Ted Sarandos Swoops Into Seoul as Netflix Celebrates 10 Years in Korea

After a tumultuous week of corporate shake-ups at Netflix, Ted Sarandos traveled to Seoul over the weekend to celebrate one of the streamer’s clearest success stories of the past decade: its big bet on Korean entertainment.

The Netflix co-CEO joined a massive two-day fan event the company organized at Sangam Oil Tank Culture Park, a former petroleum storage depot converted into a cultural complex in western Seoul. The visit came days after Netflix replaced chief content officer Bela Bajaria with Peter Rice and announced layoffs affecting roughly 1,000 employees — but the mood in Korea was purely celebratory.

Dubbed “Netflix Janchi,” the festivities attracted more than 10,000 local fans with themed activity booths, interactive games, company merchandise, live music and appearances from the stars of Netflix’s best-known Korean titles. The event’s online broadcasts drew an additional 3.58 million cumulative views.

Sarandos took the stage Saturday to share his appreciation for the Korean creative community and personally preview Netflix’s forthcoming slate, including local filmmaking legend Lee Chang-dong’s Oscar contender Possible Love, the upcoming K-drama Tantara and highly anticipated series including Grand Galaxy Hotel, She, Wolf, All of Us Are Dead Season 2 and the live-action adaptation of anime phenomenon Solo Leveling.

“Ten years ago, we dreamed big, but none of us could have imagined that Korean stories would move hearts around the world, and land right at the center of global culture,” Sarandos said. “For Netflix, Korea is more than a market. It is where we discovered new possibilities, and where we learned how far a story can travel. And it is one of our most treasured partners for the future we are building together.”

To further mark the occasion, Netflix released a slew of data from its service showing just how bankable Korean content has become. According to the streamer, Korean programming is now its most-watched non-English-language content category, with more than 80 percent of Netflix members worldwide having watched at least one Korean title. Since the company began tracking its global Top 10 rankings in June 2021, more than 200 Korean titles have appeared on the charts.

The three seasons of Squid Game occupy the top three spots on Netflix’s all-time most-watched non-English television list, while this year’s Korean hit Teach You a Lesson recently joined the ranking at No. 10. Korean productions generated more than 12 billion viewing hours on Netflix between April 2025 and March 2026 — second only to U.S. content by country of origin.

Korean stars came out in force to support Netflix’s first-decade milestone. Squid Game favorites Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun and Park Hae-soo took the stage to reminisce about the show’s unprecedented global success, while KPop Demon Hunters voice star Ahn Hyo-seop hit the stage, as did D.P. stars Koo Kyo-hwan and Jung Hae-in. The event also featured cast members from Netflix hits including Hellbound, Mask Girl, Culinary Class Wars and The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, among others.

The company’s preview of its upcoming Korean slate brought another wave of shiny K-content favorites. Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong appeared in support of Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at Venice and is set to debut globally on Netflix on Nov. 6. And Song Hye-kyo, Gong Yoo and Kim Seol-hyun introduced Tantara, a period drama set against the Korean entertainment industry of the 1960s through the 1980s, which premieres Dec. 11.

Other upcoming projects highlighted by Sarandos included supernatural fantasy Grand Galaxy Hotel, starring Lee Do-hyun and Shin Si-a; She, Wolf, with Kim Min-ju, Lomon and Moon Sang-min; and the second season of Netflix’s zombie blockbuster All of Us Are Dead, whose cast members Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun and Lomon were present. Rising Korean leading man Byeon Woo-seok also appeared to introduce the much-anticipated live-action Solo Leveling, in which he plays protagonist Sung Jin-woo (release dates for those four titles have yet to be announced).

While a creative rethink is underway at the world’s largest streamer, the Seoul anniversary celebration demonstrated that at least one tenant of Netflix’s global content strategy is unlikely to change: the centrality of Korean entertainment.