Korean films about the dictatorship

In the 1970s, Korea is under the absolute control of the President Park who controls the KCIA, the organization with an edge over any branch of government. The director of KCIA, KIM Gyu-pyeong, is the seemingly most prospective second-in-command. In the midst of reign of fear, a former KCIA director, PARK Yong-gak who knows all about the government’s obscure operations, exiles to the U.S. where the investigation of ‘Koreagate’ is underway. As the tension escalates, the stifling political maneuvering by the all second-in-command’s unfolds.

South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing with the assignment of infiltrating a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about the North Korean nuclear program.

Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok’s eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger…

Busan, South Korea, 1970s. Lee Doo-sam is a small-time smuggler. After helping a drug gang to smuggle meth, he falls into the dark crime world. Quick-witted and full of ambition, he eventually takes over the drug underworld and starts to lead a double life: a good community leader during the day but an infamous drug lord during the night.

May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.

A group of people meet for the first time in a long time and play a game that reveals each other's secrets.

Seo-joon, loses everything to voice phishing and infiltrates a organization in China to meet Kwak Pro, the designer behind this phishing system.

An internet broadcaster recruits a handful of people for their 'experience the horror' show at Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, a place selected as one of the '7 freakiest places on the planet'. They are to explore the haunted asylum and stream it live on their online show.

A story of the Jangsan Tiger, who mimics human voices to lure them close, and a family affected by the creature.

Born in a poor family, Tae-su learns that the power is the most important thing in life and decides to become a prosecutor, the biggest symbol of power in the 90’s. After entering the most prestigious law school, experiencing democratic resistance in Korea, Tae-su finally reaches his goal of becoming a prosecutor but his life is no better than a salary man. By chance, he joins a clique of the powerful prosecutors with wealth and authority. He finally gets a taste of a life of the top hierarchy, but as he enjoys the sweetness of supremacy, he also sees the cruel side of it.

A three-tiered story centered on a trio of French tourists visiting the same seaside resort.

Record-shattering Korean girl band BLACKPINK tell their story — and detail the hard fought journey of the dreams and trials behind their meteoric rise.

A young girl is kidnapped by a serial killer. The serial killer uses manholes to kidnap and kill his victims. The young girl's older sister tries to save her before it's too late.

In this true story from 2002, South Korean patrol boats engaged in a deadly battle with North Korean patrol boats who crossed the maritime border known the Northern Limit Line and attacked.

When Hye-Jung was young, her life was difficult. She was good at fighting, but also studied well. Overcoming her tough situation, she is now a doctor.

Having died unexpectedly, firefighter Ja-hong is taken to the afterlife by 3 afterlife guardians. Only when he passes 7 trials over 49 days and proves he was innocent in human life, he’s able to reincarnate, and his 3 afterlife guardians are by his side to defend him in trial.

A contract killer becomes disenchanted with his line of work and spares the lives of his two latest would-be-victims. But the assassination company he works for has no intentions of letting him quit.

Na-mi, a transfer student, becomes a laughingstock on her first day of school because of her strong southern dialect. Six girls jump in to help the new kid adapt to the new environment, and the girls come to call their circle of friends "Sunny."

Seo-jin is a widower still grieving his wife’s death. Then he receives the news that her long-lost younger sister, Yoo-jin, who went missing 25 years ago, has turned up. Unlike the rest of his family, who welcome her into their arms, Seo-jin feels that Yoo-jin is a stranger.

Ma Seok-do works as a detective squad chief. His team struggles to bust a criminal ring who originally came from Yanbian, China and led by Jang Chen.

Jong-Woo (played by Sin Ha-gyoon) is a poor, beleagured taxi driver with a bad attitude, understandable given the kind of clients he has to deal with. So when one night, a polite, well-dressed man offers an outrageous sum of money to rent the taxi for an extended period, Jong Woo doesn't ask any questions, though he does make rather cheerful and inappropriate conversation with his uninterested charge. It's difficult to blame Jong-Woo for this, given that it takes him some time to realize that he is not the protagonist of a low-brow comedy, but of an action-packed thriller.

Taysan, a young homeless man in dust-riddled Seoul, begins a series of illustrations over dusty surfaces. Through his Dust Art, Taysan starts the process of recovery from the pains of his past.

The film is based on a true yet unsolved murder case from the early 1990s that is known among Koreans as the "disappearance of the frog children." In 1991, five elementary school students told their parents that they were going to hang out on a nearby mountain to catch frogs, and then they go missing.

A kidnapper disappeared 15 years ago without a trace. Five days before the case's statute of limitations expires, someone anonymously leaves a flower at the crime scene. A few days later, another kidnapping takes place using the same method on a similar target.

A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.

