From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joint Security Area
Joint Security Area movie poster
Directed by	Park Chan-wook
Produced by	Lee Eun
Written by	Park Sang-Yeon (novel) Jeong Seong-San Park Chan-wook Lee Mu-young
Starring	Lee Young Ae Lee Byung-Hun Song Kang-ho
Music by	Cho Young-Wook
Cinematography	Kim Seong-bok
Editing by	Kim Sang-beom
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 9, 2000 (South Korea)
Running time	108 min.
Language	Korean
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
Korean name
Hangul	공동경비구역JSA
Hanja	共同警備區域JSA
Revised Romanization	Gongdong Gyeongbi Guyeok JSA
McCune-Reischauer	Kongdong Kyŏngbi Kuyŏk JSA

Joint Security Area (2000) is a South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Significance 3 Main cast 4 Remake 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

The film begins when two North Korean soldiers are killed in the DMZ at a North Korean border house. Alarms begin to ring on both sides as soldiers from both sides arrive and begin to shoot each other. Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-Hun) despite an injured leg runs from the North Korean side and attempts to reach the South Korean side. He is shortly rescued while the fires continue.

Two days later, the fragile relationship between the two Koreas now relies on a special investigation conducted by investigators from the two neutral nations Sweden and Switzerland to ensure that this incident does not trigger a large conflict. The mission is led by Major Sophie (Lee Young Ae), her mother being from Switzerland and her father Korean; however, this is her first time in Korea.

Since Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (a south Korean soldier on border duties) confessed to the shootings it is up to Sophie to understand why since each Korea claims two different events happening which contradict. Sophie proceeds to read the story of Soo-hyeok's experience which tell of him being knocked out and kidnapped while defecating. He then wakes up tied up in the North Korean border house, and proceeds to secretly free himself and shoot three North Korean soldiers, leaving two dead. However, Soo-hyeok is totally unresponsive and does not answer any questions. Sophie then asks Soo-hyeok's comrades about him, at which time everyone begins praising him with brave stories of him defusing a mine he stepped on alone, or throwing rocks at the North Korean house, however this gets her nowhere. Sophie then visits North Korea whose lone survivor Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) tells of a different story which has Soo-Hyeok barging in the border house and instantly shooting everyone before Kyeong-pil could fight back despite getting shot in the arm, however, Soo-Hyeok retreats. The autopsy report shows that one soldier was shot in the chest then later in the head, while the other, Jeong Woo-jin, was shot 8 times constantly. This would be used against the South Koreans where shooting a soldier 8 times is a sign of a grudge more than an attempt of escape.

The events that led to the killing of 2 North Korean soldiers are then shown throughout the film in a series of flashbacks. Firstly, the depositions of each surviving soldier is shown, showing conflicting stories on what happened that night. Major Sophie looks further into the case and discovers that things are not quite as they seem.

By early 2001 Joint Security Area had become the highest grossing film in Korean film history ^[1] (later it has been eclipsed by Friend, Silmido and Taegukgi). This success allowed Park Chan-wook to get the financial leeway to make his subsequent movies.

Within two weeks of its release the film took in one million admissions.^{[citation needed]}

• Lee Young Ae - Major Sophie E. Jean
• Lee Byung-Hun - Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok
• Song Kang-ho - Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil
• Kim Tae Woo - Nam Sung-shik
• Shin Ha-kyun - Jeong Woo-jin
• (de:Herbert Ulrich) - Swedish soldier

The remake is currently in pre-production, called Joint Security America. The plot of the remake takes place in the US-Mexican border.^[2]

• Actor Herbert Ulrich is not actually Swedish, but German, and in the movie speaks with a heavy German accent.
• The DVD of this movie was given to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il by South Korea's President Roh Moo-Hyun during the Korean summit in October 2007.^[3]

• List of films set in or about North Korea

• Joint Security Area at the Internet Movie Database
• Film review with pictures (English)

v • d • e Cinema of Korea
Cinema of South Korea • Cinema of North Korea
	Actors • Animators • Directors • Cinematographers • Editors • Producers  • Screenwriters Korean animation • Animation studios • Awards • Festivals  • K-Horror • Production companies • A–Z pre-1948 Korean films  • Pre-1948 Korean films by year  •A–Z North Korean films  • North Korean films by year • A–Z South Korean films South Korean films by year:  • 1948-1959  • 1960  • 1961  •1962  • 1963  • 1964  • 1965  • 1966  • 1967  • 1968  • 1969  • 1970  • 1971  • 1972  • 1973 • 1974 • 1975  • 1976 • 1977  • 1978  • 1979  • 1980  • 1981  • 1982  • 1983  • 1984  • 1985  • 1986  • 1987  • 1988  • 1989  • 1990  • 1991  • 1992  • 1993  • 1994  • 1995  • 1996  • 1997  • 1998  • 1999  • 2000  • 2001  • 2002  • 2003  • 2004  • 2005  • 2006  • 2007  • 2008