KBS, the public broadcaster of South Korea, has long been producing TV series based on historical facts. Often called ‘grand historical dramas’, this series was influenced by the Japanese NHK Broadcasting Company. A narrator’s voice is inserted in the middle, and subtitles are inserted to show the names and positions of the characters. This was a format that combined a typical TV series with a documentary.

Until the 2000s, these grand historical dramas were very popular among South Korean men over 50. However, these dramas have gradually become series that no one watches. ‘KBS1’, the channel that broadcasts these series, has traditionally been a TV channel that does not receive advertising. Therefore, while a lot of money was invested in KBS grand historical dramas, no advertising revenue could be expected. KBS gradually reduced the budget for these series. The producers also stayed with the traditions of 90s TV series, rather than trying new things due to the lack of budget.**

In the 2020s, questions about the necessity of public broadcasting in South Korean society were raised strongly. As various cable TV and SVOD services developed, traditional media such as KBS was being ignored. In this situation, public opinion arose that there was no need to maintain this broadcasting company with taxpayers’ money. KBS was forced into a situation where it had to prove its existence to South Koreans. For this, KBS decided to focus on ‘KBS Grand Historical Dramas’, which have a strong emphasis on history education. It also signed a distribution deal with Netflix for profit generation.**

The grand historical drama ‘Korea-Khitan War’ which began airing on KBS in 2023 is the drama that received the most budget. It covered the ‘Korea-Khitan War’ of the early 11th century, which had not been dealt with in South Korean TV series before. Goryeo was a medieval kingdom of Korea that existed from the 10th to 14th centuries. It is the origin of the word ‘Korea’. Khitan was a nomadic tribe that existed in Asia from ancient times to the Middle Ages. They established a powerful nomadic empire around the 10th century and strongly pressured China and Korea.

This TV series received positive responses for its faithful recreation of Korean historical facts. Many historical dramas produced in Korea in the past have been completely unrelated to actual historical facts. Some people even believed the settings that were created for entertainment in the TV series to be real Korean history.** (For example, the character Misil created in ‘Queen Seondeok’ (2008) was mistakenly perceived as a real historical figure.) Especially as the number of people watching K-dramas has increased outside of Korea, there was a high possibility of misunderstandings about Korean history and culture.

This series was faithful to the situations and conversations recorded in medieval Korean historical records. The conversation between Emperor Yelu Longxu (played by Kim Hyuk) of Khitan and General Gang Jo (played by Lee Won-jong) of Goryeo in episode 8 was a direct reenactment of the content of ‘Goryeosa’, recorded in the 15th century. The production design also recreated 11th-century Korean clothing, armor, and weapons as faithfully as possible.** Korean historical TV series often had production designs that contradicted reality, so this series has received attention.

This series features a forgotten war hero in Korea. During the second Goryeo-Khitan War, General Yang Gyu (played by Ji Seung-hyun) of Korea defended a fortress called ‘Heunghwajin’ with 3,000 soldiers against an attack by 400,000 Khitan troops. He later pursued the Khitan army with 1,000 soldiers and rescued 30,000 prisoners. The action sequences centered on Yang Gyu are mostly in ‘HBO style’, brutal but realistic and emotional.** Yang Gyu’s performance is also one of the most praised parts of the series.

It is a great strength of this series that it has captured the viewers’ interest even though it did not make any significant changes to the historical facts. Even though the setting is 1,000 years ago from the present, the script is written so that viewers can easily understand the situation in the play, and the actors’ acting, which faithfully brought to life the characters in history books, has been praised.

This series has also attracted attention for the appearance of South Korean actor Choi Soo-jong. He often appeared in KBS grand historical dramas in the 2000s, and most of his works were box office hits. He even joked that he had played the king of every kingdom that had existed in Korea. He plays the character of Gang Gam-chan, a general of the Goryeo kingdom, who fought in the final battle of the Goryeo-Khitan War.**

The series, consisting of 32 episodes, has currently released 16 episodes. It is available as a Netflix series in Asian countries and is streaming on Kocowa in the Americas.