{ "id": "epkjhf7490", "slug": "two-cops-1993-film", "title": "Two Cops (투캅스) (1993 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.action-comedies", "label": "Action comedies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.action-comedies" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.action-comedies.action-comedies-1970s-to-1990s", "label": "Action comedies, 1970s to 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.action-comedies.action-comedies-1970s-to-1990s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Two Cops (투캅스, Tukabseu) is a 1993 South Korean buddy cop action-comedy directed by Kang Woo-suk, starring Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon as mismatched detectives; second biggest Korean film of 1993, spawning two sequels.", "snippet": "Two Cops (투캅스, Tukabseu) is a 1993 South Korean buddy cop action-comedy directed by Kang Woo-suk, starring Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon as mismatched detectives; second biggest Korean film of 1993, spawning two sequels.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.action-comedies.action-comedies-1970s-to-1990s", "markdown": "# Two Cops (투캅스) (1993 film)\n\n**Two Cops** (투캅스; *Tukabseu*) is a 1993 South Korean buddy cop action-comedy directed by Kang Woo-suk, in which a corrupt, easygoing detective is partnered with a principled rookie fresh out of the police academy. It was released on December 18, 1993, runs 110 minutes, and was produced by Kang Woo-suk Production and distributed by Cinema Service, the studio Kang founded in 1993.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041) • [2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/two_cops/two_cops.htm) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64) It stars Ahn Sung-ki, Park Joong-hoon, and [Ji Soo](https://www.edgepedia.org/ji-soo)-won.[4](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=1590)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | December 18, 1993, South Korea; 110 minutes; rated 15 and over[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041) |\n| Director / writer | Kang Woo-suk; screenplay by Kim Sung-hong[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/two_cops/two_cops.htm) |\n| Cast | Ahn Sung-ki (Detective Cho), Park Joong-hoon (Detective Kang), Ji Soo-won (Soo-won)[4](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=1590) |\n| Genre | Comedy, action, drama; an early Korean action-comedy[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041) • [3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64) |\n| Box office | 860,433 admissions recorded by Cine21; 860,000 Seoul audiences per the integrated cinema ticketing network (KOBIS)[4](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=1590) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047) |\n| 1993 standing | Second most successful Korean film of 1993[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=293) |\n| Major awards | 1994 Daejong Film Awards: joint Best Actor for Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon; 1994 Paeksang Arts Awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best New Actress[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047) • [1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041) |\n| Sequels | Two Cops 2 (1996) and Two Cops 3 (1998)[7](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=51) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nDetective Cho (Ahn Sung-ki) is a worldly, flexible officer who has accumulated a large sum through various illegal dealings, hiding the money under the names of an unmarried partner and their children while living frugally himself.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047) After his partner Detective Kim is dismissed from the force for taking bribes, Cho is assigned a new partner: Detective Kang (Park Joong-hoon), the top graduate of his police academy class, who insists on following every rule and procedure.[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=293) • [8](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/dispKobisView?movieCd=19930041)\n\nThe two clash at every turn, and Cho schemes to corrupt the rookie and restore his own comfortable routine. He uses a beautiful woman named Soo-won (Ji Soo-won) as bait in a honey trap; the unsuspecting Kang is assigned to protect her after she claims an anonymous caller is threatening her.[8](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/dispKobisView?movieCd=19930041) A serial murder case then breaks, and Soo-won is caught up as the killer's scapegoat. Kang pursues the criminal while protecting her and falls in love with her, and to win the hostess Soo-won he begins walking the same path of compromise as his senior partner.[8](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/dispKobisView?movieCd=19930041) The Korean Film Archive synopsis adds that Kang goes so far as to get hold of drugs and attempt a deal with criminals to earn money to impress her.[9](https://asianwiki.com/Two_Cops)\n\n## Production and context\n\n**Kang Woo-suk's breakthrough.** Two Cops was Kang Woo-suk's eighth film as director; after seven earlier outings, it delivered his first large box-office success and became the second most successful Korean film of 1993.[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=293) The Korean Film Council's retrospective describes it as a buddy cop action-comedy leaning on archetypes ported over from Hollywood cinema, and as a precursor to the renaissance of the local industry that followed, in which Kang became a major figure as both director and producer through Cinema Service.