01x02 - K-Food

[bunniefuu]

I believe
I'm about to be zombie-fied.

Will I look beautiful
after you're all done?

I'll look very handsome?

[in Korean]
Yes, a handsome zombie.

[in English] I feel
like I'm in good hands.

There is something to be said

for feeling
and seeing the things

that you're working with,
as opposed to imagining them.

It adds
a little bit of authenticity.

[man speaking Korean]

Oh, my.

Look at this.

That's really good.

Some might say
this is an improvement.

[chuckles]

Yeah, a bad day at the office.

I'm Daniel Dae Kim. Actor...

Daniel, nice to meet you.

...producer and proud
Korean American.

All right, we have to stop
before I get emotional.

When I was a kid,
it was not cool to be Korean.

Then this happened.

[woman 1]
This cultural phenomenon
or Korean wave...

[woman 2] K-pop
along with TV dramas...

[Daniel] Now I'm going
to South Korea.

It's so good.

Where I was born.

It's exactly
what I remember as a kid.

To find out how this
small nation in East Asia

rose from the ashes of w*r...

[man 1] The end of three years
of bitter conflict...

[Daniel] ...dictatorship
and poverty...

[man 2] Decades of sacrifice,
years of success.

[Daniel] To conquer
the world...

Parasite.

[Daniel] ...with it's culture
in just one generation.

[all laughing]

Oh, we can go global now.

- Oh, my God!
- Whoo!

- Bottoms up.
- [laughing]

[Daniel] From K-pop...

Day Ones, we love you.

[Daniel] ...to K-beauty.

- Shake it.
- This is a new world.

To K-Everything.

Seoul is like
an open-air film set.

[women chattering]

Everywhere you turn...

Follow me.

[scoffs]

...there's a story
you probably already know.

[speaks Korean]

[Daniel] Korean content
has gone global.

[speaks Korean]

[Daniel] Consider this,

the most viewed Netflix
movie and TV series of all time

are both Korean stories.

So a problem with your voice.

That's my voice.

KPop Demon Hunters
was American made,

but full of Korean symbols
and mythology.

I took the role because
I thought it would be a fun,

feel-good film
for the whole family.

But award-winning
global smash hit?

I got to admit
I didn't see it coming.

I see.

And of course,
there's Squid Game.

The worldwide phenomenon.

And the Oscar goes to...

Parasite.

[Daniel] And Parasite,

which won four
Academy Awards in 2020,

including best picture.

Director Bong Joon h*
made audiences feel,

even in a different language.

[Daniel] Well, this place
is kind of cool.

I haven't seen a Starbucks
like this before.

Darcy Paquet helped
break that one-inch barrier,

translating English subtitles
for over 100 Korean movies,

including Parasite.

He's one of Korea's
most prominent

and respected film critics.

You know, I quickly got
the sense that there was this

really intense
film culture in Korea.

[Daniel] Like Greek tragedy,

Korean storytelling
hinges on emotion.

And there are three that fuel
much of the creativity here.

Each of them distinctly Korean,
part of the cultural identity.

And felt so deeply,
with such nuance,

they're hard words
to translate into English.

The first you need to know
is Han.

Han is basically this idea

that someone
who's going through

some kind of oppression,
that feeling of anguish

kind of builds up
in your chest.

If you're not able
to express that

over a long period of time,
that it accumulates within you.

What else
would you say, though,

characterizes Korean cinema?

I do feel there's
a kind of directness

to the way that emotions
are transmitted to the viewer.

- Mm.
- And I think in Hollywood

it's a little bit
more indirect.

Whereas in Korean films,

it's often these moments
of really intense emotion

where the story
stops for a bit,

then you take in that emotion.

That feels very typical
for Korean cinema to me.

It seems to me
like in American cinema,

the holy-sh*t moments

- are the size of the expl*si*n.
- Right.

But in Korean cinema,

it's an emotionally-based
holy-sh*t.

- It's an internal expl*si*n.
- Yeah.

Do you remember
the first movie that you saw

that kind of featured that
in a way

- that really surprised you?
- Mm. Yeah.

[Darcy] JSA
was one of the first,

the early films that I saw.

[Daniel] JSA is
Joint Security Area,

the only part of
the demilitarized zone

where North Korean soldiers
and South Korean soldiers

stand face to face.

