So Ji-sub's 'Director Kim' hits 21.6% ratings, tops Netflix non-English TV chart

Four episodes in, Director Kim is already the highest-rated Korean drama of the year.

The SBS Friday-Saturday series hit 21.6% nationwide viewership by Nielsen Korea standards in its fourth broadcast, setting a new peak for 2026. On Netflix, where it streams simultaneously, the show ranked #1 in 11 countries — South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Peru among them — and landed in the TOP10 across 79 countries, taking the top spot in the platform's official weekly non-English TV rankings.

So Ji-sub plays 김부장 (Director Kim), a former North Korean operative who has buried his past and settled into life as an ordinary salaryman and father. His daughter gets kidnapped. He pulls out every skill he's been hiding and goes after the people responsible. Hard-boiled action, webtoon source material—the setup is exactly what it sounds like.

MovieWeb called it "an action thriller combining Taken and John Wick." The numbers suggest the audience agrees.

The drama is adapted from a popular webtoon of the same name.