When an illicit arms deal goes bad, North Korean spy Pyo Jong-seong finds himself targeted not just by the South Koreans but also his own bosses.

The door of time opens between the swordsman who wants to seize the legendary divine sword at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and those who chase after an alien prisoner imprisoned in a human body in 2022.

A comedy romance movie about the last generation of youths and their passionate romance based in Hongseong, Chungcheong Namdo in the 1980s.

Thrown straight into a dangerous mission with none of his memories intact, a man must escape death while trying to figure out who he is, how he ended up here, and who is the mysterious voice in his ear calling him "Carter"?

Faced with real-world opportunities and challenges, a couple endures the highs and lows of trying to make a long-distance relationship survive.

After a traumatic event, a drug trafficker turns sides and conspires with a dangerously ambitious undercover police officer to bring down the mysterious kingpin of a major drug cartel. (Remake of the Chinese film “Drug War,” 2012.)

Dae-ho, an investigative journalist, seeks to track down the whereabouts of his son who was abducted three years ago. With the help of a detective and a psychiatrist friend, he will retrace his memory of the incident through the use of lucid dreaming techniques.

In response to a sudden dismissal of staff, workers at a big retail store begin a protest against their employer's oppressive labor policies.

As a grisly virus rampages a city, a lone man stays locked inside his apartment, digitally cut off from seeking help and desperate to find a way out.

In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.

A man receives a wedding invitation from his first love who he met in high school.

Whatever she does, Eunhee feels like an outsider. Then her new Chinese teacher turns out to be so utterly different from everybody else. A compassionate and meticulously told narrative of a seemingly regular summer that leaves nothing unchanged.

When an old collaborator gets severely injured, a veteran policeman tries to figure out the way to bring to justice the ultimately suspected aggressor, a spoiled young executive, heir to a mega corporation, who believes he is above the law.

Stagnant since 1903, at an elevation of 9000', a volcano erupts on the mythical and majestic Baekdu Mountain.

A story about a mentally ill man wrongfully accused of murder and his relationship with his lovingly adorable 6 year old daughter.

A soldier and his team battle hordes of post-apocalyptic zombies in the wastelands of the Korean Peninsula.

Stuntman Cha Dal-geon gets involved in a tragic airplane crash and ends up discovering a national corruption scandal in the process. Go Hae-ri, the oldest daughter of a deceased marine, decides to work for the National Intelligence Service as a secret ops agent in order to support her mom and younger siblings, although all she wanted to do is to become a civil servant.

A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.

Choi Jong-goo used to be a popular troubleshooter. He is now a bully who lives in a market where merchants turn their backs on him. Jong-goo lives on alcohol and is very violent. His daughter uses bad language and violence against people around her. There are sexual violence cases involving minors around him and his daughter is also involved in the case. Jong-goo is accused of a crime. They're looking for a criminal who sexually assaulted his daughter. At this time, Soo-jin, a woman who lives in pain appears. The veiled Soo-jin is always an angel who does good things and protects children. And she feels unbearable anger towards those who do evil around her. How will Jong-goo and Soo-jin will solve this series of events?

The story of Joseon's tyrant king Yeonsan who exploits the populace for his own carnal pleasures, his seemingly loyal retainer who controls him and all court dealings, and a woman who seeks vengeance.

In 2029, the elite police squad Illang combats a terrorist group opposing reunification of the two Koreas. But another enemy may be lurking nearby.

A former intelligence agent gets involved with the first human clone, Seo Bok, who others seek, causing trouble.

Based on the series by the popular Japanese novelist Keigo Higashino, this is a mystery drama that 'faithfully but freely' adapts the 3rd part in the series, . The story revolves around 3 characters: a woman who unwittingly killed her husband, a math genius next door who sets up a perfect alibi for her out of his attraction toward her, and a detective who closely traces her, finding the alibi suspicious.

Jang-bu was an ordinary boy except his special talent; To see every moving thing like a slow motion video. As friends teased him by calling ‘monster eyes’, he decided to stick at home and not to go out. Television has been his only friend. Time passes by, and now grown-up Jang-bu works at the CCTV control center which is the best job for him. When he sees people’s life through camera, he feels he’s sharing their ordinary life that he’s never had. This new job opens his heart to the world and Jang-bu starts to make some friends out of the control center. With his dear friends he receives sense of himself and finally decides to propose a girl that he loved for long from CCTV…

Seong-cheol is a high school student who grew up neglected. In order to make money in a harsh society that abandoned him, he teamed up with Gi-joon, who is two years younger than him, to use his status as a minor to make money and seek a big blow. A father who left home, a sick brother and a mother whose cares for him. Seong-cheol, who was abandoned in hellish reality, starts a desperate survival in his own way.