Can’t wait for My Name is Loh Kiwan? The 10 best North Korea-themed films made in South Korea, from Joint Security Area to The Spy Gone North and 6/45
- Since South Korea’s first action blockbuster, Shiri, hit screens in 1999, a wave of dramas focused on North Korea have seen box office success
- From Joint Security Area, directed by Park Chan-wook in 2000, to 2022’s comedy 6/45, here are our top 10 South Korean films about North Korea
The 1999 film was the highest-grossing South Korean film of its time, an achievement that would go on to be eclipsed by three other North Korea-themed films, all of which are among those listed below.
10. 6/45 (2022)
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic there have been precious few Korean box office hits. Perhaps the most surprising film to break that trend was the DMZ comedy 6/45.
Heavily inspired by another famous film set around the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea, and also on this list, the film features Go Kyung-pyo and Lee Yi-kyung as South and North Korean soldiers stationed along the DMZ.
They become involved in a tricky situation when a winning lottery ticket accidentally winds up on the wrong side of the fence.
9. Silmido (2003)
Based on the true story of Unit 684, Silmido focuses on a South Korean operation in the 1960s to train a group of outcasts to infiltrate North Korea and assassinate its president, Kim Il-sung. The plot was retaliation for a failed North Korean assassination attempt on South Korean president Park Chung-hee.
After three years of training on Silmido, an island near Incheon in the northwest of South Korea, the operation was cancelled and the surviving members of the civilian unit mutinied.
Starring Sul Kyung-gu, the film was a massive hit and became the highest grossing Korean film at the time of its release.
8. Steel Rain 2: Summit (2020)
Jung plays the South Korean president, while Kwak is the North Korean commander who stages a coup and holds him and the US president (played by Angus Macfadyen) hostage aboard a nuclear submarine.
The geopolitical background and the claustrophobic locations are tense, while the interplay between the characters is surprisingly amusing in this far superior stand-alone sequel.
7. Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
This iconic Korean war film features Won Bin and Jang Dong-gun as brothers who become separated when war breaks out on the peninsula and later wind up as soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict.
With harrowing, large-scale war scenes and a unique and emotional family bond at its core, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War overtook Silmido, released just a few months earlier, to become the most successful South Korean film of all time when it was released during the Lunar New Year season IN 2004.
6. Secret Reunion (2010)
Years later, Han-gyu crosses paths with Ji-won (played by Gang Dong-won), the sleeper North Korean agent responsible for the assassination, who is now pursued by both Koreas.
The pair forge an unusual alliance when Han-gyu asks Ji-won to assist him in his work as a private investigator in a bromance which mixes complex ideas with tender drama and tense action scenes.
5. The Journals of Musan (2010)
Park does double duty, as he also portrays the protagonist, a man who struggles to find employment thanks to an ID number that outs him as a defector. He faces constant prejudice and humiliation.
Although not the first Korean defector drama, this powerful and clear-sighted tale ushered in a wave of similar films that continue to pop up on the art-house circuit.
4. The Spy Gone North (2018)
In the film, Hwang Jung-min plays a South Korean agent posing as a businessman in the 1990s, interested in working with North Korea, who is secretly trying to gain access to sensitive nuclear weapons plans.
Whereas Korean spy tales are usually filled with guns and action, this one is more interested in pens and smoke-filled rooms – and is all the better for it.
3. Swing Kids (2018)
Despite the chaos around him, Doh’s character becomes consumed with tap dancing when he joins a group being trained by a former Broadway star.
Colourful, lively and extremely rhythmic, Swing Kids is one of the most infectious South Korean films of the past decade.
2. Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005)
During the Korean war, two small groups of North and South Korean soldiers, as well as an American air force pilot, find themselves coming face to face in Dongmakgol, a sleepy village in the mountains oblivious to the conflict consuming the peninsula.
1. Joint Security Area (2000)
In the demilitarised zone, patrolling soldiers from both sides of the fence strike up a dangerous friendship that sets up a political catastrophe after they become involved in an unfortunate incident.
Starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun and Lee Young-ae, this gripping drama was the highest-grossing South Korean film of its day and was instrumental in ushering in a new era of Korean cinema.
My Name is Loh Kiwan will start streaming on Netflix on March 1.