It's also a groundbreaking film
from 2000

that tackled
the complex emotions

of a peninsula split in two.

[Darcy] You know, that's a film
that is really intense,

and you know
the moments at the end

where you have soldiers
from North Korea

and South Korea
who have very much unofficially

and secretly gotten
to know each other

and formed this friendship.

But you know, beneath that,
these tensions remain,

and when a spark
kind of, you know, pulls that,

it causes that tension
to explode.

It's a really intense moment.

So even as an outsider,
you are kind of starting

to understand Korean culture
through cinema in that way,

because of the North Korea
South Korea divide.

That divide
still looms large here.

Like so many
of the historical events

that left South Korea reeling
in the 20th century,

the Japanese occupation
from 1910 to 1945.

The Korean w*r,

decades of dictatorship
that followed.

For some Koreans,
trauma from the past

compounded and passed
down over generations.

Rapid modernization
over the last 30 years

meant class divisions widened,

depicted in films
like Parasite.

That's Han.

In the '90s in particular,
it was something that was seen

as being very central
to Korean identity.

[Daniel] It's also one way
to interpret

one of my all-time
favorite films, Oldboy.

Director Park Chan-Wook's
seminal film from 2003.

A dark reflection
on revenge and tragedy.

A man framed for m*rder,
held in solitary confinement,

biding his time
until he bursts onto the scene.

I remember some of
my favorite movies, like

Director Park's
revenge trilogy.

That changed
the way I look at cinema.

- Yeah.
- Would you equate it

to the 1970s in American cinema

when you had auteurs emerging

- like Coppola and Scorsese?
- Yeah.

Come on, man, just get me
out of here. All right?

I think that's
a really good comparison,

because, I mean, similar
to the 1970s in Hollywood,

this was a group of filmmakers
who had kind of emerged

around the same time,

and they were all in contact
with each other

and kind of sharing ideas
with each other

and showing their work
to each other.

They were creating
something new.

Korean cinema up to that point,
had been focused,

I mean, the ideal had been
realism social realism,

partly because censorship
had been so strict.

Directors naturally
wanted to make films

that would
break through censorship

and say something meaningful
about society.

[Daniel] Censorship
was in place until 1996,

when a court ruling
lifted the lid off the arts.

Part of sweeping
government policy changes,

including hundreds of millions
of US dollars in investment,

tax breaks and subsidies

to promote and export
Korean culture

in the 1990s and 2000s.

A way to diversify
South Korea's economy

after the Asian
financial crisis in 1997.

It ushered in a new era
of storytelling.

- [yells]
- An avenue to explore
this idea of Han

that had built up over decades.

Audiences devoured it.

You've been here now
for decades,

and you've watched
where Korean cinema

came from in the '90s.

Now you see the place that
it's taken in the world cinema.

Why do you think it's been able
to, to grow the way it has?

When I first arrived in Korea,
I was really impressed

by people's passion for cinema.

And not just Korean cinema,
but cinema all over the world.

I think when you have
an audience

that loves cinema so much

but is also demanding
good cinema... [chuckles]

...you know,
they're very opinionated.

It keeps filmmakers
on their toes.

[chuckles] For sure.

It means you can't just
make the same thing

over and over again
and expect to be successful.

You have to constantly
be trying something new.

[indistinct chatter]

[Daniel]
I'm on the set of a drama
produced by the TV studio SLL

and directed by Cha Young Hoon.

[speaks Korean]

[Daniel] Like Hollywood,
scripts can change on the fly.

But unlike
a lot of productions,

they often sh**t
dozens of scenes a day,

something that I haven't seen
very much of in Hollywood.

This drama tells the story
of intense competition

in the Korean
production industry.

[indistinct conversation]

[Daniel] It's called
We Are All Trying Here.

Part of becoming a success

means that you have
to fight for it,

which means that there's a lot
of competition for success.

Do you feel like Korean culture
is one that's very competitive

and one that
you have to fight to succeed?

[speaking Korean]
I can't deny it.

In Korea, even before
Korean drama content

become globally known,

there was fierce competition.

The desire to expand globally

and appeal
to different audiences,

that has created the current

competitiveness
of Korean content.

I know it's very cold outside,
you have to continue sh**ting,

but thank you very much
for taking time.

