K-Dramas with Strong Female Leads

If you’re like me, you yell at the screen when the female lead of a drama does something you don’t like. And since we are talking about k-dramas, you know that happens a lot.  Female leads usually get a bad reputation because dramas tend to show them as weak and a bit dim-witted. I mean seriously, how many dramas have we seen where the woman is poor and basically living on the streets and in walks the strong, rich jerk of a male lead to “fix everything”. Or when the female lead gets slapped around multiple times due to “misunderstandings”. There are countless reasons that I won’t list here but you get the point right? So when a drama comes along where the female lead is strong and refuses to back down, be slapped or dragged somewhere by her wrist, I get interested. This is just a small list of dramas I’ve come across with strong female leads. If you know of any others, please let me know.

---

Matchless Beauty Park Jungkeum, also known as The All Mighty Jungkeum Park, is about Park Jung Keum (played by Bae Jung Ok) who is a police officer and a single mom. She’s pushy, strong and does whatever she has to do to arrest the bad guy. While she’s an amazing police officer at work, her home life is a different story. She has a horrible stepmother, played by Lee Hye Sook (who’s worse than the moms in Shining Inheritance and Bad Guy COMBINED). She also has a horrid stepsister, played by Han Go Eun, who does things… I would say you would only see in k-dramas but some of the stuff she does, I’ve NEVER seen before. Her father is about as clueless as they come. Park Jungkeum lives with her mother, son and two childhood friends. This drama shows how she goes through life bravely. While that may not interest some people, trust me when I say it’s a great drama. It’s so good that I’ve paused all my other dramas just so I can focus all my time on this one. It is THAT good. I won’t put any spoilers on here and unfortunately I can’t find a decent trailer. You’ll just have to make a leap of faith.

We all know about Iris, right? I mean especially since Iris 2 is currently airing. I watched Iris when I was first starting out in the K-drama world, before I knew what Kpop was (what?!?!). I loved all the action and tolerated all the angst romance. The reason I stuck with it, besides Lee Byung Hun of course, was because of Kim Seon Hwa. She was calculating, smart and seriously badass. I mean her fight scenes were incredible. Kim Tae Hee, who played Byung Hun’s love interest, Choi Seung-Hee, should also be mentioned since this is about strong female leads but in my opinion, Seon Hwa is way more awesome and should have ended up with Lee Byung Hun.

I admit, I was a bit nervous in the beginning because I’m not a historical drama fan (gasp!) but this wasn’t the typical saguk. The prince, Lee Gak, has just found out his beloved wife has been murdered. While doing some detective work of his own, he and his associates (the Joseon Power Rangers) are ambushed. Through K-drama magic, they somehow escape through a time slip (a la Dr. Jin) and wind up in present day, sitting in Park Ha's house. I won’t get into any more of the drama in case you haven’t seen it but suffice it to say there is a lot of back stabbing from family members in this drama. That is actually why I put it on the list. Park Ha, played by Han Ji Min, starts out as the typical female lead (misunderstandings and getting slapped) but then she gets fed up with it and starts going to town! Throwing water in people’s faces… priceless! She has a lot going against her but she stays very grounded and doesn’t let anyone push her around.


This has to be the epitome of strong female lead. No Eun Seol plays one of the strongest (metaphorically and physically) female leads I’ve ever seen. Even her best friend (absolutely love her) is a wrestler. Eun Seol is a secretary to Cha Ji Heon, the immature youngest son of a chaebol family who falls in love with her. She goes through the drama, literally using her fists to get her thoughts across which I think is freaking fantastic! She shuts down many a male suitor during this 18 episode drama and if that doesn’t get you interested, Jaejoong is in it.

---

It was only a 3 episode drama which is why it’s only a notable mention. I feel like there should be more to this drama. It was great and the female lead, Cha Yeon Jin, is incredible as a high schooler/assassin. If you are looking for a short drama focused on revenge, then this is what you need.