A star-studded cast including Jun Ji-hyun (My Love from the Star), Gang Dong-won (Uprising) and Hollywood actor John Cho (Cowboy Bebop) headlines Disney+’s new K-drama series Tempest, a globe-trotting political thriller that sees the Han peninsula teetering on the brink of nuclear war.

Written by Chung Seo-kyung (Little Women) and directed by Kim Hee-won (Vincenzo), Tempest dropped its first three episodes on Disney+ this week. It is South Korea’s latest attempt to capture a worldwide audience, not as a foreign-language curio, but as a genuine cross-border phenomenon.

Jun, also known as Gianna Jun, takes the lead as Seo Mun-ju, a former UN ambassador who returns to Korea to take her place alongside her estranged husband Jang Jun-ik (Park Hae-joon) as he makes a bid for the presidency.

Read my South China Morning Post review