"When you break up with a coworker, you can't just avoid them," notes Ji-eun, a graphic designer. "You have to see them in the elevator, in the cafeteria, and at team meetings. It forces many people to quit their jobs just to escape the memory."
In contemporary Korea, the workplace functions as more than an economic arena; it is a primary site of socialization, hierarchy negotiation, and increasingly, romantic formation. This paper examines the dual phenomenon of work relationships (직장 관계, jikjang gwan-gye ) and their narrative transformation into romantic storylines within Korean media. First, it analyzes the socio-cultural realities of Korean office dynamics—including hoesik (company dinners), seniority culture, and the blurred boundaries between public and private life. Second, it explores how Korean dramas and films have codified the "office romance" (사내 연애, sanae yeon-ae ) genre, from the archetypal Secret Garden (2010) to the global phenomenon What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018) and the subversive Misaeng (2014). The paper argues that Korean romantic storylines set in workplaces do not merely borrow Western tropes; they serve as allegories for negotiating class, gender, and emotional labor within the country’s hyper-competitive corporate culture. www korea sex work
: National programs often focus on abstinence and traditional gender roles rather than comprehensive sexual health. Dating and Relationships "When you break up with a coworker, you