Designated Survivor: 60 Days is a 2019 Korean Drama and an adaptation/remake of the ABC/Netflix show Designated Survivor. It has been streamed online by Netflix with appropriate regional subtitles.
When Mu-jin Park, the Minister of Environment accidentally causes trouble during a diplomatic exchange, Park is fired from the cabinet. A few hours later, while he's out with his family, the National Assembly building explodes; killing President Yang, his cabinet and the entirety of the National Assembly.
Park, whose termination hadn't gone through yet, is the only one left and is sworn in as Acting President for 60 days. Already desiring little in the political sphere yet thrown back in, Mu-jin must now rebuild the Korean government as well as discover the truth behind the bombing.
The show provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Context Change: Obviously, being set in Korea, this adaptation changes things that don't have a direct equivalent in American politics, or are more relevant in Korean matters of state, such as Oh being made Minister of Defense instead of Vice President, seeing as South Korea doesn't have Vice Presidents, or the people being targeted being Northern refugees instead of Muslims.
- In the third season of the original show, one of the issues dealt with was Kirkman promising his transgender sister-in-law to promote trans rights and failing. Instead, Mu-jin promises to legalize gay marriage in South Korea. He makes the promise to a lesbian actress he is not related to.
- Adaptational Name Change: Obviously all the characters have Korean names in this adaptation. Played With with Hannah Wells's mirror character, whose name is Han Na-kyung.
- Adaptational Wimp: Compared to Tom Kirkman, Mu-jin has it a bit worse; Tom lost his job because he refused to play the political game, but Mu-jin lost the job because a diplomatic exchange with America went wrong; said exchange going south was more or less solely Mu-jin's fault.
- Ascended Extra: Sort of. In the original, the president is an entirely posthumous character, whose only real appearance is the few seconds we see on the TV before the attack. While still mostly posthumous, President Yang is considerably more fleshed out, with him personally firing Mu-jin (Kirkman was dismissed by the Chief of Staff on the president's instruction), and appearing in multiple flashbacks.
- Batman Gambit: Episode 1: Mu-jin knows the American delegation won't give them what they want in negotiations, so brings polution samples to the meeting and has an "accident", knowing it'll go viral.
- Book Ends: The series begins with Park getting fired from his post in the Blue House and becoming substitute President later that day, and ends with his associates quitting their new jobs because working for him has raised their standards, and asking him to run for President with them as staff.
- Character Tic: Whenever Park Mu-jin gets stressed or nervous, he twists his feet, due to his dress shoes being too small for him.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Myung Hae-Joon, realizing he's been poisoned, writes the words Tae Ki on the concrete wall of the interrogation room, in blood he scraped out of his own hand.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: The death of Jason Attwood's son was a case of You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, but Jae-min's death was clearly an accident.
- Domestic Abuse: Choi Kang-yeon and her son Si-wan were not treated well by the boy's biological father.
- Eagleland: General Brown, the commander of United States Forces Korea, is a Type 3; while he's very gung-ho about attacking North Korea, and can be abrasive at times, he's fully willing to listen to reason, and no one can really blame him for how he feels (North Korea being the initial primary suspect in the attack).
- Fatal Family Photo: Subverted. Much like the original, when Major Jang tells Acting President Park that Sergeant Lee's wife is about to give birth and that Sergeant Jo is newlywed, you think they're doomed. But the one who ends up dying is Major Jang.
- Ironic Echo: Han Na-gyeong tells Seo Ji-won that "an Agent's devotion is not a virtue, but a duty". He later says it back to her when she feels guilty about her refusal to back down having resulted in her boss being framed for murder and her friend losing his job.
- Seo adds that it's such a cliché it should be carved in stone. A couple scenes later, Oh tells Kim that people shouldn't carve their proverbs about quiet devotion into stone when they can't live up to it.
- Ironic Name: Park Chung-Hee was a Korean dictator. Park Mu-Jin is possibly the most conscientious politician ever.
- Related in the Adaptation: Inverted. Rather than going the route of having Si-wan, Leo's equivalent, be President Park's biological son who just happened to be conceived right after the First Lady's break-up with her ex, Choi had a son with her ex-husband and lived as a single mother when they met.
- Shout-Out: Si-wan tells his little sister that she won't become Elsa by watching Frozen every day, and that she looks more like Olaf anyway.
- Time Title: It's about the Minister of Environment Park Mujin who has to sit as Acting President for 60 days after a devastating attack on the National Assembly.
