By Jie Yee Ong
If you're looking to get your fix of Korean drama, these streaming services will let you watch your favorite shows for free.
The "Hallyu wave" that has swept the globe for the past couple of years brought K-pop to the mainstream. K-dramas are also swiftly gaining international popularity thanks to their innovative storylines, aesthetic cinematography, and good-looking cast.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best sites where you can stream and watch your favorite K-dramas for free.
1. Viki
Owned by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, Viki is probably the main site that K-drama fans visit to watch the latest and hottest K-drama series.
The platform offers a wide selection of dramas, variety shows and movies from not just Korea, but also China, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Recently, Viki has also begun releasing its own originals.
All you have to do is just create an account with your email, Facebook account, or Apple ID, and you can start browsing thousands of shows for free.
If you are always on the go, Viki also has a mobile app that you can download and watch your favorite shows wherever and whenever.
Download: Viki for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
2. Viu
Viu is similar to Viki in terms of user interface and shows offered. The platform not only has dramas, movies, and variety shows, but it also has a range of reality TV shows, entertainment news programs, and anime series from not just Korea, but also China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
The downside of Viu is that it is currently only available in 20 countries, and the US and Canada are not included. However, you can always access the website with a VPN. Not sure what that is? Check out our article on what a VPN is, and our list of the best VPNs available for you.
Download: Viu for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
3. WeTV
Owned by Tencent, WeTV is also known as Tencent Video. It is another popular alternative that offers a library of hit K-dramas and WeTV originals, as well as blockbuster flicks and anime series from China, Thailand, and Japan. Subtitles and dubbing are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Access to WeTV is free, but you can choose to subscribe to its VIP service for about $12.99 a year. Subscribers of WeTV are also granted exclusive early access to new episodes of TV shows.
Download: WeTV for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. AsianCrush
AsianCrush offers pan-Asian content that features Asia's most popular celebrities. This means that in addition to Korean, Chinese, and Japanese movies and TV series, AsianCrush also extends its library to include content from Singapore, Thailand and Mongolia.
Streaming on the platform is free, but with ad interruptions. If you want to get rid of this, you can subscribe to AsianCrush Premium for as low as $4.99 per month, or you can opt for the annual subscription $49.99 a year.
Download: AsianCrush for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)
5. Kocowa
If you are a fan of Korean variety shows, you’ve probably already heard of Kocowa. It's popular on YouTube, but did you know that it also have its own streaming platform?
Kocowa's online streaming service is the product of a collaboration between the three biggest broadcasters in South Korea: the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), and the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS). You can be confident in the knowledge that all the best content is on the platform.
Kocowa is exclusively available for users in North and South America. So if you are located in the US, Kocowa is probably the best option for you. With a dedicated team of in-house translators, shows aired on KBS, SBS, and MBC are released on the platform with English subtitles provided just six hours after televised broadcast.
On top of that, like other sites on this list Kocowa also has a mobile app, so you can watch your favorite shows on the go.
Download: Kocowa for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
Stream TV Shows for Free
Thanks to the surge in K-pop's popularity all around the world, entertainment content from South Korea is now more accessible than ever. Now you can stream all of Korea's great television shows legally and for free.
