Mun Ka-young’s Upcoming K-Dramas

As an actor since 2006, Mun Ka-young has played a variety of roles, including those in well-liked K-dramas namely Heartstrings (2011), Exo Next Door (2015), Tempted (2018), Welcome to Waikiki 2 (2019), Find Me in Your Memory (2020), True Beauty (2020), Link: Eat, Love, Kill (2022), and The Interest of Love (2022). She’s constantly upping the ante, taking on more interesting characters that speak to the talent that she has. Her upcoming K-dramas, set for release in the first half of 2025, are Black Salt Dragon and Seochodong.

Based on the webtoon That Man Is Black Salt Dragon by Hye Jin-yang, Black Salt Dragon stars Mun Ka-young and Choi Hyun-wook. An alliance of anger, conflict, power play, and all things in between that trigger romantic tension between the protagonists is the building block of this romance drama.

Baek Soo-jung (Mun) and Ban Joo-yeon (Choi Hyun-wook) are at odds when they face each other 16 years later, serving as the story’s hook. It was through an online game that Soo-jung and Joo-yeon first met as teenagers, and they have a sour memory of the experience. The scene becomes more awkward when they meet again over a decade later at work.

At a high-end department store, Mun’s Soo-jung oversees its planning team. She’s known for her abilities and is upfront and unyielding in her job. It turns out that Choi’s Joo-yeon is her boss and an heir apparent to the department store. If anything, once they start working together, bitter memories resurface, and the lines between hate and love inevitably begin to blur.

I’m keen on Mun and Choi’s dynamic in a love story that’s written by Kim Soo-yeon and directed by Lee So-hyun, especially Choi’s portrayal of a more mature role following his unique, impressive performances in Weak Hero Class 1 (2022) and Twinkling Watermelon (2023). Black Salt Dragon is one of the K-dramas I’m looking forward to next year.

Mun also co-stars with Lee Jong-suk in the Lee Seung-hyun-written and Park Seung-woo-directed legal drama Seochodong. It centers on associate attorneys in the “Seochodong Law Town,” a legal practice. Mun portrays Kang Hee-ji, a second-year lawyer, as confidence-driven, trustworthy, and with no shortage of convictions. On the other side, Lee Jong-suk has Ahn Joo-hyung, a seasoned lawyer with a strong command of reasoning based on what’s true.

Joo-hyung started as a legal expert because of his propensity for critical thinking and analysis rather than standing by those in need and justice. He has been in the business for nine years and is prosperous in both his life and career unless things begin to go south.

Seochodong will dig into the lives of its lawyers—their professional and personal experiences as they navigate the inner workings of the legal system. There’s also romance in the plot, and the attraction of this drama, I think, stems from the fact that it’s a courtroom narrative capturing the spirit of the legal profession while simultaneously fusing themes of love, relationships, and personal growth. 

With Mun Ka-young and Lee Jong-suk at the center of everything, I imagine that as the characters handle their cases and challenges in the courtroom, they also have to face the challenges of safeguarding meaningful relationships, striking a balance between work and personal obligations, and coping with dilemmas—especially moral and ethical dilemmas that come up in their careers.