"Truth Be Told"

"Celebrity couple Choo Sung Hoon, an MMA champion, and his fashion model wife Yano Shiho inspired writer Lim Sang Chun to pen the series in order to highlight the life of athletes and their families."

A true story about Uhm Bok Dong, a Korean hero, and the winner from the time when Japan held a bicycle race in order to take over Korea during the Japanese Invasion.

Based on the true story of Qiao Yi and her husband

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[JP]   Sayaka Kobayashi (who this movie is about) was accepted to Columbia University.

 "based on the documentary of the same name and will tell the story of girls in Geoje Girl’s Vocational High School"

[JP]   Based on a true story surrounding the birth of Japanese vocal group GReeeeN's popular song "Kiseki" which was launched in 2008

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 Based on the real-life story of Kim Ho Joong

(2008) Inspired by the real events of the "Cho Doo Soon" case.   An 8-year-old girl known by the press name “NaYoung” was beaten and sexually assaulted by a drunk pedophile Choo DooSoon in a church restroom. After the violent act, the man was given a mitigated sentence of 12 years in prison due to his mental state, despite being involved in several rape cases. 

Adapted from the novel "The Crucible" by Gong Ji Young, which is based on true events that took place in the early 2000s.

 (2004) Based on the real events of "Milyang Junior High School" case.  41 boys gang raped multiple girls over an 11 month period.

(1991) - Inspired by the ‘Kim Bu Nam Case’ 

Inspired by the director/writer Jo Jae Min's past experience.

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Korean War Orphans choir visited New York in the 1950s & Los Angeles, CA in 1963.

Inspired by a true event were a girl sued her school after breaking the no relationship rule.  In depth research was conducted on Gen Z students.

Based on the true story of German reporter Jürgen Hinzpeter and Korean taxi driver Kim Sa Bok.  

"Based on the true story of the women who testified before the U.S. House of Representatives to pass House Resolution No. 121, a resolution stating that Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept its coercion of young women into slavery during colonial times and World War II. Pictured are two victims, Jan Ruff O'Hearne and Ok Boon, as depicted in the movie."

Loosely based on true story of Kim Seong Ja, a laundromat owner in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi.  In 2016 she caught the head of a voice phishing scam organization.

 Based on a true events of comfort woman used by Japanese during WW II

Based on Korea's soprano singer Yun Sim Deok & Kim Woo Jin in 1920's Korea.

 Inspired by real-life Korean serial killer Yoo Young-chul.  He killed 21 people.

Inspired by the raincoat killer case.  The main villain character was inspired by Yoo YoungChul He killed over 20 victims and ate some of them. 

"Based on the true story of 25 Korean-Chinese illegal immigrants who suffocated to death in the storage tank of the fishing vessel Taechangho; their bodies were dumped by the ship's crew into the sea southwest of Yeosu on October 7, 2001."

Set during the '88 Olympic games in Korea.  Park Bogum played a character that was inspired by a real-life award-winning Baduk player, Lee Chang Ho.  

Man posted the question & asked what to do online & it went viral.

Director spoke about the news bringing to light many internal incidents at military bases, which formed a seed of an idea to create D.P.  

Webtoonist of original D.P. Dog Days was assigned that job & this creation was an outlet to help those still suffering knowing things have not gotten better.

Based on the fact Hwarang existed in Silla period in history

Inspired by the life of the Korean independence fighter Hwang Ki Hwan.  

Inspired by life of Crown prince Sado.

Inspired by life of Crown prince Sado.

Based on real events from the regime of Yeonsan-gun, aka Prince Yeonsan, the 10th king of Korea's Joseon Dynasty.

Based on the true story of Jin Chae Seon (진채선), Joseon's first female pansori singer in 1867

-Based on the true story of King Jeongjo (Yi San) and Royal Noble Consort Uibin Seong (Sung Deok-Im)

Based on a true story of Queen Dangyeong/Lady Shin

 Based on a true story about a legendary girl, Jang Geum, who became the first woman to be the supreme royal physician of her times.  

Princess Deok Hye was the last princess of Korea. Under Japanese colonial rule, she is taken to Japan as a hostage.

"Most of the cases that Do-gi tackles are based on true stories. One of them is the Cho Doo Soon case, which shows a notorious child rapist being released from prison, leading to strong opposition from the public over the case. " 

Inspired by real life events.  Writer researched bullying & resourced her own daughter too.  Dong-eun's torturous bullying scene in the first episode is based on a real-life event that happened in 2006 at a girls’ school in Cheongju, Korea. 

