I could add Lee Da Hee's "Scarlett" (Search: WWW),Park Min Young's Chae Yeong Shin(Healer),Ha Ji Won's Kim Hang Ah( King2Hearts) & Ki Empress,Dal Li(Dal Li & Gamjatang),Choi Soo Young's Seo Dan Ah(Run On)that come now at the top of my mind

150% for Nobody Knows, such a gem of a drama. Kim Seo Hyung was such a badass. Also Cheon Song Yi will always be top ten favorite female protagonists, I still say sorry the way she does.

My favourite FLs always tend to be those who are competent at their job (SO tired of the damsels being rescued at work all the time) and can kick some serious ass. So Cha Young-jin from Nobody Knows is definitely up there on the list.

I'd probably add Han Yeo-jin from Stranger as well as Scarlet and her drama-loving heart from Search:WWW.

Hye-sung from I Can Hear your Voice. The drama is een oldie but the girl crush never fades. The haughty public defender who's secretly a life saviour to our puppy LJS. She can make you laugh out loud and cover your eyes from cringing so hard. With one of my favourite performances by LBY.

The girls of search www were pretty cool as well. My favourite was Cha Hyeon ( Played by Lee Da hee) . She was a total badass.

ro-seo from moonshine. she was one of my favorite bad ass FL. she didnt need the useless men in her life to get stuff done.

Mr. Sunshine’s Go Ae-shin AND Kudo Hina (Kim Min-jung) kicked ass and could take care of themselves.

I have a soft spot for FLs who are hot messes, drama queens, and/or extremely competent and ruthless. So that's the FLs for Kim Samsoon, Vincenzo, Hyena, and Stranger. Give me salt, pepper, and vinegar instead of sugar!

Girl crush, that's my kind of list! ^^ Thanks to the kind soul who suggested this

I still haven't finished watching it, but my pick would be jang nara from sell your haunted house. She's brave, intelligent, intuitive and a kickass fighter. On top of that she's so stylish. A total badass.
Probably this will be a reminder for me to finish the show 😅

Cha Young Jin is an ideal girl crush for me. She is brave and independent, yet selfless and compassionate toward others. The way she is being a sister also mother figure for Eun Ho is so inspiring and admireable.

Kim Seo-young's Cha Young-jin in Nobody Knows, Ha Ji-won's Empress Ki, Park Min-young in Queen for Seven days( She held her head high even when everything came crashing down), Go Hyun Jung's Mishil in Queen Seondeok(Her wits is to die for) and Kang Hanna's Won In-jae in Start-Up( She's good at her game).

Ha Moon Soo Just Between Lovers

Han Yeo Jin Forest of Secrets

Cha Young Jin Nobody Knows

Sung Deok Im The Red Sleeve Cuff

Kim Mi So What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?

I made this big long list of female leads I loved... and then I actually found it very easy to pick out the ones I totally crush on and wish I could be just like them. Below there's also a list of other female leads I loved (some of whom held perfomances that were truly outstanding), but for one reason or another I just didn't want to *be* them or feel I could totally look up to and crush on them like I did the ones on the final list.

My Love From Another Star - Female Lead
Hometown - Female Lead and younger sister lead
When the Camellia Blooms (and any female lead by Gong Hyo Jin)

Cha Young-jin from Nobody Knows, whether she is played by Kim Seo-hyung or Kim Sae-ron. The adult Young-jin is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time, but the way teen Young-jin reacted to sudden terrible adversity is absolutely breath-taking too. That phone conversation with the killer in the first episode shows exactly what she is made of.

Ma Yi-deum from Witch's Court is not as conventionally likeable, but I adore her free-wheeling amorality, the way her mind constantly bubbles over with dodgy schemes, and her utterly single-minded search for her mother. IMO viewers might have found her behaviour and actions more tolerable, even endearing, had she been a male character. So kudos to writer Jung Do-yoon for having the audacity to plop someone like Ma Yi-deum in the midst of all the "good women" in K-drama.

I have my own top 5 kdrama heroines:
The confident and dreamer Choi Aera from Fight My Way.
The fierce leader of cold case squad Cha Soohyun from Signal.
The smart and charismatic Jamie from Liar Game.
The sweetheart Yoon Nayoung from Life on Mars.
The ahjumma i (secretly) aspire to be, Jo Minja from Healer

My girl crushes :

- Eun Dan-Oh in Extraordinary You : She rejected the tropes that her writer decided for her as her one sided love and terminal illness and chose her own love and lived.

