''Confidential Assignment'' () is a 2017 South Korean

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

directed by Kim Sung-hoon. It stars Hyun Bin, Yoo Hae-jin, and Kim Joo-hyuk. In the film, a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n officer and a

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

detective team up to track down a dangerous fugitive, who is running a gang of counterfeiters.

Plot

Im Cheol-ryung, an officer of a special investigation team in

, barges into a warehouse that prints

counterfeit money Counterfeit money is currency produced outside of the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud ...

, where he learns that his superior Cha Ki-seong and his own team are there to steal the master plates to print the counterfeit money. A shootout ensues where Cheol-ryung's wife Hwa-ryung and his team are killed, while Cheol-ryung is gravely injured. Meanwhile, the North Korean officials learn that Cha Ki-seong has fled to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, where Cheol-ryung is ordered to capture Ki-seong and retrieve the stolen master plates, and is given only three days to complete his mission. However, South Korean officials suspect that Ki-seong is really a killer, and they assign

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

Kang Jin-tae from

to watch over Cheol-ryung tightly as they suspect he intends to kill Ki-seong for revenge. Jin-tae meets Cheol-ryung at the airport, and they head for Myeong-Dong to check on one of Ki-seong's men, Park Myung-ho, but Cheol-ryong escapes after learning about Jin-tae's mission. Cheol-ryung arrives at Myeong-Dong to Jongro where Jin-tae also arrives there and interrogates Park, but the latter escapes. After the orders from his superior, Jin-tae takes Cheol-ryung to his home to spy on him. Having guessed the Jin-tae's plan, Cheol-ryung removes the

SIM card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)A SIM card or SIM (subscriber identity module) is an integrated circuit (IC) intended to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and its related key, which are u ...

which Jin-tae had inserted in his phone to track his location anytime. The duo learns about the location where Park was supplying drugs and a fight ensues where Cheol-ryung takes the phone of one of the men and gives it to Jin-tae. Cheol-ryung learns Park's location after secretly bugging Jin-tae's phone. The duo heads to the restaurant where they find that Park is conversing with one of Ki-seong's comrades (who had been present at the warehouse). The comrade learns that Park plans to settle in South Korea, where he kills him under Ki-seong's orders. Cheol-ryung arrives and warns Ki-seong of his impending death, where he fights the comrade, who escapes. After checking Park's belongings, the officials learn about Cheol-ryung's mission. Meanwhile, Jin-tae learns about Cheol-ryung's past and decide to help him. They reach the place where Ki-seong has arranged a deal to sell the plates, but Ki-seong kills the buyer when Cheol-ryung arrives and kills the henchmen where he is about Ki-seong, but Jin-tae stops him which gives time for Ki-seong to escape. Cheol-ryung takes the master plates and leaves. However, Ki-seong kidnaps Jin-tae's family and demands the plates. A frightened Jin-tae tells Cheol-ryung, where he takes the plates and heads to the location. Jin-tae and Cheol-ryung arrives and gives the plates to Ki-seong, who leaves Jin-tae's family where Jin-tae takes his family to a safe place. A battle ensues where Cheol-ryung and Jin-tae manages to kill Ki-seong. One year later, Cheol-ryung and Jin-tae receive their next mission.

Cast

* Hyun Bin as Im Cheol-ryung * Yoo Hae-jin as Kang Jin-tae * Kim Joo-hyuk as Cha Ki-seong *

Jang Young-nam Jang Young-nam (; born November 25, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She began her career as an acclaimed actress in theater, then transitioned to supporting roles on television and film, notably in works by director Jang Jin. A member of Jang J ...

as Park So-yeon *

Im Yoon-ah Im Yoon-ah (; born May 30, 1990), also known mononymously as Yoona, is a South Korean singer and actress. After training for five years, she debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation (and later its subgroup Girls' Generation-Oh!GG) in ...

as Park Min-young *

Lee Dong-hwi Lee Dong-hwi (born July 22, 1985) is a South Korean actor and singer. He gained recognition through his role in the critically acclaimed television series ''Reply 1988'' (2015–2016). Lee starred in the film ''Extreme Job'' (2019), List of h ...

as Park Myung-ho *

Oh Eui-shik Oh Eui-shik (, born November 1, 1983) is a South Korean actor. Oh made his musical debut in 2006 and has since built up his acting skills in a number of plays and television drama. He is known for roles in television dramas such as '' Oh My Ghos ...

as Lee Dae-pal *Kong Jung-hwan as Sung-kang *Lee Hae-young as Detective squad chief Pyo * Park Min-ha as Kang Yeon-ah *Jun Gook-hwan as Won Hyung-sool *

Um Hyo-sup Um Hyo-sup (born October 24, 1966) is a South Korean actor. Um mostly plays supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and ...

as Chairman Yoon * Lee Yi-kyung as Lee Dong-hoon * Shin Hyun-bin as Hwa-ryung *Park Jin-woo as Jang Chil-bok *

Park Hyung-soo Park Hyung-soo (born December 3, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He is known for his roles in dramas such as ''Arthdal Chronicles'', ''The Devil Judge'', Ballerina (2023 film), Ballerina, ''Crash Landing on You'' and ''Happiness (South Korean TV ...

as NIS executive * Kim Jun-han as NIS agent * Eum Moon-suk as Troops #4

Reception

''Confidential Assignment'' opened in second place at the box office on January 18. It rose to first place in its second week selling an accumulative four million tickets by January 30 and surpassed the five million mark two days later. The movie became the most viewed Korean movie during the first half of 2017 by attracting 7.8 million audience domestically. However, this record was surpassed in August by '' A Taxi Driver''.

International

''Confidential Assignment'' was sold to 42 territories, including the U.S. and several countries in Asia. * In US on January 27, 2017 * In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

on February 3 * In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on February 9 * In

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Macao Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

on February 16 * In

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

on February 17 * In

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

on March 3 * In

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on April 13 * In

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on November 25

Awards and nominations

Sequel

'' Confidential Assignment 2: International'', a sequel was announced on August 24, 2020. Filming started on February 18, 2021 and was released on September 7, 2022.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Confidential Assignment 2017 films 2010s buddy comedy films 2010s buddy cop films CJ Entertainment films South Korean films about revenge Films set in Pyongyang Films set in South Korea Films shot in South Korea South Korean action comedy films South Korean buddy comedy films South Korean crime action films South Korean crime comedy films 2017 crime action films 2017 action comedy films Films about counterfeit money 2017 comedy films 2010s South Korean films