Portrayals of People with Disabilities

• Release Date: 1972

With the country being occupied by Japanese imperialists, Koppun struggles to earn money to care for her sick mother and visually impaired sister, as her brother is imprisoned and her father is dead.

• Aired: Jan 10, 1994

Maria, struggling financially, juggles a low-paying day job with nighttime shifts at a cabaret to fund her sister Nana's eye operation. Tragedy struck their family when a young Maria accidentally caused a fire, resulting in Nana's blindness and their father's death.

• Aired: Jul 7, 1995

Kohji is a rising young artist who because he lost his hearing at the age of 7, lives by only expressing himself through paintings. Hiroko is a young actress who practices acting with a drama troupe while holding a part-time job.

• Aired: Jul 7, 1998

High-school student, Kano Masaki, found herself falling into the practice of selling her body in order to earn money. When she heard that her favourite music composer, Ishikawa Keigo was holding a concert in town, she prostituted herself to earn enough money to attend.  Things take a turn for the unknown when Masaki later discovers that she has contracted HIV and has to live with the consequences of what she has done.

• Aired: Jan 16, 2000

Kyoko, a young woman with an unhindered spirit despite being physically bound to a wheelchair due to illness, and Shuji, a stylish and popular fashion magazine hairstylist, are brought together in a fateful traffic incident.

• Aired: Oct 11, 2005

About a girl who was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative disease at 15, but was able to continue her life until her death at the age of 25.

• Release Date: Mar 9, 2006

One of the characters has a speech disability.

• Aired: Mar 29, 2010

Mizuki, whose real name is Shigeru Mura, was a veteran who lost his left arm in World War II. Five days after meeting for the first time in an omiai in 1961, 39-year-old Shigeru and 29-year-old Nunoe were married.

• Release Date: Aug 11, 2011

A blind witness and a runaway help the police find the suspect in a hit and run until the culprit realizes that they are close on his trail. The killer tracks her down and Soo-ah realizes that in order to save Gi-sub she would have to risk her life.

• Release Date: Sep 22, 2011

Gang In Ho is the newly appointed art teacher at Gwangju Inhwa School, a school for deaf children. He is excited to teach his new students, yet the children are aloof and distant, trying to avoid running into him as much as possible. When the children finally open up, In Ho faces the shocking and ugly truth about the school and what the students have been enduring in secret.

• Release Date: Oct 20, 2011

Having closed himself away from the world, former boxer Chul Min starts a new job as a parking lot attendant. One night, a visually impaired young woman, Jung Hwa, walks into his tollbooth to watch television with him. Jung Hwa's bright spirit and smile in the face of adversity reach through to Chul Min's heart.

• Aired: Feb 13, 2013

The gorgeous Oh Young should be leading the perfect life as an heiress, but when her parents’ divorce crumbles the family, she faces the reality of living life alone—particularly in light of her increasingly impaired vision.

• Release Date: Oct 2, 2013
• Female lead wears a colostomy bag.

On the way to school, a girl named So Won (which literally means "desire" or "hope" in Korean) is sexually assaulted by a drunk male stranger. As a result, she suffers from multiple internal injuries and must undergo major surgery, and wear a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. 

• Aired: Apr 5, 2014

Yoon Soo-wan and Park Dong-joo were each other’s first loves, but were forced to separate due to painful family circumstances. Soo-wan, who had been blind, eventually undergoes an eye transplant surgery that restores her sight.

• Aired: Sep 30, 2015

Upon a chance meeting at a neighborhood photo studio, Yoo So Ra and Kang Yoo Chan develop a picture-perfect romance with the help of a magical camera that can freeze time. Yoo Chan has a rare case of the disease in his eyes and he'll soon go blind, so they decide to use the camera to take all the pictures they can take when they are still together.

