Korean Wave/Hallyu in Philippines

Watching TV is the number one pass time for Filipinos. They spent almost all day in front of their TV station while doing there daily chores, or while having dinner.


Aside from watching local soap operas, American drama series were also a hit specially on prime time. During late 90's Filipinos are hooked up to Mexican soap opera's like Marimar, Betty la fea and others, during that time. Last 2002, Taiwanese TV drama Meteor Garden made a phenomena in Philippine television and the boy group F4 become famous after that the word "Chinovela." was born which means Chinese TeleNovela.


In late 2003, "Autumn Fairytale" aired locally and is credited with having started the "Koreanovela" phenomenon in the Philippines. Song Seung Hun: Yun Joon-suh (Johnny Yun), Song Hye Kyo: Yun/Choi Eun-suh (Jenny Choi), Won Bin: Han Tae-suhk (Andrew Han), was became famous and their name was remembered. I also love the sound track of this drama. "Full House" starred Jung Ji-hoon, better known as Rain, and Song Hye-gyo; to Filipino fans, however, they were known as Justine and Jesse, respectively. "Full House" was one of the highest-rating Korean dramas aired in the Philippines in 2005, peaking at 52 percent and averaging 42.3 percent during its entire run. As I remember the infamous "Papa bear, mama bear and baby bear song" sang by Song Hye-gyo that I found her very cute.

Since then Korean dramas have been shown in the Philippines including "Winter Sonata,"

Bae Yong Joon as Kang Joon Sang / Lee Min Hyung (Jun Kang / Joseph Lee), Choi Ji Woo as Jung Yu-jin (Janice Jung). As I remember the first Korean drama that been shown was Beautiful days by Choi Ji-Woo but it doesn't catch any attention but it has a good story.

"Lovers in Paris," "My Girl," and "Miss Mermaid."

Lovers in Paris are also a hit and a local song became popular because of this drama. My girl was also known but I didn't watch it and one of my favorite Korean Drama "Miss Mermaid" or Irene in Philippine title. In Korean Eneo Agassi. Jang Seo-hee (장서희), Kim Seong-min (김성민) are the main actors. I personally love the story of a screen writer who seeks revenge to his father's second wife. I learned that writing is a powerful tool, and revenge cause nothing but regrets.

Next to these series is "Stairway to Heaven." which also became a big hit. It became a number 1 in prime time TV rating all over the Philippines. Kwon Sang Woo became popular for his role as "Cholo."

"Daejanggeum (Jewel in the Palace)"

"Daejanggeum," according to some reports, peaked to as high as 57 percent audience share and, due to its popularity, was rerun, again earning high ratings. Lee Young Ae, did a remarkable job on this drama series.

Aside from this Korean Drama there are also a lot of Korean drama that have been shown, such as, Love to kill, Save my last dance, Yellow Handkerchief, Sassy Girl, My name is Kim Sam-Soon, Glass Shoes, Bad House Wife, Goong, Etc.

The latest to air is "Coffee Prince" which has also been enjoying high ratings.

And Bae Yoon-Jun returns with the "Legend"

Honestly I only watch few episodes or almost finish these Korean Dramas. The Stories are good not so complex and the sound tracks are good. This is one of the reasons with Filipinos like to watch this Korean Dramas. And recently not only Korean drama become popular to Filipino's. They're starting to listen to Korean pop songs, and movies.