South Korea has a rich, mystical tradition in storytelling. Traditional stories on love and romance were sung and performed by shamans and pansori singers who utilise drums as a form of musical storytelling (‘pan’ means ‘open space’; ‘sori’ translates to song in Korean). The open-air performance tradition is referred to in the term. These storytelling rituals helped introduce folktales to its people.

With our ongoing fascination for K-dramas, viewers in India have been introduced to many of these stories. Viewers enjoy unwinding with a feel-good K-drama, being lost in plots that focus on relationships, in the backdrop of Korea’s modern society that is reminiscent of scenarios in their own set-ups.