Shiri
Pearl, 9.30pm
This Korean box-office hit opens in 1992, at a North Korean training camp for assassins where one female soldier proves herself to be a superior killing machine. The story then shifts forward in time to South Korean intelligence agents Ryu (Han Suk-kyu) and Lee (Song Kang-ho) and their investigation of Hee (Kim Yun-jin, above with Han), an enigmatic and elusive female sniper and terrorist who has resurfaced in the South after a two-year absence. Ryu and Lee discover Hee is working with North Korean commando leader Park (Choi Min-sik), planning to hijack a liquid explosive named CTX that is indistinguishable from water. Hee and her cohorts seem to be constantly one step ahead of Ryu and Lee, making them suspect a security leak in the intelligence service, undermining their relationship and making each suspect the other of being a double agent. Shiri is the codename of the North Korean operation, but also the name of a freshwater fish living only in the crystal-clear, unpolluted waters of the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas and represents the struggle for reunification. (1999)
