"퓨전 사극 and 정통 사극" - 퓨전 사극 (Fusion Period Drama): a period drama with a lot of fiction and elements of modern sensitivities mixed in to make it more interesting. Popularized after 2000 in Korea (대장금, 태왕사신기, 추노). 대장금 for example was based on an obscure character with not much records surviving (just a passing line or two in a historical tract). It was fiction in large part, and showed a good deal of the palace cuisine for novelty rather than just following a story based on historical facts. - 정통 사극 (Straight Period Drama): traditional, more authentic period drama concentrating on realistic depiction of the characters, stories and the time trying to be faithful to historical facts. Most Korean period dramas before 2000 were of this kind (용의 눈물, 태조 왕건, 불멸의 이순신). The trouble with 정통 사극 is that they have been making them for so long (five decades) it is becoming too hard to dig up a fresh new story, no matter how rich the history. So it was kind of inevitable for 정통 사극 to see a relative decline since most interesting figures and events have already been dramatized, even multiple times in many cases.