• Release Date: Oct 15, 2015

Thai writer/publisher Nong Wongthanong looks back at his home country of Thailand and wonders: why doesn’t he see people with Down syndrome in everyday life, walking the street and being a part of society? He begins his research, and soon befriends 5 teenagers with Down syndrome: Pan, Beer, Bank and twin sisters Om and An.

• Release Date: Feb 24, 2016

Beom-sil has a noticeable crush on Soo-ok and waits by the girl's window during the summer. Soo-ok suffers from a leg injury that renders her unable to walk properly so she is always carried by Beom-sil. The love blossoms and how he always sees her as the girl he had want to marry.

• Aired: Mar 21, 2018

Tells the story of an impoverished and debt-laden young woman struggling to stay afloat as she nurses her deaf, sick grandmother and working a temporary job.

• Aired: Jul 15, 2018

One of the characters is an amputee.

• Release Date: Oct 5, 2018

Architect Ayukawa Itsuki is left paralyzed from the waist down by a sudden accident and is confined to using a wheelchair. Kawana Tsugumi works at an interior design company and one day runs into the senior she had a crush on during high school, Itsuki. Tsugumi is charmed by Itsuki and endeavors to live life together optimistically.

• Release Date: Oct 16, 2019

Despite their differences, an aspiring architect falls for her deaf neighbor, who teaches her basic sign language.  

• Release Date: Dec 31, 2019

One of the characters is blind.

• Aired: Jul 29, 2020

One of the characters has a hearing disability.

• Release Date: Dec 10, 2020

A small city on the outskirts of Seoul. Young Seok, a university student nearing graduation, comes across a woman in the street who has fallen from her wheelchair and helps her back home. She ends up feeding him a simple meal, and he develops a vague curiosity for this woman who introduces herself as "Josée".

• Release Date: Jun 18, 2021

One of the characters is a wheelchair user.

• Aired: Mar 25, 2022

The drama follows its characters through many significant historical periods, such as the Japanese occupation of Korea, the AIDS crisis, and through the height of the bubble economy in Japan.

• Aired: Apr 9, 2022

One of the characters is a person with Down syndrome, and another character is deaf and has a speech disability.

• Aired: Jun 29, 2022

Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 27-year-old Woo Young Woo graduated at the top of her class from the prestigious Seoul National University for both college and law school due to her high IQ of 164, impressive memory, and creative thought process. Working as a lawyer, she finds herself struggling when it comes to social interactions.

• Aired: Jul 19, 2022

Harry DJs at the radio station, offering relationship advice "because all broken hearts deserve to be heard." Living in a wheelchair, she has learned to let microaggressions take over and uses her positivity to help others find love.

• Aired: Oct 6, 2022

Tsumugi Aoba and Sou Sakura dated in high school. They both liked music. After graduating, Sou sent her a message breaking up. She started dating Minato Togawa, a mutual friend. 8 years later, she sees Sou, only to learn he is deaf.

• Aired: Nov 24, 2022

Harumichi and Yae live completely separates lives, but the narratives set in the past show how close they were. They were thick as thieves in their relationship and everyone knew it, and Yae even learned sign language to communicate with Harumichi’s deaf sister. Their paths cross again in the present day when Yae’s son comes to the building Harumichi works in.

• Aired: Sep 25, 2023

A CODA (child of deaf adult) student born with a gift for music crash lands at an unfamiliar place after time traveling through a suspicious music shop. There, he forms the band Watermelon Sugar with other mysterious youths.

• Aired: Nov 27, 2023

Since he lost his hearing, Cha Jin-woo has gotten used to his solitary life. One day, an aspiring actress Jung Mo-eun, enters his quiet daily routine.

• Aired: Jan 6, 2024

One of the characters is a wheelchair user.

• Aired: Apr 8, 2024

Recovering from an accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down, Im Sol answers a phone call meant to promote Sun-jae’s rookie band Eclipse. She’s in a dark place and does not want to speak to anyone, but Sun-jae recognizes her distress and offers words of compassion. As a result she becomes a super-fan and stays devoted as the band becomes successful.