It was a pleasure to meet you.

[speaks Korean]

[indistinct conversations]

[announcer
speaking indistinctly]

[crowd cheering]

[Daniel in English]
This launched the same year

the government
lifted censorship.

Today the Busan
International Film Festival

is Asia's premier celebration
of the art of filmmaking,

that regularly draws
actors and directors

from all over the world,
including Hollywood and home.

[speaks Korean]

[in English] I'm not used
to being on the stage

because I'm an actor,

so I'm used to be
in front of the camera.

[Daniel] Lee Byung-hun
is in unfamiliar territory.

He plays the infamous Front Man
in Squid Game,

but on this night
he's playing the role of host

for the 30th edition
of the festival.

[Byung-hun]
A little bit nervous.

I'm just worried that if I make
a mistake or not.

[speaks Korean]

[crowd cheering]

[Daniel] Followed by
a tireless press tour

for No Other Choice...

We are here to present
our new film, No Other Choice.

[crowd cheering]

[Daniel] ...which earned Lee
a Golden Globe nomination.

[Daniel] By the time
I catch up with him

at Seoul's oldest hotel...

I'm having
really happy moments,

but at the same time,
I'm so exhausted, actually.

[Daniel]
...he's justifiably jet lagged.

I don't know
what time I'm having.

- What time zone you're in.
- Yeah.

So it's kind of
a middle of the ocean, I think.

- [both laughs]
- Yeah, that's my jet lag now.

One of, kind of
the side effects

of global success now

is that you have to
travel the globe.

You just happen to be involved

with hit after hit
after hit after hit.

[chuckles]
I'm so grateful for that.

Journalists asked me,
even in America too,

why Korean contents
is so popular these days.

[Daniel] Mm.

I think it's
a unpredictable storyline.

[speaks Korean]

After going through so many
major historical events,

wouldn't the changes
in our collective character

naturally influence
our content as well?

I've heard people
talk about this

as a sort of
compressed modernization,

that since the Korean w*r,
since the colonization,

everything in Korea
happened so fast.

Poverty, hardship, success

and struggling
with those things

in a very compressed
period of time.

- Would you agree with that?
- [in English] Yeah.

I think so. And Korea
is a very competitive society,

so everyone
is trying to survive

in those competitions.

Yes. Yes!

[Daniel] The second uniquely
Korean word you should know

is the opposite of Han.

- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah, totally
gonna work, 100%.

Heung.

How would you describe Heung
in Korean?

- Positive and happy energy.
- Coming from where?

From the spirit
or from their soul.

Mm-hmm.

[speaking Korean]
As a representative example,

I think K-Pop Demon Hunters,

which is currently
taking the world by storm,

is one of the closest examples
of that kind of Heung.

So if you want to know
what Heung is,

watch KPop Demon Hunters.

[laughs]

You know, that's the first time
we've ever worked together,

by the way.

- K-Pop Demon Hunters.
- [in English] Oh!
Right, right, right.

[laughs]

I couldn't imagine
this amazing result.

I wanted to watch some movie

- that I am involved in
with my kids.
- Mm-hmm.

What did they say
about the movie?

- So I watched it with my son,
- Mm-hmm.

He asked me,
"So who did you act?"

Do you see that fire?

- That's me.
- [Daniel laughs]

And then,
and then he asked me, um,
"Are you villain?"

So I said yes,
and then he said "Again?"

[both laugh]

He was so disappointed.

[Daniel] In a storied career,
Lee often finds himself

playing the villain.

Though that's not
how he started in the film

that made him famous,

Joint Security Area.

[speaking Korean]
After about four failed films,

J.S.A was the first film
to truly break

all of the records
of all Korean films
and receive so much love.

So what do you think
made that film so special?

[in English] It was
very successful
both ways.

Commercially, artistically.

At the time, it was very hard
to be successful, uh,
both ways.

You know, I'd seen JSA,

and I thought
you were great in JSA.

But A Bittersweet Life,

- is where I thought
"This dude is cool."
- Ah.

[Daniel] Cool and brutal
in the 2005 revenge thriller.

Lee was mesmerizing,

a conflicted,
flawed protagonist

who ends in tragedy.

That recurring theme
in Korean cinema of sacrifice

and hollow victories.

[indistinct chatter]

And it was my close-up shot.

