Summary
- K-dramas, especially romantic comedies, are widely available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Viki Rakuten.
- The genre has gained popularity not only in Korea but also internationally, with kissing scenes being a highlight for fans.
- Romantic storylines in K-dramas often culminate in steamy kissing scenes that provide closure and satisfaction to viewers.
When it comes to the most extreme romantic Korean dramas, the kissing scenes are often built up to and end up as highlights for fans of the genre. The best news for K-drama fans is that they are easier to watch than ever, thanks to streaming services. From Netflix and Hulu to the ability of fans all over the world to stream services like Viki Rakuten, fans of K-dramas can see anything and everything from the very popular genre. While K-dramas range in themes from horror and fantasy to thrillers, it is romantic comedies that remain very popular internationally.
K-dramas remain a huge trend on streaming services like Netflix, and they have become even bigger in the United States. K-dramas are one of the most popular genres on Netflix, and thanks to shows like Squid Game, they are becoming more mainstream than ever. With so many series to bingewatch, it is the romantic K-dramas that seem to hook fans wanting to see more and more in the future. The best thing is that these shows don’t last multiple seasons, and most have a beginning, middle, and end, and it all usually leads to steamy kissing scenes being the culmination of the romantic storyline.
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15 Because This Is My First Life (2017)
Nam Se-hee Kisses Yoon Ji-ho On A Beach
Because This is My First Life deals with a more mature theme than most K-dramas. The story is about 30-year-old Yoon Ji-ho (Jung So-min), who agrees to marry 38-year-old Nam Se-hee (Lee Min-ki) because she needs a home. He is socially awkward and finds maintaining relationships difficult, while she is a broke writer with nowhere to go. They agree to a marriage of convenience to give one another financial support.
While their relationship is tumultuous and begins as a fake one, things come to a head in episode 11 when they share a kiss after visiting Yoon Ji-ho’s hometown. Nam Se-hee realizes he has feelings for her and decides to convey them with a passionate kiss on the beach. The moment was surprising for a lot of fans because of the generally level-headed nature of the two characters who had spent so much time on the show taking a logical approach to their relationship despite their growing feelings.
14 It’s Okay, That’s Love (2014)
Jang Jae-yeol Kisses Ji Hae-soo Near A Waterfall
It’s Okay, That’s Love may be a few years older than most K-dramas, but that doesn’t make the kiss or message it sends any less essential. Jang Jae-yeol (Jo In-sung) is a bestselling author and radio host and is a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Ji Hae-soo (Gong Hyo-jin) is a first-year psychiatrist who has a phobia concerning intimacy because she caught her mother cheating on her father. These are both damaged souls that need healing.
The two characters’ kissing scene near the waterfall is the most memorable kiss the two share in the show. While that might be the steamiest for fans, it’s not the only one. These two have a more physical relationship than most K-dramas tend to showcase. The passion in this particular K-drama builds as the show goes on because the two start as bickering strangers before their feelings grow.
13 While You Were Sleeping (2017)
Nam Hong-jo Kisses Han Woo-tak In The Rain
While You Were Sleeping has an array of kissing scenes, so K-drama fans who want to see the more passionate aspects of a romance series won’t be disappointed. The one that stands out is between two characters in the rain.
While Nam Hong-joo (Bae Suzy) has always been plagued by dreams that show her the future, things get complicated when prosecutor Jung Jae-chan (Lee Jong-suk) and police officer Han Woo-tak (Jung Hae-in) begin to see these premonitions as well. As the series progresses, Nam Hong-joo and Jung Jae-chan have feelings for one another and ultimately share one of the most passionate kisses in the rain. What makes this kiss scene better is that it happened twice: once in a dream, and the other in reality, giving two different perspectives for it.
12 Suspicious Partner (2017)
Noh Ji-wook Kisses Eun Bong-hee Admit Their Love With A Kiss
Suspicious Partner is full of drama, comedy, legal procedures, and romance. It’s often named as one of the best legal K-dramas. The series revolves around two prosecutors, one who has experience with multiple cases, Noh Ji-wook (Ji Chang-wook), and another who is a newcomer, Eun Bong-hee (Nam Ji-hyun). They both work together throughout the series to figure out who is behind a chain of murders.
Of course, there is also room for romance to blossom between Noh Ji-wook and Eun Bong-hee, who have great romantic chemistry the more the episodes continue. While they share plenty of kisses, one of the best happens when they admit they love each other in episode 39. It’s initially a kiss in which both parties aren’t sure if the other is offended, but when one apologizes, the other goes for it. While K-dramas are more likely to employ chaste kisses, this one is anything but.