[6](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=293) The same council feature calls it one of the most significant and popular titles of 1993 and an early example of the action-comedy subgenre that has consistently drawn audiences in Korea.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64)\n\n**The leading pair.** Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon had already appeared together in Park Kwang-su's *[Chilsu and Mansu](https://www.edgepedia.org/chilsu-and-mansu)* (1988), and their chemistry in Two Cops made the film a showcase for both.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047) A retrospective on Ahn's career frames the film as the moment the established star of the 1980s passed the leading-man position to his younger colleague, and notes that the two jointly received the Best Actor award at the 1994 Daejong (Grand Bell) Film Awards for their work in it.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film drew 860,433 admissions according to Cine21; a Daum retrospective cites 860,000 Seoul audiences on the basis of the Korean cinema ticketing network (KOBIS).[4](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=1590) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047) A 1994 industry report placed it near 900,000 admissions alongside *Sopyonje*, which had passed one million.[10](https://img.sbs.co.kr/sbspdf/magazine/1994/1994_11.pdf)\n\nIts awards record in 1994 was extensive. The Korean Film Council database lists the Blue Dragon Awards Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film, and Paeksang Arts Awards for Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best New Actress, as well as Daejong Film Awards Best Actor.[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041) The Korean Film Archive records that at the 32nd Daejong Film Awards Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon jointly won both Best Actor and the Most Popular Male Actor award.[2](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/two_cops/two_cops.htm)\n\n## Legacy and sequels\n\nTwo Cops spawned two sequels directed within the same series, *[Two Cops 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-2)* (1996) and *Two Cops 3* (1998), making it one of the defining Korean film franchises of the 1990s alongside Im Kwon-taek's General's Son films.[7](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=51) The Korean Film Council's survey of detective films identifies it as an early entry in a lineage of Korean cop movies that continued through *[Tell Me Something](https://www.edgepedia.org/tell-me-something)* (1999), Kang's own *[Public Enemy](https://www.edgepedia.org/public-enemy-2002-film)* (2002), and later titles, and notes that the first film leans more heavily on comedy than on action set pieces.[3](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64) Academic accounts of Korean genre film place it among the 1990s cop films that gave their police heroes gangster makeovers, turning them into law-breaking mavericks.[11](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/396726/1/Aramchan_20Lee_20FINAL_20E-thesis_20_28LIBRARY_29.pdf) Its comic pairing of mismatched detectives has remained a recognizable template in Korean cinema, and scenes from the film have been parodied in later Korean comedies.[12](https://v.daum.net/v/20220514100001430)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Two Cops (1993), Korean Film Council (KOFIC) film database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19930041)\n2. [투캅스 Two Cops (1993), Korean Film Archive production notes](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/two_cops/two_cops.htm)\n3. [Ko-pick: Catching Criminals in Korean Detective Films](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=64)\n4. [투캅스 (Two Cops, 1993), Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=1590)\n5. [한국 영화 이끈 '안성기'와 뗄 수 없는 대표작 셋, Daum/OhmyNews (2026)](https://v.daum.net/v/20260106114408047)\n6. [TWO COPS, Korean Film Council in-focus feature by Pierce Conran (2019)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/inFocus.jsp?blbdComCd=601018&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=293)\n7. [Ko-pick: Korea's Film Franchises / Catching Criminals in Korean Detective Films, Korean Film Council](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/ko_pick.jsp?blbdComCd=601029&mode=VIEW&seq=51)\n8. [투캅스 synopsis, Filmmakers Community film database (KOBIS data)](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/dispKobisView?movieCd=19930041)\n9. [Two Cops (1993), AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Two_Cops)\n10. [1994 film industry report, SBS magazine archive](https://img.sbs.co.kr/sbspdf/magazine/1994/1994_11.pdf)\n11. [Aramchan Lee, doctoral thesis on Korean genre film, University of Southampton](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/396726/1/Aramchan_20Lee_20FINAL_20E-thesis_20_28LIBRARY_29.pdf)\n12. ['쉬리'부터 '투캅스'까지, 한국 영화 명장면 여기 다 있다, Daum (2022)](https://v.daum.net/v/20220514100001430)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action comedies › Action comedies, 1970s to 1990s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Two Cops (투캅스) (1993 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Two Cops (투캅스) (1993 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Two Cops (투캅스) (1993 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/two-cops-1993-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Two Cops is a 1993 South Korean buddy cop action-comedy directed by Kang Woo-suk, starring Ahn Sung-ki and Park Joong-hoon as mismatched detectives; second biggest Korean film of 1993, spawning two sequels." }