum Jan Di is a girl from a poor family but has a great sense of optimism, and by chance is admitted to a prestigious private high school. There she meets the infamous group of four astonishingly good looking and rich boys known as F4. The group’s leader Koo Jun-Pyo starts bullying her but soon finds himself falling for her, but Jan Di already has her attention on someone else, his best friend Yoon Ji Hoo .

Cast: Lee Min Ho, Ku Hye Sun, Kim Hyun Joong, Kim Bum, Kim Jun