- [laughs]
- I fall asleep.

When you think about Korea

and you think about
entertainment in particular,

what do you hope
will happen in the future?

[speaking Korean]

One last question
really quickly,

without thinking,

what is the job
you're most proud of?

[in English]
A Bittersweet Life.

[laughs]

My favorite too. Cheers.

Bottoms up.

[both laughing]

It's gonna be
one of those nights.

[both speaking Korean]

[in English]
Thank you very much
for showing us your place.

[both in Korean]

[Daniel in English]
At this point in our journey,
a little warning.

Korean productions
aren't just about emotion.

Look at this guy.

They're about vivid realism,
and it can get dark.

[breathing heavily]

Enter the Korean zombie.

[growls]

Among the most terrifying
and gruesome monsters

that stalk the shadows
of our screens.

Just watch the 2019
Netflix series Kingdom

to see what I mean.

Those special effects
were made here,

Technical Arts Studio, Cell.

Now remember,
these are just props.

Hwang Hyo-gyun
is the company founder,

one of the best
in the business.

I've seen people
in better shape.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

What do you think is the reason
or the secret that Korea

was able to catch up so quickly

with this kind of
specialty field?

It's very difficult work.

[speaking Korean]
Koreans are really good
at doing very detailed work,

so the satisfaction level
is like, after finishing
a certain level,

they say,
"Oh, this is good enough,"

and then they say,
"Do a little more,
a little more, a little more."

[Daniel]
Hwang's team has worked

on hundreds of Korean films
and dramas.

I got the chance
to work with them, too,

on my Amazon series Butterfly.

[speaking Korean]
Special effects makeup
isn't a solo project.

So, no matter how long
we've been working together,

collaboration is
the biggest advantage.

[Daniel] But how does it
make you feel, though,

that the world
is coming to Korea now?

[speaking Korean] I think it's
something a little hard
to imagine a few years ago,

but I think it'll get
better and better
in the future.

I hope so.

[both laugh]

[machine whirring]

[speaking Korean]

Wow.

That looks so good. Looks good.
Should I just wear this?

[mimicking chainsaw]

Alas, poor Yorick!

This is...

[speaking Korean] Dinner?

Dinner tonight.

[in English] Steak. Drumstick.

[laughs]

[Daniel]
Now we're getting scary.

[laughing]

How many heads do you think
you've actually made?

Like severed heads?

[speaking Korean] I think
I must have made about


- Wow.
- [in English] Yeah.

[Hwang speaking Korean]
These days, the picture quality
has improved,

and the audience's standards
have become so high

that when something
isn't expressed well,

they immediately think,
"It feels fake.
It doesn't look real."

[Daniel] Thank you
for showing us your studio.

Zombie films often feature
searing critiques

of social inequity
and the government.

Like the thriller trilogy
Seoul Station,

Train to Busan, and Peninsula.

All by one of Korea's
most famous directors,

- [grunting]
- Yeon Sang-h*.

A master of making
physical terror

from psychological pain.

So it's a little jarring to
meet this king of darkness here

in a quiet comic book store
in southern Seoul.

[speaking Korean]
I really loved comics,

actually I used to spend a lot
of time at places like this.

It's been a while
since I've been here.

It feels like you're
very comfortable

in this kind of store.

Comic books and webtoons are
a big part of Korean culture.

It's called "Manhwa."

The thought of becoming
a film director
never occurred to me.

I started out with the idea
of becoming a cartoonist
or animating.

[Daniel]
Turns out he liked writing,
and he was good at it.

So he worked
with other animators

to bring his stories to life.

They have
one of yours here, too.

Hellbound was based
on a manhwa, right?

Where could Hellbound be?

H7.

[speaking Korean]

H7.

[in English] H7. A, B, C.

[both speaking Korean]

[in English] Wow.

Can I see?

We find three
of Yeon's comic books here,

all of which he's directed
as films or series now

on Netflix.

Including Hellbound from 2021.

[Shang-h* in English]
Revelation.

[Daniel] Revelations from 2025,
a serial k*ller and a ghost.

[Shang-h*] Peninsula.

[Daniel] And Peninsula
from 2020.

Korea overrun by what else?

Zombies.

You know,
one of the things I like

about your work
with the zombie is that

a lot of your movies have to do
with class structure,

system structure

and how we treat each other
as people.

