“Made in Korea,” a series set in the 1970s starring Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung and Woo Do-hwan, will make its highly anticipated premiere on Disney+ on Dec. 24. 

The series is about Baek Kitae (Hyun Bin), an ambitious KCIA agent who lives a double life as an agent by day and a smuggler by night. He rapidly moves up the ranks after using his smuggling operation to consolidate power, protect his brother Baek Ki-hyeon (Woo Do-hwan), and generate vast sums of money for the agency. 

The one that stands in his way is prosecutor Jang Geon-young (Jung Woo-sung) who can't be reasoned with, bought or bribed. With everything at stake for the two of them, “Made in Korea” will follow the duo as they look to take each other down.

Jung Woo-sung in "Made in Korea" (Disney )

The poster for "Made in Korea" (Disney )

Hyun Bin in "Made in Korea" (Disney )

Woo Do-hwan in "Made in Korea" (Disney )

A press conference for “Made in Korea” was held in Seoul on Dec. 15 with Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung, Woo Do-hwan, Seo Eun-soo, Won Ji-an, Jung Sungil, Kang Gilwoo, Roh Jaewon, and Park Yongwoo, and director Woo Minho. Also in the cast is Japanese actor Lily Franky. 

“Made in Korea” is Hyun Bin and Jung Woo-sung’s first OTT original project. This is also Hyun Bin’s comeback drama in five years since starring in “Crash Landing on You.” 

It is also a reunion for Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung and director Woo Minho after working in the film “Harbin.” Jung Woo-sung made a special appearance in the film. 

Coincidentally, the title “Made in Korea” is the brand name of illegal drugs in Woo Minho’s 2018 film “The Drug King.” 

Hyun Bin said he is very excited to star in “Made in Korea.” 

“First of all, I'm just very excited and pleased that I get this chance to meet with global fans and viewers all across the globe on Disney Plus. And I'm working again with director Woo who was the director behind ‘Harbin which was my last film,” he said. 

He added,  “I have an immense amount of trust in director Woo. He has this ability to pull out new sides of myself. So as an actor, it's such an honor and a pleasure to work with a director like this. And for ‘Harbin,’ it's about the hurtful past of Korean history. And I played a real life figure. So that carried a lot of weight. That carried a lot of responsibility. But this time around with ‘Made in Korea,’ it's all fictional. It's fictional characters, fictional story. So it was a different kind of take and I was very excited to work with Director Woo and on a different kind of vibe.“

Director Woo agreed, saying, “As Bin just said, ‘Harbin’ was a very difficult piece for us to shoot because it carried a lot of weight. And because we've been through that together, I feel like with ‘Made in Korea,’ there was nothing in between us. We could be very frank about any opinions that we had about the show and we had a lot of fun on the set.”

Director Woo Minho at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Hyun Bin at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

The cast of "Made in Korea at the press conference on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Woo Do-hwan at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Jung Woo-sung at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Jung Woo-sung and Hyun Bin at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

About his character, who is a prosecutor, Jung Woo-sung said, “Just like you said, he's a very dogged person. You know, dogged means that you are very stuck on whatever you think is important. So, he is a very professional person. He's a very dogged prosecutor. He wants to get to the bottom of things.” 

He was impressed by the imagination of the series writer and director. 

“So, when I first read the script for Made in Korea, I was amazed by the imagination. It's very courageous. It's a very new type of imagination. Because when we go with period pieces, um, we try our best to make sure that we don't, um, take we don't talk about things that aren't fake. But this time around, it's perfectly fictional. So, it's based on imagination only despite it being set back in the 1970s Korea. So I love the bold imagination by the writer, the director and as an actor it really gave me a lot of courage on my end, especially because I could play freely with this character,” he said. 

Woo Do-hwan plays the role of Baek Ki-hyeon, a military officer who is the younger brother of Baek Kitae. The two are under a love-hate relationship.  

“Yeah, I love my brother, but I don't want to be under his shadows. So, I want to get out of his shadows and find my own way forward. So that's his desire that he's got and my biggest area of focus was that he has this immense love for his family,” he said. 

For his role, Woo Do-hwan said, “So I talked a lot with director Woo about how to bring that out from this character because if he's just struggling too much then he will look frail but if he doesn't express anything then people might not be able to read him. So for every single scene, I would talk a lot with Director Woo about how to strike the right balance. And he's a military officer, so I wanted to make sure that he has this very rigid type of speech.” 

Casting 

Director Woo described casting the actors in “Made in Korea” as “luck.” 

“Luck really, I was lucky to be able to have all of these actors in the same call sheet. That's something very difficult to do. So, I feel like I'm very lucky. And I'm just so grateful that this opportunity came along. Out of everything that I've done, I feel like I had the most fun on set with ‘Made in Korea.’  I don't know how this is going to sound, but out of all of my titles, all of the projects I've done, this is going to be the best one, the most entertaining,” he said. 

