![\"Kim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/d01855b3aac1edd36ec458a8712624c24be3e45f2499dcb7a908e48cd357500d.webp\")
<\/p>\nSEOUL \u2013 Doctor X: Mafia In White is facing criticism over its medical accuracy, with viewers arguing that the medical K-drama\u2019s depiction of medical procedures is undermining the series\u2019 realism and disrupting immersion.<\/p>\n
It centres on Gye Soo-jung (Kim Ji-won), a brilliant yet maverick surgeon who challenges the corrupt power dynamics and political structures governing hospital administration.<\/p>\n
Its first two episodes aired on Oct 9 and 10 on SBS, securing nationwide viewership ratings of 11.4% and 14.9% respectively, according to data from Nielsen Korea. The premiere scored the highest rating among 2026\u2019s miniseries debuts.<\/p>\n
Despite its strong ratings, Doctor X has drawn fierce online criticism over alleged medical inaccuracies, including questions about the need for surgery after an inguinal hernia had already been successfully reduced.<\/p>\n
Other critics took aim at scenes depicting a surgeon making unilateral decisions during a multi-specialty operation, saying the drama ought to adhere to fundamental real-world medical protocols, particularly in its portrayals of emergency care.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, others pushed back against the criticism, arguing that fictional elements are inevitable in a dramatised portrayal of medicine.<\/p>\n
Addressing the controversy, Namgung In, an emergency medicine physician at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital who served as a medical consultant on the series, wrote on social media on Oct 11: \u201cIf you see something medically inaccurate, you can assume that the consultant and the production team disagreed, and the consultant lost the argument.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doctor X is a South Korean adaptation of the Japanese hit medical drama Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon, which ran for seven seasons from 2012 to 2021 before spawning a feature film in 2024.<\/p>\n
The original series starred Japanese actress Ryoko Yonekura as a maverick surgeon whose character serves as the basis for Gye, helping establish Yonekura as a household name in Japan.<\/p>\n
Doctor X: Mafia In White also marks the return of South Korean actress Kim (My Liberation Notes, 2022; Descendants Of The Sun, 2016) to television two years after the massive global success of Queen Of Tears (2024), the hit romantic drama in which she starred opposite Kim Soo-hyun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent some time wondering what kind of image I should show after taking a two-year break, and there was also a period when I was waiting for the right project. Then I received such a wonderful script that I decided to take it on,\u201d Kim Ji-won, 33, said during a press conference in Seoul on Oct 7 when asked about her choice of comeback material.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kim Ji-won in Doctor X: Mafia In White.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: SBSDRAMA.OFFICIAL\/INSTAGRAM<\/p>\n
She noted that she underwent a noticeable physical transformation to step into her new role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI changed my hairstyle to a bob to portray Gye Soo-jung. My previous project, Queen Of Tears, featured very glamorous fashion, so this time, I approached the character by trying to strip things down as much as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Industry buzz around Doctor X: Mafia In White had largely focused on how the Japanese source material would be localised for Korean audiences.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s director Lee Jung-rim said: \u201cThe backgrounds and systems are quite different, so we reinterpreted the story by keeping its basic framework and appealing elements while trying to bring out a distinctly Korean sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also highlighted that Doctor X: Mafia In White emphasises a dark, atmospheric tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show deals with power struggles within a hospital organisation, while also incorporating human drama and the cathartic appeal of a genius doctor character,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this series different is that we added noir to those elements.\u201d THE KOREA HERALD\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n
Doctor X: Mafia In White is available on Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 Doctor X: Mafia In White is facing criticism over its medical accuracy, with viewers arguing that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":928752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-928751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}