20 best movies like Countdown (2011)

Six years ago a mysterious shooting takes place in Seoul. The after effects of the shooting results in Han-kyu Lee (Song Kang-Ho) losing his job at the NIS (National Intelligence Service). Six years later, Ji-won Song (Kang Dong-Won), an ex North Korean spy. now operates somewhere in the Seoul metropolitan area. As these two men hide their identities and work their particular angles, trouble brews again ....

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.

The son of a North Korean spy decides to follow in his father's footsteps to protect his little sister. After his father’s botched espionage mission, North Korean Myung-hoon and his young sister Hye-in are sent to a labor prison camp. In order to save his sister’s life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and infiltrates the South as a teenage defector. While attending high school in the South, he meets another girl named Hye-in, and rescues her when she comes under attack. South Korean Intelligence soon discover Myung-hoon’s activities and begin tracking him, all the while his own government sends a vicious assassin to eliminate him.

Gang-cheol is a legendary street fighter in Busan, who cleaned up his act to care for his sick mother. Things are going well for him, and he's happy in a budding relationship with Su-ji, vacationing in the seaside town. As their relationship grows, Gang-cheol is dragged into the criminal underworld when he sees Busan gangsters Sang-gon and Hwi-gon re-staging the accidental death of a Yakuza mobster as an accident and an old friend, Jong-su, gives him up to the Busan gang. Knowing he's desperate for money for his mother's operation, Sang-gon proposes that Gang-cheol works for him. Gang-cheol refuses, but when Jong-su gives the deed to Gang-cheol's how to Sang-gon as collateral for a private loan, Gang-cheol is left with no choice, but to bite the bullet.

A Korean remake of the John Woo Classic. One brother is a criminal. One brother is a cop. Both will fight to the death.

Jae-Hyeok lives with his mother, his sister-in-law and nephew Min-Jae in a small Korean town. He is dating Yeon-Joo, while working at the local nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Pyung-Sub works at the same nuclear power plant. He is worried about conditions there, but nobody in the government listens to him. An earthquake strikes the small town where Jae-Hyeok lives and causes explosions at the nuclear power plant. The situation quickly spirals out of control, leading the entire nation to panic. To prevent another nuclear disaster, Jae-Hyeok and his co-workers return to the nuclear power plant.

On Christmas Eve at Tower Sky, an ultra-luxurious building complex, a White Christmas party is held to dazzle its equally high-end tenants and VIP guests. Dae-ho, the manager of the building and single father, is forced to cancel plans with his daughter Hana to work the event. His Christmas is saved when Yoon-hee, the food mall manager with a secret crush on Dae-ho, offers to babysit Hana during the party. Meanwhile, Young-ki the legendary fire chief of Yoido Station has finally promised his first holiday date night to his long suffering wife. The party is in full swing with the spectacular sight of two helicopters flying overhead just to spray snow on the partygoers and make everything perfect. When unthinkable disaster strikes, Dae-ho and Young-ki must summon all their strength and courage to save the lives of thousands but at what cost to themselves and their loved ones?

An American mother searches for her daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers in Central America.

In 1920, when Korea is under Japanese rule the Korean Independence Army’s Hae-chul and his subordinates are carrying out the operation to deliver funds to the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai. During the operation Hae-chul is reunited with Jang-ha, a young squad commander, whose mission is to defend Samdunja. They unite and trap the Japanese soldiers in Samdunja, soundly defeating them. Now they’re chased by Japanese troops and Hae-chul finds out that Jang-ha’s mission isn’t over yet. A crucial yet dangerous task is still assigned to him.

During the Japanese colonial era, roughly 400 Korean people, who were forced onto Battleship Island (‘Hashima Island’) to mine for coal, attempt to escape.

When an evil emperor executes their leader, his band of knights – bound by duty and honour – embarks on a journey of vengeance that will not come to an end until they've destroyed their mortal foe.

A young assassin is sent to kill a retired mob boss. But things get complicated when she begins to like him.

