KMovie Based On True Story
A list of kmovies that are based on/inspired by true stories and/or events.
NOTE: Sometimes other titles can accidently get added in this list, it's probably because I've clicked wrong when I've tried to add it in one of my other custom lists. I've created these custom lists because it'll be easier for me to find things to watch depending on my mood. If a title is added wrong, please tell me about it so I can correct that mistake.
I will fix information on each kmovie when I've time for that, that's why a few of them have no informations sometimes.
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101. Pipeline
Korean Movie - 2021
Inspired by real events, but the story itself is fictional.
"A pipeline is an underground network for transporting gasoline. South Korea's pipeline system is about 1,200km long. Crude oil from overseas is refined at various refineries, and is transported to major cities via pipeline every week. There are those who drill into it to syphon oil and make money. They're known as 'moles'." -
102. Race to Freedom: Um Bok Dong
Korean Movie - 2019
Based on a true story of 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.
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103. Rebound
Korean Movie - 2023
Based on a true story of a basketball team in a high school in Busan.
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104. Resistance: The Yoo Kwan-soon Story
Korean Movie - 2019
Based on the Japanese occupation of Korea, it focuses on the female prisoners of war.
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105. Restoration's Aestethics
Korean Movie - 2015
Inspired by real events about student movements, take place in Busan in 1974.
After 1945, the student movements were mainly concerned with righting alleged wrongs in the Korean government. Students rose for instance against the South Korea's government of Syngman Rhee after the allegedly rigged elections in March 1960. 1980 marked a turning point in the South Korean student movement.
- Wikipedia -
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106. Rikidozan: A Hero Extraordinary
Korean Movie - 2004
Based on the life of legendary wrestler Rikidozan (November 14, 1924 - December 15, 1963). Born as Kim Shin Rak in South Hamgyong, Korea, Shin Rak immigrated to Japan at the age of 17, changed his name to Mitsuhiro Momota and became a sumo wrestler. But upon finding out that only native-born Japanese could become Yokozuna, or grand champion, he left Japan’s national sport to become a professional wrestler. Thus he became the godfather of pro wrestling in Japan, and under his guidance, pro wrestling would become the most popular sport in Japan.
- AsianWiki -
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107. Run Off
Korean Movie - 2016
Inspired by true events surrounding the formation of the first women’s ice hockey team from Korea.
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108. Sea Fog
Korean Movie - 2014
Adapted from the 2007 stage play Haemoo, which in turn was 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.
- Wikipedia -
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109. Search Out
Korean Movie - 2020
Based on the "Blue Whale Challenge" that took place in Russia. It's estimated that this game caused 130 suicide victims in Russia. The creator of the game, Phillip Budeikin, was arrested and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
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110. Seoul Searching
Korean Movie - 2016
Based on a true story about one of the summer camps that took place in 1986. In the 1980s, the South Korean government ran a series of summer camps. The idea was for ethnically Korean students who were growing up in foreign lands to become more aware of their Korean heritage (language, culture etc).
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111. Set Me Free
Korean Movie - 2014
Based loosely on director/writer Kim Tae Yong's experiences.
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112. Showdown
Korean Movie - 2024
Based on a true story of the legendary Go player Cho Hunhyun.
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113. Silenced
Korean Movie - 2011
Based on the novel by Gong Ji Young and inspired by actual events at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired where students were sexually assaulted by the school staff over a period of 5 years in the early 2000s.
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114. Silmido
Korean Movie - 2003
Based on the true story of Unit 684, a unit created in April 1968 to retaliate against North Korea following the North’s attempt to assassinate President Park Chung Hee in Seoul on January 21, 1968. The men recruited for the special unit were outcasts, ex-convicts and prisoners on death row, chosen by the South Korean government to extract vengeance by murdering the North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung. The main incentive for the thirty one ex-criminals was to wipe their criminals records clean and start a brand new life as promised by the government. On August 23, 1971 twenty three men headed to the presidential office of Cheong Wae Dae to revolt against their own president, Park Chung Hee. The government declared a state of emergency as the armed men seized buses and rampaged their way through police blockades, killing a police officer and an innocent young bystander.
- AsianWiki -
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115. Snowy Road
Korean Movie - 2017
Based on when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule (1910-45) and had comfort women. It was theatrically released on March 1, 2017, also known as the Independence Movement Day in South Korea, which commemorates the 1919 March 1st Movement.