- Hong Ji-A in Sell Your Haunted House : She was a badass heroine! She could fight, ate a lot, had style, was good at her job, owned her house.

- Lee Hwi in The King's Affection : She was a King! But overall, she had to survive with the decisions people took for her and step by step reclaimed her own life.

Na-Ri in Jealousy Incarnate : What other character has ever dared to live with the 2 male leads to know which one she was in love with.

Two from Age of Youth - Song Ji-won (Park Eun-bin) & Yoon Jin-myung (Han Ye-ri)
Into the Ring - Goo Se-ra (Nana)
25-21 - Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri), except the adult version

What great picks from everyone! My addition would be Se Jeong fr Uncanny Counter and Kim Min Jung in My Fellow Citizens - she was a fantastic villain.

I think I have a girl crush with a drama whonpresent complex character and the actor bring the character to life perfectly.

Park Se Wan in Just dance as Kim Si Eun. her character is so real though outside but vulnerable inside. her strugglebis very relatable for me.

IU in My Ajusshi as Ji An. Potraying a girl going through so much hardship facing the cruel world, but get a warm feeling from her Ajusshi is my second fav.

The newest is Le Se Young as Seol Deok Im in the Red sleeved, I love the way she potray her character, so spot on potraying the fear of loneliness in The palace and feeling as a court lady.

Ko Mun Yeong(IONTBO) will always be iconic for me, her crazy fashion sense, her vulnerabilty behing her cold and somewhat rude behavior , her not being affraid of anything while being affraid to her core made her special to me. Can't wait to see Seo Ye Ji back on screen....Jang Man Wol (Hotel del Luna): strong, bold, fierce ,can kick ass yet vulnerable, crazy ass outfits and as real as it gets. Scarlett(Search WWW), i am still obsessed with her to this day. Cha Young (Vincenzo): quirky, resourceful, crazy AF : chef's kiss.
Honourable Mention: Sobong(Bong Hwan in So Yong's body) (Mr QUEEN), The ultimate they/them such an iconic character, it's a shame the ending destroyed my will to ever watch it again. I think it's become quite clear , i love my FL competent, smart, bold , crazy and badass while staying true to themselves and vulnerable if needs be. The dumb/clumsy FL who needs a man to save her trope just doesn't cut it for me.

Han YeoJin (Bae Donna) from Secret Forest
Yoon NaYoung (Go Ah-Sung) from Life on Mars
Han Saewoo (Chae SooBin) from A Piece of Your Mind

My favorites 💖

For me it’s Park So-dam in almost any role she plays. Cinderella and the Four Knights is not a good show but I’ve watched it more than once because I love how PSD plays the lead. Also, in Because It’s the First Time I felt the same way about her character: she's so cool! (I mean the choice between Choi Minho and Kim Min-jae is enviable too). ...Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I’m crushing on her in these two shows because her main conflict in both is choosing between multiple good-looking men! 🤯

Kim Seo-hyung was fantastic in Nobody Knows. I highly recommend this drama.

Where did you leave Lee Ji eun's Ji an in My Ajusshi????????
Come on! She is awesome. Freeking AWESOME.

So many endearing, girl-crushworthy characters out there.

Scarlett is definitely at the top of the list. Tough on the outside (and not just demeanor- she can totally put you in the hospital!), but warm on the inside

I also loved Jang Man-wol. She could fight and avenge when needed. And I loved her attitude and clothes. I think this was the first time I saw a heroine who loves to own sports cars and owns multiple. Usually, it's the filthy rich CEO guy. And her hotel was lovely and felt family-friendly. I hated the hotel's next incarnation. Eff that.

Rookie Historian Gu Hae-ryoung. The quiet, but steely heroine, Gu Hae-ryoung who sticks to her principles and the principles of being a historian.

I'm super late, but I'm watching Fight for my Way so I was thinking of mentioning Ae Ra, but I just realized no one mentioned uri Sae Beom (Happiness).
She was one of my favorite FLs of 2021.

I would also like to mention:

Ji Won (Flower of Evil)
Yeon Joo (One the Woman)
Moon Young (IOTNBO)
All the girls from The Fiery Priest
And all the girls from Be Melodramatic.
Also Yumi (and her cells).

The first thing I said before even opening this was "If Cheong Song Yi is not here, then what is the point?" And she was the first name I saw. Yaaaay

Cheong Song Yi was amazing and 8 years after watching her, I am still in love with her. She did not need to be a different person or conventionally smart to make me fall head over heels.

She was ignorant, she was clumsy, she was proud but she was also loving to her loved ones and so beautiful, I had to fall.