And the zombies
are symbols of that.

[speaking Korean] For me
to create a story, I need some
kind of a driving force.

I thought that
the stronger the anger

or emotions I feel while living
in a certain society,

the stronger the motivation
to write a certain story
becomes.

[Daniel] That darkness
brings emotional heft,

and it seems to click
like in Train to Busan.

I thought that the zombie genre

would go well together
when mixed with fatherly love.

They say when emotions
are mixed with zombies,

synergy can be created.

It's like how sprinkling salt
on something sweet

makes it taste even sweeter.

Okay.

Have you been here before?

I actually
have been here before.

Now, I may be biased,
but I love going to the movies.

I usually go eat.
How about you?

Let's do it.

Especially with a good friend.

- Let's get some popcorn.
- Popcorn.

[Daniel] Michael Lee is also
a Korean American actor.

We'll share,
like we're on a date.

[Daniel] He's chosen to make
his career here in Korea,

where he's become
one of the country's

foremost musical actors.

[Michael] You know,
when I think of the movies

and I think about
coming to see a movie,

I think of
my childhood memories.

It's such a magical place

where things
are larger than life.

And so in terms of escapism,
there's no better way

to experience that
than going to the movies.

[Daniel] I just like the idea
of seeing something

together with other people.

The sense of community
is something

that you'll never have
watching something by yourself.

[Michael] That's true.
That's true.

[Daniel] I don't think
that's replaceable.

- Yes.
- This is a crazy theater, man.

This is huge.

- They do it big here, brother.
- Yeah.

Today we have
a private screening,

but we're not alone here
in our passion for cinema.

In 2019, box offices here

sold over 200 million
movie tickets,

making Koreans
among the world's

most active cinema goers.

But the global pandemic

and surge of streaming
changed that.

So of course, the Koreans

have come up
with a high-tech solution

to supercharge
the cinema experience.

- My God.
- [whooping]

I need a seat belt.

Eating my popcorn.

It's called 4DX Theater.

Oh, man.

And it's a wild ride.

[both exhale]

We're watching
a 2025 Korean animated film

called Exorcism Chronicles:
The Beginning.

- Oh. Oh, Hello.
- Yeah. More blood.

[Michael] That, Han,
is what they call it,

that spirit
of that generational

connected spirit that we have.

It's this continuation
of this spirit

that I think when expressed

is unquestionably relatable
and unquestionably emotional.

Do you think there's a need
to tell stories?

I do, brother. I absolutely do.

I think it's important for us
to get those stories out there.

There's just so much passion
here in Korea, I think,

and the fact
that we're now introducing

that passion to the world
is really exciting.

Yeah.

And the Oscar goes to...

Parasite.

[crowd cheering]

[Daniel] When director
Bong Joon h*'s film

won best picture in 2020,

the exec behind its production
had the last word.

Hi, everybody.

Did you ever dream
you would be there?

No! They just dragged me
up to the stage.

And I wasn't really planning
to give a speech.

To me, that moment was
almost a coronation for you.

- Yeah, I was just so grateful
for everybody.
- Mm-hmm.

[Daniel] Miky Lee is an icon
who rarely gives interviews.

Exactly.

[Daniel] But as vice chairwoman
of CJ Group,

she practically built
an entire industry

to export Korean culture.

You were one of the ones
who were insisting

that one day Korean culture

would be the epicenter
of the world.

Yes.

How did you know that?

[laughs]

[Daniel] Everyone in
the business knows Miky Lee.

She was born in 1958.

Granddaughter of
the founder of CJ and Samsung.

He died in 1987,
the same year South Korea

transitioned from military rule
to democracy.

My grandfather
always told us growing up,

the nation will have
the true competitive advantage,

when power of culture
is combined

with industrial
and economic growth.

At that time,
awareness of Korean culture

- was much different
from what it is today.
- Yes.

Are you from North Korea
or South Korea?

That was
the most asked question

when I answered like,
"Oh, I'm from Korea."

[Daniel] In 1995, Miky led CJ's
$300,000,000 investment

in DreamWorks,

a studio founded
by Steven Spielberg,

Jeffrey Katzenberg
and David Geffen.

In exchange,
she asked for advice

on how Korea could replicate
Hollywood's success.