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116. Swing Kids
Korean Movie - 2018
Based on Korean musical “Rho Ki Soo,” written by Jang Woo Sung and directed by Kim Tae Hyung. The film has become even more meaningful for having reignited interest for the Geoje city prison camp used in the Korean War 1951, which was not as well-known in the past. The film has also sparked interest for revealing that Werner Bischof’s photo of the prisoners of war dancing with masks on was one of the beginnings of the film “Swing Kids.”
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117. Swordsman
Korean Movie - 2020
Based on true historical events.
"What one might not expect is a history lesson as The Swordsman begins in Lunar Year 1623 and with the removal of King Gwanghae from his leadership position in Joseon, a part of the Korean dynastic kingdom lasting from approximately 1392 – 1897. Using the history as the basis for the story allows The Swordsman to include a disclaimer proclaiming the narrative as based on true historical fact, though the lengths of this statement is difficult to discern, and requires the story to do a lot of groundwork to set up the necessary pieces for the logline to come to fruition."
- Elements of Madness -
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118. Take Off
Korean Movie - 2009
Based on a real story, in which underrepresented Korean ski-jumpers strive to make ski-jumping as one of the sport categories in the Olympics.
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119. Tassista
Korean Movie - 2017
Based on the true story of German reporter Jürgen Hinzpeter and Korean taxi driver Kim Sa Bok. Jürgen Hinzpeter covered the Gwangju Uprising, which took place from May 18-27, 1980 in Gwangju, South Korea. It not only re-ignited interest in the Gwangju Uprising, but also helped surface the real-life taxi driver’s identity (which previously nobody knew).
- AsianWiki & Cinema Escapist -
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120. The 8-Day Festival
Korean Movie - 2014
Based on historical event.
This documentary is a re-enactment of the Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongri Uigwe (원행을묘정리의궤), royal record of Jeongjo’s 8-day festival held in Suwon. The film truly catches the grandness of the festival with in all its details, with the dramatic life of Jeongjo and his feats as a backdrop.
- RealKoreans.com -
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121. The Admiral: Roaring Currents
Korean Movie - 2014
Based on the real battle that would end up going down in history as the Battle of Myeongnyang.
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122. The Battle of Jangsari
Korean Movie - 2019
Based on the true story of "The Battle of Jangsari," which took place over two days (September 14-15, 1950) at Jangsari in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
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123. The Battle: Roar to Victory
Korean Movie - 2019
Based on a true story of the 1920 Battle of Bongodong, a confrontation between Korean independence fighters and Japanese forces, which is one of the most glorious moments in Korea’s history.
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124. The Battleship Island
Korean Movie - 2017
Based on a true story toward the end of World War II, when hundreds of Koreans attempted to escape forced labor on the Japanese island of Hashima.
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125. The Battleship Island: Extended Cut
Korean Movie - 2017
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126. The Case of Itaewon Homicide
Korean Movie - 2009
When two friends are suspected of murder, it could turn into a “he said, she said” situation which is what happened in The Case of Itaewon Homicide. In the actual murder which was called the Itaewon Burger King Murder, Arthur Patterson and Edward Lee were accused of fatally stabbing Hongik college student Jo Jung Pil in 1997.
- Kajo Mag -
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127. The Chaser
Korean Movie - 2008
Inspired by real-life convicted serial killer and self-confessed cannibal, Yoo Young Chul. It was shot on location around Mangwon-dong in the Mapo District, Seoul.
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128. The Classified File
Korean Movie - 2015
Based on a real-life 33-day kidnapping case in Busan in 1978. The first kidnapping occurred September 15, 1978 and the second kidnapping occurred April 14, 1979.
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129. The Drug King
Korean Movie - 2018
Inspired by historical events in 70's Korea. Any resemblance to actual persons or organizations is purely coincidental.
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130. The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil
Korean Movie - 2019
Set in the summer of 2005 and based on some actual murders that took place around that time, Lee’s script reassembles the disembodied scraps of this morbid history into a conceit that cleverly blurs the thin blue line between cops and criminals
- IndieWire -
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131. The Great Battle
Korean Movie - 2018
A historical movie about the siege of Ansi Fortress and the epic eighty-eight day battle that Yang Manchun and his Goguryeo troops fought against 500,000 invading Tang dynasty men to defend it.
The movie received mostly positive reviews from critics. Praise was given to its cinematography, Kim's directing, the action sequences and acting performances. However, there were criticisms regarding the portrayal of Yang Man Chun and the historical accuracy of the movie.