On what he focused on while making “Made in Korea,” the director said, “I feel like the power and strength came from each of the actors themselves. And for me, it was important that each of these characters could effectively deliver that sense of being almost possessed by that desire. And I had trust that our actors were able to do that. So, I feel like that was key in conveying the story to the audience.” 

“And this is something that's true of today as well, but it was truly a time of turmoil and chaos. And you may watch the series and think that the backdrop is the '70s, but not much is different from 2025 really. That's something you're going to be…the audience is going to feel almost intuitively. So I hope that you can go ahead and compare the days that we live in now and the days that are portrayed in the series,” he said. 

Hyun Bin said his character Ki-tae’s desire is to never go back to the time when he was struggling in life by having power and wealth. 

“So when I read the script and I wanted to find what propelled him, you know, what really drove him to follow his own desires. And from his childhood, Kite had something that he always lacked of you know, something that he always felt was insufficient, a source of his insecurities and living through the struggle that is life, he is so focused on never going back that he starts to focus on then what do I need to never go back and his answer to that question is power and wealth. And that is why he is so driven to pursue these things. On top of that he is the head of his family so he has a huge responsibility on his shoulders that he has to protect the family and I think all of those things added together and also the times that he lives in it has only fueled his desire going forward,” he said. 

The director revealed that overseas, they shot “Made in Korea” in Kobe, Japan, and in Thailand. 

“Kobe, which is a Japanese city. and we shot for about a month in Kobe. Kobe is a very historic place. It's the first port city of Japan, and you could kind of feel the 1970s Busan vibe in Kobe,” said Woo. 

Weight

For “Made in Korea,” Hyun Bin said he purposely gained weight of about 13 to 14 kilos for his character. 

“So you are right to have noticed that compared to when we worked on ‘Harbin,’ director Woo actually told me and shared with me that I think it would be better if you didn't have any muscles. You know, you weren't very muscular for the character. So that was what I did for ‘Harbin.’ I lost a lot of weight mass muscle mass and a lot of weight as well,” he said. 

Hyun Bin added, “However, compared to that, I gained weight about 13 to 14 kilograms compared to what I weighed in ‘Harbin.’ And the reason I put on weight on purpose is because Ki-tae is someone who is a chief at the KCIA which is synonymous with power, absolute power in the 70s in Korea. So I wanted his appearance to also reflect that as well. I wanted this character to really dominate the scene the moment he enters the scene.” 

“So that's why I deliberately gained weight. And as for my diet, I think it was a little bit more convenient for me because I didn't have to be as strict. So I do think I probably weighed the most. I have the biggest body right now compared to all of the roles in my past. Yes. So I am for sure physically the biggest person in character appearance-wise,” he said. 

Park Yong-woo at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Won Ji-an at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Kang Gil-woo at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Jung Sungil at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Seo Eun-soo at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

Roh Jae-won at the press conference for "Made in Korea" on Dec. 15 in Seoul (Disney )

“Crash Landing on You” 

“Crash Landing on You” became a hit series, especially in Japan. When asked what viewing records he would like to achieve for “Made in Korea,” Hyun Bin said, 

“I think you don't want to have your hopes too high, but I hope it does as well as ‘Crash Landing on You.’ And since you mentioned Japan, if you watch episode one of ‘Made in Korea,’ it's actually the first time I am acting with Japanese dialogue. So, I speak Japanese in episode one. I hope that's something our Japanese fans can enjoy. And all I want really is for as many people out there to enjoy the show,” said Hyun Bin. 

“Crash Landing on You” starred Hyun Bin and actress Son Ye-jin, who is now his wife. After the series, the two confirmed their relationship in 2021 and got married in March 2022. 

Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin in "Crash Landing on You" (tvN)

On what can “Made in Korea” attract global audiences since it’s set in 1970s Korea, Woo said, “I talked with Disney+ employees in and out of Korea and I asked them questions and they said that actually there was no cultural or political barrier because they said that it's really universal. It's about people who are full of desires and there are always power struggles in the political arena for all the different countries. So they found it very natural for those things to happen in the history of Korea and I hope that the global audience can enjoy it just like the Korean audience could,” he said. 

The first two episodes of “Made in Korea” season 1 will debut on Dec. 24 on Disney+ followed by episodes 3 and 4 on Dec. 31, and episode 5 on Jan. 7 before the finale on Jan. 14. 

Hyun Bin at the Disney Originals Preview held on Nov. 13 in Hong Kong (Jonathan Hicap)

(From left) Director Woo Minho, Jung Woo-sung, Hyun Bin and Woo Do-hwan at the Disney Originals Preview held on Nov. 13 in Hong Kong (Jonathan Hicap)