FREE K-Dramas with No Paywall? Yes, please!

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
September 22, 2026

[Taps mic] Ahem!

Quite often, I am asked to share information about an artist’s new project, a company’s upcoming product, or maybe something in between. Most of the time I take a pass for a variety of reasons: the subject matter may not interest me, I have no outlet for it to run in, or — most often — I just don’t have time to dig into it.

But I’m sharing this one with you because:

° It’s about K-dramas.
° Just as importantly, some of them will be free to watch with no ads from September 25 through October 1, 2026.

The streaming site Viki1 will be celebrating its fourth annual K-Drama Day by removing the paywall from 10 of its popular shows, including “The Scarecrow,” which is my favorite show of 2026 … so far.

I wrote a mini review of it for Teen Vogue:

Based on the real-life Hwaseong Serial Killer who brutally murdered 15 South Korean girls and women from 1986-1994, “The Scarecrow” covers much of the same ground as Bong Joon-ho’s 2003 film “Memories of Murder.” But this K-drama more than holds its own, adding fictional twists to keep viewers engaged and guessing.

Park Hae-soo (“Squid Game”) portrays Kang Tae-joo, an ace Seoul detective who is demoted back to his rural hometown of Gangseong. He’s a hot head, but he’s honest and by-the-book. When he’s reunited with his high school frenemy Cha Si-young (Lee Hee-joon), who is now a powerful prosecutor, Tae-joo wants nothing to do with him. They have a complicated past based on jealousy, lies, and social hierarchy. Si-young cares less about finding the real culprit than utilizing state-sanctioned force to create one.

In arguably the most powerful scene of the K-drama, director Park Joon-woo depicts a chilling juxtaposition of the killer beating and strangling a woman, while the police torture an innocent man into making a false confession. Which is worse—the deranged serial killer, or the brutal system that allows the empowered to make criminals out of victims?

“The Scarecrow” doesn’t offer a pat answer. Rather, it makes viewers think about how easily we allow ourselves to be manipulated when we pretend it’s all for the greater good. (Viki)

Viki2 is collaborating with a number of partners on cross-promotional content, integrations, and more:

• Agoda: The global travel platform is bringing K-drama dreams to life with a booking discount towards an unforgettable trip just for Viki users and a chance to win a complimentary overnight stay in South Korea.
• LG: A special 1-month free trial offer of the Viki Pass Standard subscription for LG TV users will run through October 18 across select regions including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and India.
• Rakuten Rewards: The leading Cash Back shopping platform is offering Viki fans a cash bonus for new members and elevated Cash Back when they shop select favorite lifestyle brands on Rakuten during K-Drama Day.
• WEBTOON: An exciting cross-promotion between two highly engaged Korean entertainment audiences, introducing Viki to fans already consuming Korean webcomics and stories.

So get cozy, prepare your snacks — I recommend kimbap and ramyeon — and get ready to bingewatch some amazing K-dramas.3

You’re welcome!

If you’re inadvertently reading this on a content-scraping plagiarism site (e.g. europesays(dot)com etc.), please know that they stole my copyrighted work. These clickbait sites are illegally using my writing to generate traffic to their ads. —Jae-Ha Kim

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