From saints to 'girl crushes': The evolution of K-drama heroines

The ideal K-drama heroine was once poor, kind and endlessly forgiving — a woman who endured hardship with quiet resilience before eventually melting the heart of a cold, emotionally distant male lead through sheer devotion.

Today, she might ruin your life over the course of 12 episodes.

From the self-sacrificing melodrama heroines of the 1980s to the unapologetically driven women dominating screens today, Korean television's female protagonists have undergone a striking transformation over the p