By evadumonteil Last updated: January 10, 2023

Indulge Your Obsession: How to Watch Korean TV Online to Your Heart’s Content

Watching Korean TV is a tremendous learning strategy that won’t just improve your listening abilities but will also expose you to a rich variety of words, expressions, grammar and even Korean accents.

I’ve got tons of handy advice to help you improve your Korean while watching authentic Korean TV online, and I’m going to be sharing them with you today!

I’ll also give you some ideas on where to watch Korean TV online or even how to even do it.

The Top Tips for Watching Korean TV Online
The 2 Best Ways to Watch Korean TV Online for Free and on the Cheap

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

The Top Tips for Watching Korean TV Online

Make sure you have a fast Internet connection. Browsing South Korean sites from overseas can be painful if you don’t have a solid, reliable connection. If that’s your case, be prepared to wait! There could be several reasons why the page load time for these sites is slow, including the bandwidth of the network connection, the server load or the rendering of the fonts. Make sure that you have a high-speed connection in order to enjoy the best possible streaming experience.
Choose a Korean TV show—or a few!—that you’ll enjoy. The easiest way to make the most out of learning Korean with Korean TV shows is to make sure that you like what you’re watching. If something is boring, you’re less likely to learn something from it. You need a show that’s binge-worthy—one that will even make you forget that you’re studying at all!
Whether you like dramas, fantasy shows, comedies or shows set in interesting locations like Korean hospitals, there’s sure to be a Korean show that meets your tastes. Besides, you don’t even have to choose just one: you can decide to keep up with multiple Korean shows at once. That way, you can learn Korean from the various topics explored in each show and have a lot of fun along the way.

Use headphones. Listening to a foreign language can be difficult as it is, so be sure to secure every possible advantage when watching Korean TV online. Wearing your headphones will make it easier to really focus on the language and detect every little sound until your ears grow completely accustomed to the sounds of Korean.

Opt for live streaming if you lack content idea. The advantage of live streaming is that videos and shows play continuously, without the need for you to take any action. This removes the need to actively spend time looking for shows, or even to make a choice if you hesitate between multiple streaming options. It’s also a fun, serendipitous way to discover interesting shows that you may really enjoy.

Choose VOD (Video on Demand) to focus more closely on studying. Live streaming is terrific, but if you’re a beginner or even an intermediate student, it may be a bit frustrating for you. That’s because you can’t replay portions of a show with live streaming, so you can’t go back to try to understand something you missed. This also makes it challenging to take notes and verify complex vocabulary. VOD, however, allows you to do just that. Plus, you can select specific shows based on your unique interests and fluency level.

Engage in active watching. It can be easy to get sucked into TV shows and forget to actually, well, learn. That’s why it’s so important to learn to watch actively, and come away from your study sessions with a better understanding of the language.
A program like FluentU can help you with this. FluentU is an immersion language learning website and app that has a curated library of authentic Korean videos like TV show clips, movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks.

These videos encourage you to engage with them by making the dual-language subtitles interactive. Hover over a word to see its meaning or click on it for a full flashcard (which you can save to your vocabulary) that includes example sentences, videos and audio. After each video is a comprehension quiz that further encourages you to pay attention during the video.

The 2 Best Ways to Watch Korean TV Online for Free and on the Cheap

1. Watch Korean TV Online Via Individual Channel Websites

TV조선 (TV Chosun)

The channel TV Chosun is operated by Chosun Broadcasting Company, a South Korean cable TV network owned by the popular Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo.

With a strong emphasis on news, the site features 24/7 Live TV accessible for free without registration. The On Air video browser details the show that’s currently playing along with the next three shows, so you can easily determine whether or not you want to continue streaming.

아리랑 (Arirang)

Primarily aimed at English-speakers in Korea and Korean natives looking to improve their English skills, Arirang is a South Korean cable channel operated by the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation. News and current affairs dominate the editorial content of this site, but social and cultural topics also appear in a fair share of the programming.

Any shows that incorporate interviews in Korean are all accompanied by English subtitles, making it a great option for beginner and intermediate learners looking to be exposed to proper Korean pronunciation at a natural yet approachable pace. Note that the player features the name of the show being streamed as well as the next four shows.

You’ll find some exciting shows on demand. Just keep in mind that they don’t archive their Korean-language shows. You can watch videos in English and read the accompanying text descriptions in Hangul by clicking “Korean” on the right-hand side of the video player.

KBS

Founded in 1927, the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) is the national public broadcaster of South Korea and one of the country’s leading channels. Let’s just say this: you need to watch KBS online if you wish to gain a better grasp of the Korean language and culture.

Head over to KBS America if you encounter difficulty streaming Korean videos!

YTN

Yes! Top News, also known as YTN, is a modern news site and the only South Korean channel bringing real-time news coverage.

You’ll get hooked on their Live TV player, which will rapidly become your go-to information source for breaking news about the Korean peninsula. While more serious news take the center of the stage, you’ll also appreciate their coverage of sports, science and society news, perfect to really acquire a diverse range of vocabulary.

You may struggle quite a bit with this authentic content in the beginning, so don’t hesitate to read the mini-descriptions that follow each video and to research new vocabulary in Naver’s bilingual online dictionary.

2. Watch Korean TV Online Via Netflix

Netflix offers a limited yet solid selection of authentic Korean videos in Korean and with English subtitles. If you already have a Netflix account or are considering signing up, this may be a huge plus for you. Keep in mind that their movie and TV show selection changes constantly and may vary country by country

There you go!

Now that you know just where to watch Korean TV online, we’re convinced that you’ll rock your Korean studies.

Have fun!