11 Love Alarm (2019)
Kim Jo-jo First Kisses Hwang Sun-oh
The Netflix show Love Alarm has fans talking about its romantic storyline with hidden sociological issues. The show is originally based on the Daum webtoon of the same name. The show revolves around three central characters, Kim Jo-jo (Kim So-hyun), Hwang Sun-oh (Song Kang), and Lee Hye-yeong (Jung Ga-ram). Love Alarm’s premise involves the three students as they try to navigate their romantic emotions ruled by an app that notifies them if a person in a ten-mile radius harbors romantic feelings for them.
Because the show is so focused on love and romance, there is plenty of flirting, pining, and kissing in the series. Interestingly, many of the early kisses in the show occur before any of the tension or relationships are fully established, so they don’t make as big of an impact on the audience – but that’s not true of the first one between Kim Jo-jo nd Hwang Sun-oh.
Their very first kiss in the show has a tense build-up as Sun-oh wants to kiss her so badly and refutes all of Jo-jo reasons not to kiss him. While she tells him she has a boyfriend, she still allows him to kiss her, and then goes back in for a second. The two don’t love one another yet since they don’t even know one another, but their kiss is implied to be so important that the lights around them flicker and the weather changes.
10 The Doctors (2016)
Yoo Hye-jung Kisses Hong Ji-hong
The Doctors features a classic romantic storyline of letting go of the person you love and rekindling after years apart. Yoo Hye-jung (Park Shin-hye) was a troubled girl during her high school years and kept her heart guarded due to her childhood. She then meets her biology teacher, Hong Ji-hong (Kim Rae-won) who helps change her life for the better. Ji-hong realizes he has fallen in love with Hye-jung. Years later, they are both successful neurosurgeons and can’t hide their feelings for one another.
It’s hard to pick just one kiss for the audience to enjoy in this series because this show has several steamy kissing scenes. There are dramatic kisses in the rain and kisses where everything seems like absolute bliss for the main characters. The level of romance and passion is high.
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9 The Bride Of Habaek (2017)
Ha-Beak Kisses So-ah
The Bride Of Habeak is also known as The Bride of the Water God. In K-dramas, kissing scenes are oftentimes PG-13 or PG-rated. The scenes are more about emotion than actual extreme physicality and involve a lot of camera angles. That is the case for some of the early kisses here.
The K-drama show’s plot is more supernatural than others and involves the water god Ha-beak (Nam Joo-hyuk) visiting Earth to retrieve stones to help claim his throne. He soon falls in love with his destined bride, psychiatrist So-ah (Shin Se-kyung), who doesn’t believe in gods or who he says he is. The first kisses between the characters are extremely one-sided as So-ah still isn’t sure about him.
It’s not until episode 14 that they have a steamy kiss where both people are truly participating. When these two characters finally kiss for real, it’s a huge moment. The kiss so consumes So-ah, that she doesn’t even realize the two are walking upstairs the entire time.
8 Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (2017)
Do Bong-soon Kisses Min-Hyuk On A Piano
This show is also known by another title, Strong Girl Bong-soon, and centers around a girl named Do Bong-soon (Park Bo-young). She has superhuman strength that has been passed down to all the women in her family. She finds a job as a bodyguard for the CEO of a gaming company, Ahn Min-hyuk (Park Hyung-sik). As time passes, Bong-soon and Min-Hyuk’s relationship starts to grow.
The series was a success in South Korea and was one of the highest-rated shows in history, and for good reason. The show fuses rom-com elements with a superhero story and even some crime drama. Besides the comical and dramatic storyline, the occasional steamy kisses on a certain piano deliver what K-drama fans want to see. Min-hyuk and Bong-soon get lost in their kiss in front of the piano and Bong-soon ends up seated on the musical instrument, completely giving in to the moment.
7 Another Miss Oh (2016)
Park Do-kyung Kisses Oh Hae-young
Another Miss Oh deals with a woman who is mistaken for someone else. Park Do-kyung (Eric Mun) was left at the altar on his wedding day by his bride, Oh Hae-young (Jeon Hye-bin). After he’s told she is going to marry someone else, he plans to deal with his issues. However, it turns out that this specific Oh Hae-young (Seo Hyun-ji) is a different woman with the same name as his former fiancé. To make it worse, Park Do-kyung constantly has visions of this unknown woman and cannot get her out of his head.
After the issues of mistaken identity have been settled, however, Do-kyung and Hae-young begin to develop a kind of friendship. The closer they get, it’s clear to the audience that they aren’t just friends, but when he sees her with a former flame, he is rattled all over again. The misunderstanding culminates in the two of them admitting their feelings in a kiss. Needless to say, the kiss the two share after episodes of tension is satisfying.
6 W (2016)
Kang Chul Kisses Oh Yeon-joo In A Webtoon
The storyline of W can be complicated to understand, but it’s worth watching. The majority of the show takes place on a webtoon titled W. The webtoon follows Kang Chul (Lee Jong-suk), who loses everything after his family’s murder and is accused of their death. Years later, he vows to find his family’s murderer using a television broadcast.
