Poster for ‘Agent Kim Reactivated’
Courtesy of Netflix
The action thriller K-drama Agent Kim Reactivated wrapped up its wildly successful run over the weekend, with its finale recording a whopping 23% nationwide viewership rating in South Korea. In addition to becoming one of the most-watched K-dramas in Korea this year, the 10-episode series has topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English Shows list for three straight weeks as of this writing.
Written by Nam Dae-joong and directed by Lee Seung-young and Lee So-eun, Agent Kim Reactivated stars So Ji-sub as Mr. Kim, a former North Korean spy-turned-South Korean secret agent who leaves his old life behind to become an ordinary office worker and raise his daughter as a single father. But when she goes missing, he’s forced to reveal his true identity and draw on his formidable combat and espionage skills to rescue her.
And before anyone starts making comparisons to Liam Neeson’s Taken, suffice it to say that the similarities don’t extend far beyond the premise and its universal theme of fatherly love. Although many of the comedic and emotional moments in Agent Kim Reactivated resonated with international audiences, the series still retains plenty of quintessentially Korean elements, from its depiction of the tense relationship between North and South Korea and the brutal training endured by North Korean secret agents to its references to Korean traditions, such as the custom of eating tofu after being released from prison.
How Popular Was ‘Agent Kim Reactivated’?
Agent Kim Reactivated premiered on June 26th with a 9.5% viewership rating on South Korean terrestrial broadcaster SBS. According to Nielsen Korea, ratings surpassed 20% by the fourth episode and remained above that threshold for the rest of the series, making it the most-watched miniseries in Korea so far this year.
In fact, the series was so popular that SBS decided to air a two-episode special on July 31st and August 1st featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Director Lee and several of the lead actors. Producers are also reportedly in talks for a possible second season.
The series has ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English Shows list for three consecutive weeks and frequently entered the streamer’s Top 10 Shows rankings in the U.S. during its run.
Netflix’s latest engagement report, which tracked what viewers watched from January through June 2026, found that non-English titles made up over a third of all viewing on the platform, with Korean content making up the largest share. Even though Agent Kim Reactivated premiered near the end of the period covered by the report, it still emerged as one of the most-watched Korean shows of the first half of 2026.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JUNE 25: Actors Choi Dae-hoon, So Ji-sub, director Lee Seung-young, actress Son Na-eun, actor Yoon Kyung-ho and actor Joo Sang-wook attend the press conference for the SBS Friday-Saturday drama ‘Manager Kim’ at SBS Mok-dong on June 25, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images)
ImaZins via Getty Images
Why Was ‘Agent Kim Reactivated’ So Popular In Korea And Globally?
Driven by a sharply written script and fast-paced plot, Agent Kim Reactivated found the right blend of action, thrills, comedy and drama. Viewers praised the series for its gripping action sequences, inventive camerawork and compelling performances.
So Ji-sub—who had already showcased his action prowess in projects like Mercy for None and A Company Man—further cemented his status as one of Korea’s leading action heroes, with multiple domestic media outlets highlighting his impressive performance.
But the strong acting extended to the rest of the cast as well. So and his lead co-stars Choi Dae-hoon and Yoon Kyung-ho formed the perfect trio of lethal secret agents masquerading as bumbling middle-aged dads, displaying remarkable chemistry. Joo Sang-wook, who’s more known for playing good guys, fit surprisingly well into the villainous role of Ju Gang-chan. Even actors with relatively smaller parts shone in their roles, including Ok Taec-yeon, whose North Korean accent sounded arguably even more convincing than So’s.
Of course, watching bad guys get their due is always a satisfying and cathartic experience, too—a factor that helps explain the success of another recent hit K-drama, Netflix’s Teach You A Lesson.
The One Thing That Many Viewers Didn’t Love About ‘Agent Kim Reactivated’
However, many Korean viewers complained about the show’s abundance of product placements, particularly in the final episode (the cars! The eyeglasses! The conveyor belt sushi! And, of course, the coffee-flavored Kopiko candy, which has probably appeared in more K-dramas than any human actor at this point.).
Many viewers found these placements annoying or cringey and commented that they disrupted the viewing experience. Some even called for a second season to be produced by a deep-pocketed streaming giant like Netflix instead of a Korean broadcasting network, which relies heavily on product placements to offset production costs.
‘Agent Kim Reactivated’ Proves The Continued Success Of Webtoon Adaptations
Agent Kim Reactivated is adapted from the hit Naver webtoon Manager Kim written by Toy and illustrated by Jeong Jong-taek. (It’s worth noting that the Korean title for the series, 김부장, or “Manager Kim,” retains the original webtoon title.)
The webtoon itself is a spinoff centered on Manager Kim, a supporting character from Taejun Pak’s Lookism—another popular Naver webtoon that’s become one of Korea’s most successful webtoon IPs.
Webtoons continue to rank among the most sought-after sources of material for K-dramas, with over half of Korean originals on Netflix and Disney+/Hulu being based on webtoon IP, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). For production companies and streamers looking for the next hit K-drama, popular webtoons often seem like a relatively safe bet since they come with proven appeal and an established fanbase.
‘Agent Kim Reactivated’ Shows The Ongoing Evolution And Diversification Of Korean Dramas
Aside from its high ratings, Agent Kim Reactivated achieved another milestone by becoming the first K-drama to feature a scene created entirely using AI.
In the opening sequence of the second episode that shows a flashback to 2008, So’s character Mr. Kim is shown riding a motorcycle in hot pursuit of a car carrying the North Korean official he’s been sent to assassinate. After the high-speed chase erupts into gunfire and a brutal fistfight, Kim hijacks the vehicle, takes the official hostage and speeds off a bridge into the water below.
Korean AI production company Morpheus Studio created that entire scene using AICRON, its AI content creation platform. In an interview with The Korea Times, Ryu Jae-hwan, Morpheus Studio’s vice president and AI supervising director, said that the success of Agent Kim Reactivated has prompted more creators to explore AI video generation, potentially signaling the beginning of greater AI integration into K-drama production.
Although some critics have decried Agent Kim Reactivated for its graphic violence and Hollywood-style action (admittedly, the sheer number of guns and artillery featured in this series can feel somewhat incongruous in a country with such strict restrictions on firearms), the show’s popularity reflects the broader, ongoing diversification of K-dramas.
In recent years, South Korea’s terrestrial broadcasters like MBC, KBS and SBS (which aired Agent Kim Reactivated), which were previously known for eschewing graphic content on their shows, have increasingly invested in darker and more violent programming in an effort to compete with global streamers like Netflix, which have taken away much of the domestic audience with edgy hits like Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead.
Whether this rise in violent K-dramas also reflects the mood of our current society, however, is another question.
Agent Kim Reactivated is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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