International Women’s Day is all about celebrating women around the world for their courage and determination to achieve new heights, encouraging others around them. In K-dramas, female leads are usually presented as feminine, delicate women who are always saved by the male lead. Here are 5 strong K-drama female leads that can also save themselves as well as others around them.
5 Strong K-drama Female Leads
Park Eun-bin in Extraordinary Attorney Woo as Woo Young Woo
This drama is considered as Park Eun Bin’s best drama and for good reason- her lovable character, Woo Young Woo! In the drama, Woo Young Woo is a talented attorney with Asperger’s Syndrome. She uses her unique situation to her advantage to solve crucial cases.
Compared to the female leads in the list, she is unique as she still has people who help her i.e. her father, best friend and office crush, Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-ho). But, throughout the drama, she becomes more independent as she takes on new responsibilities and explores the new world on her own.
Check out our reviews here.
Han So-hee in My Name as Yoon Ji-woo
From episode 1 of My Name, Han So-hee’s hot-headed character Yoon Ji-woo is shown as a girl who doesn’t need anybody’s help. After losing her father in a gruesome manner, she takes the help of her father’s friend but still manages to compete against big, burly men to reach the top. Compared to the stereotypical K-drama female leads, she isn’t glamorous or delicate. She is strong and filled with rage to avenge her father’s death. Her calculated decisions and stealthy moves give viewers chills down their spine.
Check out our review here.
Son Ye-jin in Crash Landing on You as Yoon Se-ri
One can’t make a list without mentioning the iconic Yoon Se-ri, played by Son Ye-jin in Crash Landing on You! From her notable fashion choices to her calculated return to her empire, she is legendary. In the drama, she accidentally finds herself in North Korea and falls in love with an army captain named Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin).
Being a successful business owner, she has a shrewd nature which came out when she got to know how her brother and sister-in-law conspired against her. From the confrontation to the execution, she displayed her calculative mind.
Song Hye-kyo in The Glory as Moon Dong-eun
Safe to say, The Glory was one of the most popular K-dramas of 2023 and the reason is Song Hye-kyo’s character Moon Dong-eun. The story revolves around her efforts to exact revenge on the people who left physical and mental scars on her during her high school days.
Moon Dong-eun may seem one-dimensional in the beginning but as we understand her story better in the later episodes, it all fits like a puzzle. Her tediously long revenge plan for each of the bullies makes us feel frustrated but as she takes her time, she makes them feel just the way she did as a young girl.
Check out our reviews of Part 1 and Part 2.
Lee Ji-eun (IU) in My Mister as Lee Ji-an
My Mister follows a young girl named Lee Ji-an (Lee Ji-eun), riddled with debt and caring for her deaf grandmother. Throughout the drama, one feels sympathy towards IU’s character as she is confronted with many problems at such a young age.
But as the drama progresses, Lee Ji-an finds comfort in Lee Sun-kyun’s character Park Dong-hoon, who is also equally miserable. Ji-an gains the courage to confront Lee Kwang-il (Jang Ki-yong), a loan shark who makes her life miserable. By the end, she transforms herself and finally gets out of her situation realistically.
All these characters represent different character traits in the modern woman today. They experienced hardships of different kinds but they did not let it pull them down a never-ending spiral. Rather, they used it as inspiration to do better in life and they did!