The latest craze on Korean TV, besides the gorgeously coiffed Bae Yong-joon and the retro snarls of CSI, is Taiwanese drama. The first time a soap from Formosa made bubbles here was in the summer of 2002, when "Meteor Garden" aired on MBC Drama Net. And now, Taiwanese drama is back.
"It Started with a Kiss" on SBS Drama Plus started the buzz, and "Hanazakarino Kimitachihe", despite being something of a mouthful, is also hugely popular. They may only get viewer ratings of 2 percent, but that is relatively high among foreign dramas, and many fans say the actual popularity is far greater since most fans watch them on the Internet and DVD. In Taiwan, "Hanazakari no Kimitachihe" had the island's highest ever audience rating.
The driving force of the Taiwanese soap opera craze is online fan clubs. The one dedicated to Jerry Yen, the star of "Meteor Garden", has no fewer than 30,000 registered fans. The fan club of pop group Feilunhai (Fahrenheit) is also enormous, and Feilunhai members Wu Chun and Jiro Wang play leading roles in "Hanazakari no Kimitachi he". Kim Mi-na, the fan club's leader, said, "The number of active fans who translate articles about Taiwanese actors and visit Taiwan to see them amounts to 7,300. Including registered fans, the figure far exceeds 10,000".
One reason why Koreans love Taiwanese drama is that most of it -- and all three series mentioned here -- is based on Japanese comics that are hugely popular, adding the extra thrill of comparing the soap with the original. Due to their popularity among devoted fans, Korean cable and satellite TV channels are introducing more and more Taiwanese dramas. Lee Eun-kyeong, a PR woman for the Korean branch of Taiwan's GTV, says while only a single Taiwanese drama was imported to Korea in 2006, there are five this year. And now, Korean broadcasters are snapping up the dramas even before they started shooting.
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