The region where the borders of North Korea, China, and Russia come together, forms a sort of modern day wild west, where more than half of the population relies on illegal activity in order to survive. In Yanbian, on the Chinese side of the border, Gu-nam wiles away his days driving a cab and spends his nights getting drunk and gambling. His wife went to Seoul to work and send back money, but it’s been months since he has heard from her. When local crime lord Myun offers to erase Gu-nam’s debts in exchange for a contract killing in Seoul, Gu-nam reluctantly accepts.

Tragedy, betrayal and a mysterious discovery fuel a woman's vengeance for the loss of her tribe and family in this special episode of "Kingdom."

Cho-In can control other people's minds when they are within his field of sight. Except one man.

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.

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

After he performs a dangerous dare-devil stunt at an air show, South Korean Air Force pilot Tae-hun is kicked out of the elite Black Eagles flying team and transferred to a combat unit where he immediately comes into conflict with ace pilot Cheol-hui. He makes friends with the other pilots in the unit and falls in love with the beautiful Se-young, who is in charge of maintenance, but his antics soon cause the entire unit to be suspended from duty. When a North Korean MIG fighter threatens, the group is called back into a gripping dogfight that leaves one comrade dead and another missing. Cheol-hui and Tae-hun join forces to rescue their missing friend and prevent a catastrophic war.

A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.

After his best friend dies in an unexpected accident, black market dealer Young-gyu decides to wash his hands off his illegal activities and start a new life with his girlfriend Yu-ri. But his dream stalls when he learns that Yu-ri needs money for her father's surgery. To help her out, Young-gyu decides to do the job one last time. His smuggling ring operates out of a boat that runs between Korea and China, picking victims from its voyager pool and harvesting their organs. Meanwhile, a married couple, Sang-ho and Chae-hee, boards Young-gyu's passenger boat heading to Weihai, China. That very evening, just when the boat enters international sea waters where countries' laws cannot be enforced, Chae-hee goes missing and all her pictures and belongings vanishes without a trace. Young-gyu finds Yu-ri on the same ship, and she claims to be the only witness to Chae-hee's disappearance.

Diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies in Somalia attempt a daring joint escape from Mogadishu when the outbreak of civil war leaves them stranded.

Korean War, September 1950. In order to fight the enemy forces based in the South of the peninsula, General MacArthur orders the start of the Incheon Landing Operation, deploying diversionary attacks in other locations. Without real military forces to spare, 772 very young Korean student soldiers, barely trained, are sent to Jangsari Beach, where they will face a heroic fate and discover the value of friendship. (A sequel to Operation Chromite, released in 2016.)

Professional baduk (go) player Tae-seok loses a high-stakes game to infamous underground gambler Sal-soo, and ends up framed for the murder of his own brother and locked up in prison. He vows revenge and trains ferociously. After serving his seven-year sentence, he gets in touch with his brother's former associate "Tricks," hermit and blind master player "The Lord," and skillful junkyard owner Mok-su; together, they begin formulating a plan to get back at Sal-soo and his men. Tae-seok slowly penetrates Sal-soo's inner circle and his gambling joint, and eliminates Sal-soo's men one by one. But Sal-soo discovers Tae-seok's true identity and engages him in one final game that will seal the fates of the two men involved.

Young master Cao Le chases his pregnant girlfriend away from the family castle. He does it in order to save her from vicious bandits who are going to murder his family.

The Moorim School isn't focused solely on high academic scores. The school teaches its students virtues including honesty, faith, sacrifice and communication. The teachers and students at the school come from different countries and each have their own stories.

A futuristic film about a crisis near the brink of war after three leaders are kidnapped by a North Korean nuclear submarine in a coup d’état during a summit between the two Koreas and the United States.

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.)

On a television show billed as “the greatest fight show on Earth,” eager amateurs with lots to prove boldly step into the ring and expect to leave bloody but victorious. The ratings hungry producers seek out “legendary” but largely forgotten streetfighters and mine their desperation for recaptured glory and redemption into ratings gold.

Jobless, besieged by creditors, and abandoned by his wife, the once silver medalist Tae-shik has sunk to street hustling, becoming a human punching bag. Meanwhile, young Sang-hwan's delinquent ways land him behind bars. Both men look to boxing to turn around lives gone astray, aiming for the amateur title, ultimately pitting them against each other, but more importantly, against themselves.