Zo In-sung is done being the leading man

Zo In-sung walks into a press interview in Samcheong-dong, central Seoul, on Wednesday like someone who could do it in his sleep. He greets every reporter by name, collects business cards, works the room with the kind of ease you only get from decades of doing the rounds. At 44, he gives off the easygoing, chatty vibe of someone who knows exactly who he is and where he stands. At the moment, is atop the box office. "Humint," Ryoo Seung-wan's high-octane spy thriller, opened this week at No. 1. H

Feb. 17, 2026

Zo In-sung on his 'Humint' co-stars: 'Park Hae-joon was the one who scared me'

Three films deep with Ryoo Seung-wan, and Zo In-sung still describes the director in exactly the same terms: razor-sharp, relentless, incapable of talking about anything other than movies. "He's exactly the same every time. Locked in and completely wired," Zo says at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, on Wednesday. "Even the small talk is about film. That's all he knows." Their latest collaboration, "Humint," pits Zo's South Korean intelligence officer against Park Jung-min's North Korean operativ

Feb. 16, 2026

Zo In-sung: 'Hard is better than easy'

Three films in a single year. For Zo In-sung, 2026 is shaping up as a rare kind of stretch, the sort of run that even the most bankable actors here seldom pull off. First out of the gate is "Humint," box office stalwart Ryoo Seung-wan's $16 million spy thriller timed for the Lunar New Year holiday window, which opened Wednesday and promptly climbed to No. 1 on the charts. What follows is no less stacked. "Hope," from Na Hong-jin -- the mind behind "The Wailing" -- carries the biggest budget ever

Feb. 14, 2026

'I've never once gotten what I aimed for,' Park Jung-min says

Park Jung-min does not seem like a man who just became the most talked-about actor in Korea. "They've got the wrong guy," he says on Monday at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. "I'm more of an antisocial type. I genuinely have no idea what's happening." It all goes back to last year's Blue Dragon Awards, the country's premier year-end film ceremony. Park bounded onstage to perform alongside singer Hwasa and turned an otherwise routine event into a national meme. He walked away empty-handed despit

Feb. 14, 2026

Movies in theaters this week

"Humint" (South Korea) Opened Feb. 11 Action/Thriller Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan A South Korean intelligence officer (Zo In-sung) and a North Korean state security agent (Park Jung-min) find their missions colliding in Vladivostok, where a shared connection to a North Korean woman (Shin Se-kyung) draws them into a dangerous game of espionage and survival. "Wuthering Heights" (US) Opened Feb. 11 Romance/Drama Directed by Emerald Fennell On the windswept Yorkshire moors, Catherine Earnshaw (Margot

Feb. 13, 2026

Netflix's 'Pavane' finds love in an undergound parking lot

A pavane is a slow, stately dance from the courts of Renaissance Europe. You'd expect a film with that title to involve something grand, perhaps star-crossed nobles or lovers torn apart by war. Netflix's upcoming film is nothing of the sort. Based on Park Min-gyu's bestselling novel "Pavane for a Dead Princess," "Pavane" follows three twentysomethings working dead-end jobs in a department store basement who stumble into each other's lives and, eventually, into love. It's one of four Korean films

Feb. 12, 2026

Stray Kids' concert movie turns into a global box-office event

Sixty-one countries, $19 million in one weekend. The men delivered. "Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience," the concert movie built around the eight-member boy band's gig at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium last year, opened Friday and promptly did something no K-pop release has managed before: top the global weekend box office. A sold-out world tour is one thing. Topping the global box office is another. The film grossed $19.1 million across 61 territories in its opening weekend, according to the group

Feb. 11, 2026

'It was about saving one person': Park Jung-min on love and action in 'Humint'

Park Jung-min has been many things on screen. A pianist with autism. A transgender fugitive. Both a blind artisan and his estranged son in the same film. What he has never been is the sort of romantic lead women swoon over. That distinction belonged to other actors, ones considered more "conventionally attractive." But his latest turn in Ryoo Seung-wan's "Humint," the $16 million Lunar New Year blockbuster opening Wednesday, lands him right in the thick of it. Park plays Park Geon, a North Korea

