Overview of Joint Security Area

‘Joint Security Area’ is a South Korean thriller mystery. The movie was inspired by the novel DMZ written by Park Sang-yeon. It is presented in the backdrop of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The zone separates South Korea and North Korea.

‘Joint Security Area’ features Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Lee Young-ae. It was released on 9 September 2000. The movie became a breakthrough in the career of director Park Chan-wook. It was nominated and awarded at various film festivals and awards shows.

Profile

Cast

Synopsis

The movie opens with the arrival of a new investigation team, the ‘Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission’, to investigate a sudden attack that happened across the Bridge of No Return on the North Korean border. The duty of the new investigation team is to neutrally investigate the murders that happened in the North Korean part of the Bridge of No Return. The team includes two chief officers, Maj. Sophie E. Jean and Capt. Persson.

The attack resulted in the deaths of two North Korean soldiers, also causing injuries to two soldiers on both sides. Maj. Sophie E. Jean and Capt. Persson visits Sgt. Lee Soo-hyuk (a South Korean soldier) and Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (a North Korean soldier) in their hospitals to inquire about the incident. Lee Soo-hyuk is shot in his leg, and Oh Kyeong-pil is shot in his shoulder.

Sophie reads the statements of the wounded soldiers and finds some contradictions. The statement of Lee Soo-hyuk says he was kidnapped and taken to the North Korean border house while relieving himself. He escaped secretly from the opposite border house and, in that attempt, got shot in the leg and later fainted on the South Korean borderline.

On the contrary, the statement of North Korean sergeant Oh Kyeong-pil states Lee Soo-hyuk invaded the North Korean border house, shot his shoulder, and killed two of his soldiers. On the invader’s way back after the attack, Oh Kyeong-pil shot at the enemy’s leg.

Maj. Sophie becomes suspicious after reading the contradicting statements. Adding to her suspicion, Oh Kyeong-pil and Lee Soo-hyuk disapprove of narrating the incident to her. As part of the investigation, Sophie goes through the autopsy reports of the dead soldiers and realises that one victim was murdered brutally, recovering eight bullets from his body, and the other was dead after getting shot in the forehead. In addition, she found an extra bullet that belonged to Lee Soo-hyuk’s subordinate, Nam Sung-sik.

Sophie takes Nam Sung-sik into custody for an inquiry. Sophie has already investigated Nam Sung-sik’s background and learned that Lee Soo-hyuk is in a romantic relationship with Nam Sung-sik’s sister, and the three of them share a strong bond. When Sophie questions Nam Sung-sik, he attempts suicide when he comes on the verge of spilling the truth.

On the contrary, to prevent favouritism, the superior officers check the background of Sophie and learn that her father is a Korean who settled abroad. Therefore, the authority restricts Sophie’s further involvement in the case.

However, Sophie decides to uncover the reality of the sudden attack. Once again, she meets Lee Soo-hyuk to question him, but this time she guarantees the safety of his loved ones. From his mouth, she learns that the dead soldiers and the injured Oh Kyeong-pil are friends of Nam Sung-sik and him.

True story:

One day, while patrolling, Lee Soo-hyuk loses his way and steps on a mine bomb in the North Korean area. Seeing the pathetic condition of Lee Soo-hyuk, the North Korean soldiers, Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil and Pvt. Jung Woo-jin, rescue him. To show his gratitude, Lee Soo-hyuk throws a letter across the border the next day. Afterwards, the friendship between the three of them grows when they start communicating through letters.

One day, Oh Kyeong-pil teases Lee Soo-hyuk by inviting him to the North Korean border house. To their surprise, Lee Soo-hyuk sneaks into the North Korean border house to show his courage. Later, it becomes a habit for him to visit the opposite border house at night.

One night, Nam Sung-sik did not see Lee Soo-hyuk when he woke up from his sleep. The next day, Lee Soo-hyuk introduces Nam Sung-sik to his North Korean friends. When Lee Soo-hyuk is about to complete his guarding duties at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, they gather for a final celebration.

However, things go wrong on that day when another officer shows up in the boarding house unexpectedly. Oh Kyeong-pil tries to calm down the sudden agitation, and somehow he manages to turn down their guns. However, the tension caused by the unexpected rise of the music’s volume that they were playing caused Lee Soo-hyuk to pull the trigger and kill the newly arrived soldier. In the same way, Nam Sung-sik shoots Jung Woo-jin eight times out of panic.

To help Lee Soo-hyuk and Nam Sung-sik escape and to save himself from getting captured, Oh Kyeong-pil tells them to flee after shooting on his shoulder. As said, Lee Soo-hyuk and Nam Sung-sik escape from the crime scene. However, Lee Soo-hyuk could not make it to his border house because of the injury to his leg.

Learning the true story of the whole incident, Sophie confronts Oh Kyeong-pil to evaluate the amount of truth in it, and Oh Kyeong-pil tells the same story. Nonetheless, he added something that Lee Soo-hyuk has never told Sophie. When she asks whether Oh Kyeong-pil has any message for Lee Soo-hyuk, he returns the lighter that Lee Soo-hyuk once gave him.

After getting removed from the case, she meets Lee Soo-hyuk to give his lamb. Also, she tells him that it was Lee Soo-hyuk who first shot the commander officer in panic. The crime that he has done to his friend in anxiety puts Soo-hyuk in a dilemma. Feeling guilty, he commits suicide by pulling out a pistol from the guarding officer’s pocket.

The film ends by displaying a photograph taken by a tourist who visited the joint security area. It contains all the four members protecting their borders on both sides of the no man’s land.

Theme

Friendship is the central theme in the movie ‘Joint Security Area’. It shows the friendship of the two army sergeants, one from North Korea and the other from South Korea. The movie highlights the fact that feelings like love, friendship and loyalty have no boundaries. Also, it shows the agitation that buds in a friendly relationship when it gets exposed to greed and ego.

The movie is neutral and does not blame North Korea or South Korea.

Awards

Interesting Facts about Joint Security Area

1. The Korean Demilitarized Zone seen in the movie was originally a set constructed using 900 million in a film studio in Namyangju.
2. ‘Joint Security Area’ was a box-office hit and within the first week of its release, half a million people watched the movie in Seoul only.
3. ‘Joint Security Area’ became one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Korean films.
4. From Japan, ‘Joint Security Area’ accumulated a profit of ¥ 1,160,000,000 after its release.
5. At the time of the Korean summit in October 2007, Roh Moo-hyun, the South Korean President offered a DVD of the movie to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il.
6. Once American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino said ‘Joint Security Area’ is one of his favourite films.
7. ‘Joint Security Area’ is the third movie by director Park Chan-wook. However, he calls ‘Joint Security Area’ his first movie disowning the first two movies (‘The Moon Is …..The Sun’s Dream’ (1992), ‘Trio’ (1997)).

FAQs

1. Who is the director of ‘Joint Security Area’?
   Park Chan-wook.
2. When was the movie ‘Joint Security Area’ released?
   9 September 2000.
3. What is the Instagram ID of Song Kang-ho?
   @song.kang.ho.