In the real world, the creator of the webtoon’s daughter, Oh Yeon-joo (Han Hyo-joo) visits her father’s studio after his disappearance and gets sucked into the webtoon. Here she falls in love with Kang Chul. W has several kissing scenes inside the webtoon and in the real world.
The series actually uses the usual stiffness of kisses in K-dramas to its advantage. The earlier kisses in the series as the two are falling for one another often see one character more engaged than the other, while the other person is surprised at the kiss itself, standing still and appearing apprehensive. That changes in episode 17 during a “jailhouse kiss” in which both characters are equally engaged and seem to have finally come to terms with how they feel about one another.
5 Wok Of Love (2018)
Seo Poong Kisses Dan Sae-woo In A Restaurant’s Kitchen
Wok of Love is sizzling with romance and drama. Seo Poong’s (Lee Jun-ho) former employees betray him, and he falls to the bottom of the ranks as a top chef. Dan Sae-woo (Jung Ryeo-won) is a former heiress whose life gets turned upside down. They both cross paths at the Chinese restaurant, Hungry Wok, a restaurant owned by a former gangster who has created a space for people to have second chances.
Their relationship starts to heat up, and once the serene and romantic music hits, the kissing scene is about to happen. Though they fight their feelings and he even keeps a list of the qualities she hates in men – all of which he seems to embody – the two can’t stay away from one another. The first kiss on their first date soon escalates to steamy moments in the kitchen at the restaurant. It was hard to keep his head on straight at work when his love interest was in the same room.
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4 Fight For My Way (2017)
Ko Dong-man Kissing Choi Ae-ra
Korean actor, Park Seo-joon remains known for his portrayal in several K-dramas and most of his biggest roles are in romantic movies. He plays Ko Dong-man in the K-drama series, Fight For My Way. The show centers around Dong-man, a former taekwondo fighter who tries to find a purpose again. He and his childhood friend, Choi Ae-ra (Kim Ji-won), soon start to realize there might be something more between them than just a friendship.
The show has a lot of comical sexual innuendos, but it also contains some of the best K-drama kissing scenes. While not all of the kisses in the show are steamy, what makes them feel more than just a little sweet is the chemistry between the leads. Not only are they supposed to be childhood friends, but they also bicker about everything, and that’s only intensified once they decide to try a relationship. Many of their arguments end with one of them kissing the other, infusing a certain passion into even chaste moments.
3 My Secret Romance (2017)
Lee Yoo-mi Kisses Cha Jin-wook On A Beach
For this K-drama, the swoon-worthy kissing starts early on. My Secret Romance follows the story of Lee Yoo-mi (Song Ji-eun) when she crosses paths with a company director, Cha Jin-wook (Sung Hoon) who is working as a bellhop at one of his family’s resorts. They spend a passionate night together on the beach and Yoo-mi makes a run for it the following morning. Jin-wook is astounded by her absence and insulted.
Years later, they meet again and try to fight their feelings for one another when they happen to work for the same company now. A series of misunderstandings makes him believe that she had a child from their one night together, and she becomes fearful that he’s only interested in her because he thinks she has his child. The sensual kisses and romantic gestures are worth the watch in the realm of romantic K-dramas.
2 Her Private Life (2019)
Sung Deok-mi Kisses Ryan Gold
Her Private Life features Sung Deok-mi (Park Min-young) as a talented curator for an art museum, but she hides a secret that could ruin her job. She is a fanatic fangirl of a K-pop boy group and runs a website dedicated to her favorite idol. Her secret is in jeopardy as the museum gets a new art director, Ryan Gold (Kim Jae-wook). Both their lives start to unravel and they fake a date to avoid rumors that could harm the reputation of the museum and Deok-mi’s safety. They soon start to fall for one another.
The intimate moments in the show remain passionate and it includes multiple great kissing scenes. In fact, this is true of many of the series that Park Min-young has starred in. She has a particular knack for appearing in romance K-dramas in which the romances play out naturally and have a much more real feeling to them, no matter how ridiculous the premise might be.
1 What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (2018)
Lee Young-joon And Kim Mi-so Have Several Kissing Scenes
In What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, Lee Young-joon is the narcissistic CEO of a prestigious company, and his secretary, Kim Mi-so is the sanity behind his madness. When she announces her resignation, Young-joon is confronted with feelings he never realized he had. Young-joon is unaware of how to deal with his feelings and how to win over Mi-so. They soon start to realize their chemistry and, in this K-drama, Kim Mi-so falls in love with her boss, and they have to keep it a secret from their colleagues.
There are several romantic and passionate kissing scenes. In fact, just about every kiss in the series is steamy from Secretary Kim admitting her feelings to her boss and kissing him, to the two of them kissing after an argument in a closet, to Young-joon deciding honesty is the best policy and demonstrating his feelings through more kissing. The show is one of the steamiest of K-dramas while still having one of the sweetest romances.