Feb. 10, 2026

Jung Jin-woo, pioneering Korean director and producer, dies at 88

Jung Jin-woo, a pioneering South Korean director and producer whose socially conscious melodramas helped define Korean filmmaking from the 1960s through the 1990s, died on Sunday at a hospital in Seoul, his family said. He was 88. Jung made his directorial debut with "The Only Son" in 1962 at the age of 25. He was the youngest person to have directed a feature film in South Korea at that time. A string of commercial hits followed, including "The Secret Meeting" (1965), "The Student Boarder" (196

Feb. 9, 2026

Ryoo Seung-wan's spy thriller gets louder, not sharper, in 'Humint'

Few directors in Korea can reliably put butts in seats the way Ryoo Seung-wan can. The man built his career on a particular brand of kinetic mayhem — gritty bare-knuckle brawls, pulpy genre instincts, and just enough political edge to keep the adrenaline running hot. His "Veteran" cop saga remains his commercial peak with 13.4 million admissions for the 2015 original and another 7.5 million for the 2024 sequel. Even the lighter fare, like the crowd-pleasing smuggling romp "Smugglers," tends to o

Feb. 7, 2026

Movies in theaters this week

"The King's Warden" (South Korea) Opened Feb. 4 History/Drama Directed by Jang Hang-jun A savvy village chief (Yoo Hae-jin) looks after the deposed boy king Danjong (Park Ji-hoon) after the young monarch is exiled to his remote town, and the two form an unlikely bond as threats from the capital close in. "Mercy" (US) Opened Feb. 4 Sci-Fi/Thriller Directed by Timur Bekmambetov In the near future, a detective (Chris Pratt) accused of murdering his wife has 90 minutes to prove his innocence before

Feb. 6, 2026

Actors Ha Jung-woo and Cha Jung-won dating, agencies say

Actor Ha Jung-woo, 47, is dating fellow thespian Cha Jung-won, their agencies said Wednesday. The agencies of both Ha and Cha confirmed their romantic relationship following a news report claiming they have planned to get married in a wedding ceremony in July. Walkhouse Co., Ha's agency, said wedding plans have not been finalized. Ha, who is 11 years Cha’s senior, made his film debut in 2002 in "Madeleine." He has become a household name with a high-profile filmography that includes "The Chaser"

Feb. 4, 2026

'I'm not too sure about myself,' Choi Woo-shik says

By any measure, Choi Woo-shik has made it. "Parasite" made him a global name, while a string of subsequent local hits like "Our Beloved Summer" and "Would You Marry Me" turned him into Korea's baby-faced heartthrob. Yet sitting across from him in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, on a Tuesday afternoon, you wouldn't have guessed it. Soft-spoken and unassuming, the 37-year-old comes off like a shy teenager, his gaze drifting downward and rarely holding eye contact for long. Ask him about his strengths as an

Feb. 4, 2026

Choi Woo-shik on 'Number One': 'I always took the safe path -- this one scared me'

Choi Woo-shik was 24 when he and director Kim Tae-yong worked on "Set Me Free" together. Both were nobodies: Choi was still doing bit parts on the side and Kim was directing his first feature. The film became an indie sensation. It swept that year's awards circuit, won Choi Best New Actor at Busan, and set everything in motion. A decade later, they've reunited for "Number One," a fairy-tale family drama about a son who begins to see numbers floating above his mother's head: a countdown, he later

Feb. 4, 2026

'I'd love to do something in English': Choi Woo-shik on Hollywood, and why it hasn't happened yet

Korean stars crossing over to Hollywood isn't exactly rare anymore: Park Seo-jun popped up in "The Marvels"; Jeon Jong-seo did "Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon" and has "Highlander" coming up. You'd think Choi Woo-shik would be a natural fit. The guy grew up in Vancouver, speaks fluent English and has one of the most recognizable faces in Korean cinema thanks to "Parasite." Yet the credits haven't come. What's the holdup? "Schedule," he says. "After 'Parasite,' there was tons of talk, lots of back

Feb. 4, 2026