 Based on the Sampoong Department Store collapse on June 29, 1995 in Seol, Korea.  502 died, 937 injured.

Inspired by real life events

During the 1980s, the Korean government created a special summer camp for "gyopo" or foreign-born teenagers where they could spend their summer in Seoul to learn about their motherland.  Based on a true story about one of the summer camps that took place in 1986.

1951 - Inspired by the real life place, Geoje city prison camp, during Korean War.  Werner Bischof’s photo of the prisoners of war dancing with masks on was one of the beginnings of the film.

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[C]   Hachikō (ハチ公, November 10, 1923 – March 8, 1935) was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for at the train station every day for nine years 9 months & 15 days following Ueno's death in Tokoyo, Japan.[2] 

[C]   Story of Li Weiyi raising a gray wolf cub she named Green & reintroduced it into the wild successfully. This documentary is unfolding near Zoige town in Zoige grassland on the northwest Sichuan Plateau. The grassland is in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, adjacent to Gansu Province.

[JP]    Based on the true story of Hisashi and Mai Nakahara.

[Taiwan]   Based on the true story of Director's sister/friends.

Story is inspired by an incident that happened with a Korean actress, Yang Jung-a.  

"The release of the film was controversial because the family of the victims related to the case didn’t support the production but upon its release, but it topped box office charts.

 "In 1977, a director and his actress wife were kidnapped to make North Korea’s film industry compete on the international stage!"

"For 11 hours, the group of students defended a local middle school which was a strategic point for safeguarding the Nakdong River perimeter."

"Based on a true story of Jang Mi Jung who was imprisoned for 2 years in Martinique, an island in the Carribean Sea, after being wrongfully accused of smuggling drugs at a Paris airport. She was arrested on October 30, 2004 at Orly Airport in Paris, France.  She was finally able to return to Korea on November 8, 2006."

"Film about the events leading up to the assassination, as well as the aftermath of the event, of Park Chung Hee, the president of South Korea from 1963 to 1979. Fun fact: The portrayal of Park was so controversial that a lawsuit was filed and the court ordered 3 minutes and 50 seconds be censored from the film."

"It’s based on the real life of drug lord Cho Bong Haeng. He fled Korea in 1994 after being suspected of fraud, moved to Suriname to build a drug smuggling empire, and was later arrested in 2009 from a joint investigation by Korea, Brazil, and the United States."

Inspired by real life event that occurred in Afghanistan in 2007  

"Director Kang Yoon Sung was inspired by a Korean casino owner in the Philippines and wanted to document his story."

Based on the real-life first South Korean jury trial in 2018

Based on a true story of the Korean athletes who ran the 1947 Boston International Marathon, the first international marathon held since World War II.

Based on a true story of a basketball team in a high school in Busan. Pics of actual players/coach at end.

Based a true story of a South Korean and North Korean table tennis players who unite together to play in the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan.

AKA - Where the Truth Lies

 (1997) - Arthur Patterson and Edward Lee were accused of fatally stabbing Hongik college student Jo Jung Pil.

Based on the abduction of nine-year-old Lee Hyung Ho on Jan 29, 1991

Based on the 2000 "Iksan murder case" where a teenage boy was falsely accused of the murder of a taxi driver and spent 10 years in prison.

Inspired by the "Hwaseong serial murder case" which occurred from 1986 to 1991 in the Taean Neighborhood of Hwaseong, South Korea. Ten women were raped and murdered during that time period.

 "Based on the story of South Korea’s first serial killer. Although the movie doesn’t mention it, between 1986 and 1991, 10 women were found murdered in Hwaseong."

(1990's)   "Adapted from the autobiography of the same title, co-written by Korea's first criminal profiler, Kwon Il Yong and journalist-turned-author Ko Na Mu, depicting some of Kwon's field experiences."  The Red Cap killer.

Goryeo Dynasty - late 1300's) Based around Yi Bang Won. Yi Bang Won was the third king of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and the father of King Se Jong the Great. He helped his father, King Tae Jo, establish the Joseon Dynasty.  Lee Bang Won, Jeong Do Jeon and Lee Seong Gye are all real people that existed during that time period. 

Based on a nonfiction essay called "Things Left Behind" written by Kim Sae Byul.

"The makers of the show used the shocking Park Choroung Bitnari kidnapping and the heinous, unsolved Hwaseong serial murder case where several women were raped and killed by Lee Chun-jae."