Let’s take a look at 8 Korean dramas that were accused of plagiarism that spark great controversies in the Korean entertainment industry.
In addition to the controversy over poster plagiarism, there are many Korean dramas that were accused of plagiarizing scripts of classic series, novels, and webtoons. Here are 8 Korean dramas that used to be involved in fierce controversy over suspicion of plagiarism that brought many troubles to the producers.
1. Queen Seon Deok
Queen Seon Deok, with Go Hyun Jung as the female lead, is one of the 10 most famous dramas in Korea with an extremely high viewership rating of 43.6%. However, this is also one of the most scandalous productions in the history of Korean dramas when it was fined 186,000 USD for plagiarizing the script of the musical “Queen of Rose of Sharon, Seon Duk” and was banned from broadcasting on cable channels and the Internet.
2. My Love From the Star
My Love From the Star not only faced allegations of copying the opening CGI of the series New Amsterdam but was also accused of stealing ideas from the webtoon Seolhee. However, the production company of “My Love From the Star” immediately denied the accusations of the author of Seolhee and said that screenwriter Park Ji Eun had been preparing for her script for a long time, even threatening to sue the female author for defamation.
3. Secret Garden
Secret Garden used to be accused by a female comic writer of plagiarizing the details in her series Botox. However, scriptwriter Kim Eun Sook quickly stated that she had never read Botox and was extremely mad at this groundless rumor.
4. Legend of the Blue Sea
Despite owning famous actors like Lee Min Ho and Jeon Ji Hyun, the ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’ is considered one of the unfortunate “bombs” of Korean films. Not only that, the film is also said to have “referenced” the script from the movie Splash.
5. The Greatest Love
‘The Greatest Love’, a popular Korean rom-com, was accused of borrowing ideas from the series ‘That’s Why I Married An Antifan’. Although the incident is not serious, to get rid of that accusation, the writer of ‘The Greatest Love’ edited the script to be different from the original.
6. Iris
A once-popular action blockbuster like ‘Iris’ was also accused of stealing the script from the novel ‘The Sun Never Rises on Mount Fuji’. However, the court ruled against the applicant, arguing that the plot is similar in some points but not enough elements to constitute plagiarism.
7. A Korean Odyssey
The super product ‘A Korean Odyssey’ was indirectly accused of stealing ideas by the author of the novel series ‘Aeyugi’. However, the screenwriter duo of the Hong family released evidence that they wrote the first part of ‘A Korean Odyssey’ on March 20, 2017. At the same time, the two have never seen ‘Aeyugi’ in the past nor have they read the original.
8. Five Fingers
Before making a splash in the ‘Penthouse’ universe, screenwriter Kim Soon Ok had a hard time because of a series of never-ending scandals in ‘Five Fingers’. Most prominent is the accusation of plagiarism from the novel ‘Murder Rhapsody’. However, the crew was quick to assert that they had never heard of the novel.
