It's hard to rate. The movie is largely discussions and deals made in various rooms in China, South Korea, and North Korea. A South Korean spy acts like a drunkard loaning money from all his friends to then never repay it. This is a cover to act like he was a secret agent who then got a new job. He then plans to get into North Korea by buying goods from them. This leads him to meet Kim Jong-il and set up the first business across South and North Korea by letting companies let ads be filmed in North Korea to market their products. This is a scheme to get close to the nuclear plant to check on their weapons program. This is a huge business for Kim Jong-il and he also uses the opportunity to sell historical artifacts to the West. But the secret agency called NIS always supports the conservative presidential candidates in South Korea and they make North Korea stage an attack on the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Later during another election they pay North Korea $4m to stage a much greater and more significant attack. The spy overhears this deal via his spy equipment and by planting gadgets into the fax machine the North Korean leaders are using. Then him and a high ranking friend he made in North Korea visit Kim Jong-il again and convince him to stop the attack to let the bigger business continue and he agrees when he hears about stolen money. Which leads to South Korea finally electing a left-wing leader and the NIS leader getting arrested.
While much of the spy story is smart compared to Western bang-bang spy stories it's not quite complete. South Korean movies often just switch between scenes and events, seldom following a clear story. Many scenes are dark and gloomy. And much of the talk is a bit much as the spy acts super fake in his new role as a businessman and it's jarring and fake at every step. Much of the plot is totally unclear as many characters are hardly introduced. Worst of all it's a weird mix of fact and fiction and I guess about 10% is fact. The facts is stuff like NIS interfering in elections, the fake salesman going to North Korea and meeting all their leaders, how North and South Korean functioned, the leaders and elections. But a ton of it is fully fake I assume like the whole attack stuff and how they debate plans with the North Korean dictator. It's also curious how much spy stuff he smuggled into North Korea and used on the room above his to overhear the most important plan in North Korean history. You'd think he would have been checked. The whole thing is a bit too easy for him. The North Koreans only put a mic near him at one time and the rest of the time he freely makes plans in rooms and on the streets with no one overhearing him which is quite impossible especially considering he is here presented as the first ever big South Korean capitalist connection so surely they would spy on him. Overall the story is forced and many storylines fade away. We seldom get to like or meet anyone. They are all stuck up and fake so we never feel like it's a real world. They even bring him to a small village in North Korea where so many people die that he sees piles of dead bodies, I think. Stuff North Korea would never in a million years show a Western tourist. And every story he tells everyone believes in right away for no good reason so he can meet with anyone and do anything he pleases in North Korea. It feels too fake. The real story is ignored for this bigger fake story that is badly told. It's still engaging though and just about worth a watch. The real history is in the background of all of this with how NIS acted. But image how great a movie you could make about the actual NIS. That would be amazing. This is what we have though.
While much of the spy story is smart compared to Western bang-bang spy stories it's not quite complete. South Korean movies often just switch between scenes and events, seldom following a clear story. Many scenes are dark and gloomy. And much of the talk is a bit much as the spy acts super fake in his new role as a businessman and it's jarring and fake at every step. Much of the plot is totally unclear as many characters are hardly introduced. Worst of all it's a weird mix of fact and fiction and I guess about 10% is fact. The facts is stuff like NIS interfering in elections, the fake salesman going to North Korea and meeting all their leaders, how North and South Korean functioned, the leaders and elections. But a ton of it is fully fake I assume like the whole attack stuff and how they debate plans with the North Korean dictator. It's also curious how much spy stuff he smuggled into North Korea and used on the room above his to overhear the most important plan in North Korean history. You'd think he would have been checked. The whole thing is a bit too easy for him. The North Koreans only put a mic near him at one time and the rest of the time he freely makes plans in rooms and on the streets with no one overhearing him which is quite impossible especially considering he is here presented as the first ever big South Korean capitalist connection so surely they would spy on him. Overall the story is forced and many storylines fade away. We seldom get to like or meet anyone. They are all stuck up and fake so we never feel like it's a real world. They even bring him to a small village in North Korea where so many people die that he sees piles of dead bodies, I think. Stuff North Korea would never in a million years show a Western tourist. And every story he tells everyone believes in right away for no good reason so he can meet with anyone and do anything he pleases in North Korea. It feels too fake. The real story is ignored for this bigger fake story that is badly told. It's still engaging though and just about worth a watch. The real history is in the background of all of this with how NIS acted. But image how great a movie you could make about the actual NIS. That would be amazing. This is what we have though.