The best Cho Jin-woong’s drama movies

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a young woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering uncle, but she's involved in something greater that will soon be revealed.

The film mainly follows the famous 1597 Battle of Myeongryang during the Japanese invasion of Korea (1592-1598), where the iconic Joseon admiral Yi Sun-sin managed to destroy a total of 133 Japanese warships with only 13 ships remaining in his command. The battle, which took place in the Myeongryang Strait off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula, is considered one of the greatest victories of Yi.

Byung-du is a 29-year-old career criminal, working for the middle-rank enforcer Sang-chul. Burdened with a terminally ill mother and taking care of younger siblings, Byung-du is feeling financial pressure as a substitute patriarch. When the big boss President Hwang is cornered by a corrupt prosecutor, Byung-du volunteers for a whack job and wins the big man's trust.

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard. Under the dominance of Yuan Dynasty China, the king of Goryeo Dynasty Korea is pressured to produce a successor to the throne. Unable to make love to his queen because he is in love with his bodyguard, Hong Lim, the king asks the two of them to sleep together instead. This sexual contact formulates a forbidden love between Hong Lim and the Queen.

South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing with the assignment of infiltrating a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about the North Korean nuclear program.

In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins' past.

In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.

A model student transfers to the notorious Jungmoon High School known for its severe corporal punishment by teachers and power struggles between school gangs.

Two brothers were separated in childhood at an orphanage, only to find each other as adults 30 years later. But right after their reunion, their birth mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, suddenly disappears. So Sang-yeon (a pastor raised in America) and Ha-yeon (a shaman) team up together and go on a road trip to search for her.

The friendship between a lawyer who will do anything to make money and a nursing home volunteer.

A group of people meet for the first time in a long time and play a game that reveals each other's secrets.

This movie talks about the genius high school student Jang-ho who dreams of becoming the next Pavarotti although he is part of a gang and Sang-jin, currently a countryside art school music teacher but once a highlighted vocal singer.

Set in a village right after the Korean War, poor but good-hearted Heo Sam-gwan sets out to win the most beautiful girl in the village, Heo Ok-ran, by selling his blood to earn money. Years later, the two are happily married with three children, but their family undergoes a crisis when Sam-gwan's eldest son doesn't resemble him and rumors spread about the boy's paternity.

Young-in and his colleague Seung-dae are a pair of professional bagmen working for various lobbyists in finance, media and a host of other industries requiring political favors. Feeling guilty about his work, Seung-dae tells Young-in he plans on blowing the whistle on his boss Han’s illegal activities.

In a small South Korean village, while investigating the death of two people in strange circumstances, a grumpy policeman will live an overwhelming experience beyond the reality he has known so far.

In 2003 the year of Aomori Asian Games, Dae-woong, a former ice hockey player receives an offer to be a director of Korean national ice hockey team. Before he enjoys the moment, realizes it is a woman national team with bunch of losers; a figure skating player who wants to get married by becoming a national team, a former field hockey player, now a fat housewife, and an expelled short track skater. As an ace player, Ji-won, a former national team player of North Korea, joins the team. But they still have hope as only 5 teams participating this year. With the great victory of first match, they feel the medal is closer, yet Ji-won meets her sister left in North Korea alone as a next opponent...

Five men go for the gold as members of Korea national ski jumping team.