And they always emphasized
very important two points,

entertainment business
is making intangible assets

into tangible,
lucrative business.

So you need
to build infrastructure

that the creators and artists

can continue
to create the storytelling

and their performance
and their creative activity.

[Daniel] So she built
multiplex theaters,

Korea's first,

and launched CJ's cinema empire
spanning seven countries.

It also meant less reliance

on national funding
for creators

because even after
censorship ended,

elements of
government control remained.

That helped aspiring filmmakers
like Bong Joon h*.

Because you gave them a place

- to showcase their movies.
- Yes.

If you build it,
they will come.

- Yes, exactly.
- Mm-hmm.

We just had
so many great creators

who just has this huge,
endless desire

to tell their stories,
and they are the generation

who went through,
like, student movement,

democratization,
rapid economic growth,

the generations thinking about
how to tell our stories

in a refined way, right,

but very edgy.

What gave you the idea

that you would want to do this
and make this your mission?

Somehow, I have
the belief that Koreans

have the great passion
for music and storytelling.

Our storytelling,
there is always

the layered narrative
and emotional density.

[Daniel] Lee continued
investing, founding Mnet

as a home for Korean music,
and the Mama Awards.

She supported countless films
and directors.

Like the more arthouse styles
of Lee Chang-Dong

and Hong Sang-soo.

And Park Chan Wook,

who won the Grand Prix
at Cannes in 2004

for that film, Oldboy.

But over the decades,

nothing hit her,
like this moment.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

It kind of hit me later
that, "Wow,

- this is really significant."
And our storytelling...
- Mm.

...it can resonate
outside of Asia.

Korea is having its time
in the spotlight now,

but that may not
always be the case.

- Right.
- What do you see happening

in the next 40 years
in terms of

not just Korean content
but global content?

As long as we have
that good storytelling

with authenticity,

as long as our goal is not just
promoting Korean culture,

our goal is to bring
everybody together.

That's what I am doing,
I believe.

I'm so, like, feel blessed
and happy to be in a place

where I can really support
people in that way.

And our message is,

"If we can do it,
you can do it."

[woman and Daniel
speaking Korean]

- Do you know bungeoppang?
- Yes, it's delicious.

But it's smaller that when
I saw it last time.

[Daniel in English]
If there's Han, internal pain,

and Heung, internal joy,

then the third emotional pillar
is Jeong,

which can be described
as a feeling of deep love,

an emotional connection.

It's the beating heart
of the Korean wave.

Scenes like this from the drama

Guardian: The Lonely
and Great God

have melted the hearts
of millions across the world.

[speaking Korean]

It was written by Kim Eun-sook.

We're in Insadong,
one of the oldest

neighborhoods in Seoul,
famous for its hanoks,

traditional Korean houses
converted to cafes.

And one of the city's many
backdrops for filming K-dramas.

[woman in Korean]
Wow, look at these people.

Kim is an industry legend

with over a dozen TV series
to her name,

blockbusters like
Descendants of the Sun.

[in Korean] Here.

[groaning]

[in Korean]
Finding something new
is always a real pain,

but since
I'm getting paid a lot,

I'm always sitting at my desk
trying to find something new.

So you must have
a very creative mind.

- [in English] Yes.
- Mm-hm.

Do you think about you are
an ambassador of Korean culture

when you write a drama,
because so many people

around the world
will see it now?

[in Korean] Not really,

but I try to be.

So, the first big thing
is to select

great Korean actors
and introduce them.

- Oh, really?
- [in English] Yeah, really.

[in Korean] The second
is to talk about

Korean mythology
and other stories.

Then, food,
and then Korean cursing.

Oh! Oh, yeah, that's true.
That's true.

There's a really
interesting phenomenon.

I heard that some
of the bad words

any ugly words in Korea
are now popular overseas.

- Oh, interesting.
- [speaks Korean]

I do, but I don't think
I can say them on TV.

Your personality is so bright
and charming and funny.

I had no idea. But of course
you should be this way,

because it's in your writing.

[in Korean] Now
I want to whisper you
some more words.

I learned a lot already.

That razor sharp
wit and bright humor

come across in Kim's writing,
even in her darkest dramas.

One of which is ironically
called Mr. Sunshine.

[in Korean] I drowned.

