23 titles, most popular first
When two North Korean soldiers are shot dead at a guard post inside the Joint Security Area, wounded South Korean sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok escapes back across the border. To calm rising tensions, Swiss Army Major Sophie E. Jean is sent by a neutral commission to investigate, and she soon notices that the stories from both sides do not add up.
In 1980, Kim Man-seob is a widowed taxi driver in Seoul, raising his child alone and buried in debt. When he overhears another driver boasting about a well-paid fare to Gwangju, he grabs the job for himself. His passenger is Peter, a German journalist hoping to report on the growing unrest there, which Man-seob knows nothing about.
In 1970s South Korea, President Park rules with total power through the KCIA. Its director, Kim Gyu-pyeong, is almost the second most powerful man in the country but faces a fierce rival in the president's security chief. When former director Park Yong-gak flees abroad and testifies before the U.S. Congress, pressure inside the government starts to build.
After President Park Chung-hee is assassinated in October 1979, martial law is declared and Major General Chun Doo-gwang is put in charge of the investigation. As he quietly gathers power, the principled Major General Lee Tae-shin is reluctantly appointed to command the capital's defense, setting the two men on a collision course.
Under President Chun Doo-hwan's military regime, student activist Park Jong-chul dies while being questioned by police. Commissioner Park Cheo-won moves to hide what happened by having the body cremated before any autopsy, but a stubborn prosecutor refuses to sign off. The film is based on real events.
In 1970, a band of young Japanese radicals hijacks a passenger plane and demands to be flown to Pyongyang. Seeing a chance to win favor abroad, the head of South Korea's intelligence agency hands the rescue to a shadowy fixer known only as Nobody, who dreams up a bold scheme to land the plane in Seoul instead.
In 2010, with a presidential election looming, a driven prosecutor named Woo Jang-hoon is ordered to investigate the hidden slush fund of front-running candidate Jang Pil-woo. Gangster Ahn Sang-goo, meanwhile, grabs the key evidence for Lee Kang-hee, an influential newspaper editor he trusts, only to be betrayed and maimed, leaving him set on revenge.
In 1978, Song, a former judge who passed the bar without going to university, moves to Busan to open his own law firm. Looked down on by other lawyers, he grows rich by taking the real estate and tax cases they avoid. By 1981 he is enjoying his success, until the son of the woman who runs his favorite restaurant goes missing.
In 1990, civil war tears through Somalia as rebels rise against the Barre government. The North and South Korean embassies are each courting Somali support in their bids to join the United Nations. While South Korean ambassador Han Sin-seong confronts his northern rival Rim Yong-su over a sabotaged meeting, rebel forces storm the capital. The film is based on real events.
In the 1980s, under military rule, intelligence agents Park Pyong-ho and Kim Jung-do lead rival foreign and domestic units. After an assassination attempt in Washington goes badly, they learn that a North Korean mole called Donglim is hiding inside their agency, and the two begin hunting the spy while growing suspicious of each other.
Nae-gyeong is the most gifted face reader in Joseon, able to judge a person's character from their features, but he lives far from the world. When a gisaeng named Yeon-hong offers him a profitable deal reading her guests' faces, he is pulled into a murder case, and his talent soon draws the attention of the royal court.
In 2029, as North and South Korea prepare to reunify, unrest spreads and a terror group called the Sect rises against the plan. Special Unit officer Lim Joong-kyung is shaken after a young terrorist dies in front of him to avoid capture, and he befriends Lee Yun-hee, who says she is that girl's sister.
In North Korea, agent Eom Chul-woo is ordered to kill powerful officials to head off a coup. When missiles strike Kaesong during an event attended by the supreme leader, Eom flees across the border into the South with the badly wounded leader. In Seoul, senior presidential secretary Kwak Chul-woo learns that a coup may be brewing in the North.
In 1992, South Korean intelligence recruits Major Park Seok-young to learn the truth about North Korea's nuclear program. Posing as a debt-ridden ex-soldier turned businessman, he sets up in Beijing looking to trade North Korean goods, hoping to win the trust of Ri Myung-woon, a senior North Korean economic official.
In the Joseon era, the suspicious and fearful King Gwanghae orders his official Heo Gyun to find a double who can stand in for him against assassins. Heo Gyun finds Ha-sun, a humble acrobat and jester who looks just like the king, and when the king is suddenly incapacitated, Ha-sun must take his place on the throne.
Overthrown by his uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, the teenage king of Joseon is stripped of his title, renamed Prince Nosan and sent into exile. Eom Heung-do, chief of a poor mountain village in Yeongwol, hopes that hosting an exiled nobleman will bring his people good fortune, and his village is chosen to receive Nosan, who arrives with his loyal maid Mae-hwa.
In 1923 Tokyo, Park Yeol leads a small anarchist group of Korean and Japanese members resisting Japan's mistreatment of Koreans, with his sharp, good-humored partner Fumiko at his side. When the Kanto Earthquake devastates the city and violence turns against Koreans, the Japanese government sets its sights on Yeol and his group.
Homicide detective Han Do-kyung takes money to handle dirty work behind the scenes for corrupt mayor Park Sung-bae, needing cash for his wife's hospital bills. When prosecutors Kim Cha-in and Do Chang-hak find his weak spot, they force him to help them build a case against the mayor, leaving him trapped between both sides.
In 1896, after his queen is killed and his throne is under threat, Joseon's King Gojong shelters at the Russian legation, where he discovers a taste for coffee. Back in power, he hires the worldly Tanya as his personal barista. Tanya soon finds herself pulled into a dangerous circle that includes the Russian marksman Ilyich and a mysterious socialite who goes by two names.
A congresswoman running for her fourth term suddenly finds herself unable to tell a lie, just days before the election. The trouble is that her entire political career has been built on lies, and now nothing but the truth comes out of her mouth.
Byun Jong-gu, Seoul's energetic, hands-on mayor, says he loves nothing but his city, but he is really a shrewd political operator who carefully guards his image. With election strategist Shim Hyuk-soo and bold young ad expert Park Kyung, he runs for an unheard-of third term as a stepping stone to the presidency.
In 1997, as Korea slides toward a financial crisis, three stories unfold side by side. Factory owner Gap-su is paid with a risky promissory note by a department store; young analyst Jung-hak sets up a fund to bet against the economy; and central bank official Si-hyun warns that the country will run out of foreign reserves within a week.
In the early days of the Joseon dynasty, General Kim Min-jae guards the young kingdom's borders and keeps a wary eye on Prince Yi Bang-won, whom he suspects of wanting the throne. Kim's son Jin, married to the King's daughter, is shut out of politics and lives for pleasure, while the general falls in love for the first time with a gisaeng named Ka-hee.
