Best South Korean history movies

Northern Limit Line (2015)

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 Battle: Roar to Victory (2019)

Over a 4 day period, a fierce battle takes place between Korean independence militias and imperialist Japanese forces in Manchuria, China. The militia includes a master swordsman and an expert marksman.

The Long Way Home (2015)

Nam-bok, a middle-aged South Korean farmer is conscripted and assigned a mission to deliver a classified military document that may decide the fate of the war. After losing it while under attack from the enemy, he then faces a teenage North Korean soldier named Yeong-gwang who happens to acquire the secret document on his way to the North.

Harbin (2024)

In 1909, several years after Korea is forced into becoming a Japanese colony, freedom fighters plot the daring assassination of Japan's prime minister during their quest for independence.

The Last Comfort Women (2015)

This film tells the story of three young women from South Korea, Japan, and China who were ravaged after becoming comfort women in the Japanese army.

Battlefield Heroes (2011)

This story unfolds 8 years after 'Battle of Hwangsanbeol', which destroyed Baekjae, when Silla-Tang Dynasty union attacks Goguryeo.

Jiseul (2013)

The populace of a South Korean island rebels against police brutality. The protesters are labeled as communists, and the army is dispatched.

Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (2003)

Set in the 7th century AD during the Korean peninsula's division into three perpetually warring kingdoms, Once Upon A Time In A Battlefield focuses on the Shilla's king Kim Choon-chu efforts to conquer his rivals: Koguryo and Baekche. To achieve this goal, he allies with mainland China's Tang empire, the superpower of the era, and together the two polities plan to attack first the weakest Baekche at its main fortress of Hwangsanbul, guarding the only easy access to the mountainous interior. But the fortress commander General Kye Baek (Park Joong-hoon) will be resisting to the end...This comedy relays on clash between ancient time and modern language combined with irony and distance to the war.

North Korean Partisan in South Korea (1990)

Reporter for a North Korean news service joins the partisans when the Americans and UN forces invade South Korea.

Inchon (1981)

Gen. Douglas MacArthur leads a Korean War campaign, and the war tests a married couple's relationship.

The Country Left Behind (1962)

Before the Korean War (1950-1953), a daughter of a Russian soldier stationed at Heungnam falls in love with a young Korean anti-Communist. Their love story shows how cruel the Russian soldiers were and how badly many North Koreans craved for freedom.

Nongae (1956)

The Great Monk Seo San (1972)

In 1581, the monk Seo-san predicts that the Japanese are planning an invasion of Korea. He goes to the king, suggesting that the kingdom build a stronger army, but he is thrown out of court. He begins training three pupils in martial arts, but rumors reach the king that Seo-san is training an army. The king sends his soldiers to have the monk arrested

Prince Ho-Dong and Princess Nak-Rang (1956)

Empire of Lust (2015)

In the turbulent Joseon dynasty, army commander Min-jae watches ambitious Prince Yi Bang-won while becoming entwined with Ga-hee, a vengeful gisaeng. Fate collides as power shifts.

Love, Lies (2016)

Two best friends, So-yool and Yeon-hee, dream of becoming the top artists in Seoul together. But their friendship doesn't last long as Yoon-woo, So-yool's first love and songwriter, falls in love with Yeon-hee and her voice. So-yool's feeling of jealousy and inferiority towards Yeon-hee grows by the day, and she eventually makes a drastic decision to bring the two lovers down.

The Sword with No Name (2009)

Mu Myeong is a Joseon dynasty headhunter who meets and falls in love with lady Ja Yeong who will become the future Empress Myseongseong. A few years later, Ja Yeong enters the royal palace to marry King Gojong. Mu Myeong still having feelings for Ja Yeong and in an attempt to get closer to her becomes her personal body guard.

The Wrath (2018)

In the household of Lee Gyeong-jin, a high-ranking official of Joseon Kingdom, three sons die from an unidentified horror. A woman pregnant with a child of the third son soon learns of the evil spirit that haunts the house.

Hanbando (2006)

The President of South Korea races against time to prove the seal on documents from long dead King Gojong is fake by charging outspoken historian Choi Min-jae, and a descendant of the royal bloodline Kim Yu-shik, to find the long lost seal in order to prove that the Japanese claim to railroads is false, a claim that will stop the reunification of the two Koreas.

Hero (2022)

An Jung-geun fights for Korea's independence from the Japanese Empire and sparks a movement. In 1909, he assassinates Itō Hirobumi, the first prime minister of Japan and resident-general of Korea.

The Singer (2020)

In the era of corruption, Hak-gyu sings songs and tells stories on the street with his band. One day, Hak-gyu's wife Gan-nan is kidnapped by gangsters and his daughter Cheong loses her eyesight after the incident. He decides to travel in search of his missing wife and learns that corrupted noblemen are behind the mob.

The Sound of a Flower (2015)

During the Joseon Dynasty, lowborn Chae-sun challenges the rule that states only men allowed to sing while navigating devotion to her teacher and the demands of the king's father.

R-Point (2004)

On 07 January 1972, the South Korean base in Nah-Trang, Vietnam, receives a radio transmission from a missing platoon presumed dead.

The Throne (2015)

Ancient Korea, July 4, 1762. The Crown Prince Hyojang, posthumously named Sado, son of King Yeongjo of Joseon, is accused of treason. Thus, the king asks him to commit suicide, but his closest vassals prevent it, so the king orders the prince to get inside a wooden rice chest, where he suffers deprivation of food and water.

The Face Reader (2013)

An exceptionally talented face reader becomes entangled in a bloody power struggle between a child king and his uncle who plans to usurp the throne.

Default (2018)

Only one week left until South Korea will go under sovereign default. Han Shi-hyun is a leader of the monetary policy team at the Bank of Korea. and is assigned to a crisis team.

The Fatal Encounter (2014)

Late 18th-century Joseon dynasty. The King is beleaguered and surrounded by traitors of the ruling elite. They plan to assassinate and replace him with a puppet. But the King has some aces up his sleeve that may help him defeat them all.

The Royal Tailor (2014)

Lee Gong-jin, a young tailor, helps the Queen with her dress and both fall in love with each other. However, his success catches the ire of Jo Dol-seok, the royal tailor, who vows retribution.

The Book of Fish (2021)

When the scholar Jeong Yak-jeon is exiled to Heuksando Island during the Catholic Persecution of 1801, he decides to write a fish-based encyclopaedia.

May 18 (2007)

The citizens of Gwangju lead a relatively peaceful life, until one day the military takes over the city, accusing the residents of conspiracy and claiming that they are communist sympathisers preparing a revolution against the current government. Seeing as the soldiers beat defenceless people, mainly students, to death, the citizens are in for retaliation and form a militia.