A period piece about the fight
for Korean independence

in the early 1900s.

Good writing often draws
inspiration from history.

[in Korean] I'm the one
and only Genie,
spirit of the lamp!

[Daniel] Age-old symbols
and mythology too.

Our first stories.

[in Korean]
Let me tell you a secret.

Koreans have
something called taemong.

No.

A taemong is a kind of
mythical dream
that the mother, father,

or another family member has
before a child is born.

For example,
dreaming of a tiger

is often taken
to mean the child
will be a brave boy.

Yes. So, all Koreans are born
with their own names,

and thus their own myths.

That's why mythology
is so familiar to me,

and the more I collect,

the more mythical stories
I find.

[Daniel in English]
The popularity
of K-drama stories

has been translating
to audiences

outside of Korea
since the mid-1990s

with hits like Winter Sonata
and What Is Love

in places
like the US, Australia,

and the Middle East.

Kim's show The Glory
was in the top 10

most watched Netflix series,

with over 600 million hours
of viewing in 2023.

All of that
in just three decades.

[in Korean]
Oh, you're finally here.

It took you a while.

[Daniel] And unlike Hollywood,

taking a more modest approach
to love on screen,

mirroring Korea's
societal views,

more of a slow burn.

What is the secret
to a good love story?

[in Korean] Methodologically,
it's about connecting
good characters.

A man with a certain
conviction, a woman
with a certain conviction.

How the male
and female protagonists
overcome adversity,

make sacrifice, face pain,
but ultimately,

the journey to the kiss
in the final scene,
that's all there is to it.

It's all about writing that
in a fun and fresh way.

[Daniel]
Only a kiss. Korean dramas
are very innocent that way.

Even holding hands
is a big deal. Right?

So if you kiss, that's,
that's the happy ending.

[Kim Eun-sook]
After about three days,
a kiss scene will appear.

I see.
There's a time frame. I see.

Before, kissing
was only allowed at the ending,

as if legally mandated,

but now I've pushed it
a bit earlier,

so Koreans now accept kissing
after three episodes or so.

After building up emotions.

You told me a secret before.

Tell me the secret
of why Korean culture

is where it is now?

Working hard.

People with talent
can do things quickly.

So, that's a certain
Korean nature or tenacity.

We're a people who always like
to have laughter around us.

It's in our blood.

I think that's why
we've reached a point

where we laugh among ourselves
and make the world laugh.

Is that Heung?

Heung, Jeong,

- Han.
- Han.

Heung, Jeong, Han, all three?

All three elements
in the DNA of Koreans.

[speaking Korean]

I will order now.

And do you have
draft beers here?

Okay, thank you.

[Daniel in English]
Let me tell you a story.

About one of
the most successful

Korean films ever released.

- [man yelling]
- [exclaims]

[Daniel] Extreme Job.

A comedy featuring a team

of down on their luck
police officers

staking out a drug cartel
from a chicken shop

much like this one.

[in Korean]
That's a big portion.

[Daniel in English]
Long story short,
they buy the restaurant

and soon
find themselves learning

how to expertly make
Korean fried chicken.

[in Korean]
Why is this so delicious?
Who made it?

It's me.

[Daniel] Then
their recipe goes viral.

It's slapstick,

but a classic redemption story,

highlighting deeper
issues here,

like the struggle to succeed
with intense competition.

You know,
we are all trying here.

[indistinct chatter]

Korean storytelling is daring,

but definitely not a monolith.

It's not all dark,
not all vengeance

or fairy tale romance.

It's reflective of the world
these creators live in.

Because here's the other thing,
Korea is not perfect.

No society is.

In a place where Han and Heung,

and Jeong all coexist.

And given its complicated past,

Korea has its own
unique set of flaws,

but that's also why its
entertainment can flourish.

Some people watch a film
to escape a world

filled with problems.

My popcorn.

In Korea, storytellers
address them head on.

And there isn't always a hero
or Hollywood ending.

That is why
people can't stop watching.

These stories
mirror our own lives

and address
the universal truths

of the human condition,

agony,

shame,

inequality,

love,

ambition,

- pride...
- Bottoms up.

...fear,

- and laughter.
- Exactly.

Sometimes all it takes is

a heaping plate
of fried chicken.

You see, food connects too,

but that is a different story.