- Wikipedia -
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132. The Himalayas
Korean Movie - 2015
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133. The Last Princess
Korean Movie - 2016
It depicts Princess Deokhye's life in Japan after she was forced to move there at age 13 by the Imperial Japanese government, and her attempts to return to Korea.
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134. The Legendary Courtesan Hwang Jin Yi
Korean Movie - 2007
Based on Hong Seok Jung's 2002 novel Hwangjini (which won the Manhae Prize for Literature in 2004), the movie is about the life of Hwang Jin Yi, the most famous courtesan (or gisaeng) in Korean history.
- Wikipedia -
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135. The Old Garden
Korean Movie - 2007
Based on a 1990 novel by famed South Korean writer and dissident Hwang Sok Yong, The Old Garden offers an artistic and romantic (but still intense) mediation on the lasting traumas of Korean democratization.
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136. The Outlaws
Korean Movie - 2017
Based on the true story of the “Heuksapa Incident” in 2007. Detectives arrested 32 people who were part of a criminal ring. The group consisted of ethnic Koreans who came from Yanbian, China.
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137. The Sorrowful Song
Korean Movie - 1924
It was said that it was based on the true story of the paradigm Kang Myung Hwa, but it was said that 'the heightened feeling of vulgar decadence that was commonly popular in the past' (Daily News [aka Maeil Sinbo], reported on January 1, 1925) in the past.
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138. The Soup
Korean Movie - 2018
Based on a true tale, the story of an ex-con who enters a house without being invited to live with a married couple with intellectual difficulties and a seven-year-old daughter.
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139. The Spy Gone North
Korean Movie - 2018
It's loosely based on the true story of Park Chae Seo, a former South Korean agent with the code name of "Black Venus” who infiltrated North Korea's nuclear facilities.
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140. The Supreme Order
Korean Movie - 1993
Based on a true story.
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141. The Tenor Lirico Spinto
Korean Movie - 2014
Based on a true story of the life of the internationally-acclaimed South Korean tenor, Bae Jae Chul.
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142. The Throne
Korean Movie - 2015
Based on the real story of Crown Prince Sado and King Yeongjo of the Joseon dynasty.
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143. The Tragic Prince
Korean Movie - 1956
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144. The Treacherous
Korean Movie - 2015
Based on real events from the regime of Yeonsan-gun aka Prince Yeonsan, the 10th king of Korea's Joseon Dynasty.
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145. The Whistleblower
Korean Movie - 2014
Based on the true story of disgraced Korean researcher Dr. Hwang Woo Suk.
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146. To Kill Alice
Korean Movie - 2019
This was the century's greatest red scandal that caused a stir in the ROK in 2014.
Director Kim Sang Kyu takes a strictly depositional approach to the peculiar case of Eun Mi. He collects whatever random video footage was taken at the time relevant to these events, and edits it into a documentary telling the full story. "To Kill Alice" has no frills whatsoever, not even a narrator. The whole documentary is just a snapshot into what the South Korean political environment was like at the time.
Director's statement:
Most information about North Korea is controlled by the government and the media. The government only allows information good for sustaining its regime and security, the media only writes down it without a devotion for truth. In winter of 2014, South Korea was abuzz with outrage over the words of ‘pro-North Korea’, democracy and human rights were severely shaken. This film is about the media who lives in anger and hatred, the anticommunist state who separates non-citizen from citizen, and the people who are not free from it.- HanCinema & SIDOF.org -
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147. Voice of a Murderer
Korean Movie - 2007
Fictionalised story based on the abduction of nine-year-old Lee Hyung Ho on Jan 29, 1991.
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148. Way Back Home
Korean Movie - 2013
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.
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149. Whispering Corridors 2: Memento Mori
Korean Movie - 1999
The kiss scene in the classroom is based on a true story from a girls' high school in 1993. In the true story, the girl who kissed another female student got expelled from school and the other girl dropped out.
About the kiss scene in the movie, the students around them didn't know that the scene was the kiss scene, so all the reactions by the students were real. The girl who threw her note book did that because she was really mad, she was a devout Christian.
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150. Your Name is Rose
Korean Movie - 2019
Based on Korean history from 1979 to 2015 about a woman named Hong Jang Mi (lit. Hong Rose) who wants to be a singer. The movie revolves around Jang Mi and her daughter.