{ "id": "ep09xeqjf9", "slug": "white-valentine", "title": "White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인)", "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.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999", "label": "Comedies of 1995 to 1999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.black-and-satirical-comedies", "label": "Black and satirical comedies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.black-and-satirical-comedies" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.black-and-satirical-comedies.yr-1999", "label": "Released in 1999", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.black-and-satirical-comedies.yr-1999" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: 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", "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" } ] } ], "excerpt": "White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인) is a 1999 South Korean romance film directed by Yang Yun-ho, starring Park Shin-yang and Jun Ji-hyun in her debut, about a dove-carried letter correspondence between reunited childhood pen pals.", "snippet": "White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인) is a 1999 South Korean romance film directed by Yang Yun-ho, starring Park Shin-yang and Jun Ji-hyun in her debut, about a dove-carried letter correspondence between reunited childhood pen pals.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1995-to-1999.black-and-satirical-comedies.yr-1999", "markdown": "# White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인)\n\n**White Valentine** (화이트 발렌타인) is a 1999 South Korean romance film directed by Yang Yun-ho, in which a young woman and a grieving bird-shop owner begin an anonymous correspondence carried by a carrier pigeon, unaware that they were pen pals in her childhood. It stars Park Shin-yang and [Jun Ji-hyun](https://www.edgepedia.org/jun-ji-hyun), for whom it was her film debut, and was released in South Korea on February 13, 1999.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302031/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | 화이트 발렌타인 (Hwaiteu ballenta-in) |\n| Release | February 13, 1999, South Korea[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) |\n| Director / writers | Yang Yun-ho; screenplay by Lee Eun-kyung and Lee Byung-ryul[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [3](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/white_valentine/white_valentine.htm) |\n| Cast | Park Shin-yang (Hyun-jun), Jun Ji-hyun (Jung-min), Jeon Moo-song (Jung-min's grandfather), Kim Yeong-ok, Yang Dong-geun[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [4](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film612889.html) |\n| Runtime / rating | 101 minutes; All Ages rating in South Korea[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) |\n| Production | Taechang Film; music by Park Ki-young; cinematography by Lee Seok-gi[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) |\n| Admissions | 26,343 in South Korea[5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=12315) |\n| Award | Baeksang Arts Awards 1999, Film Best New Actress, Jun Ji-hyun[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nAs a girl, Jung-min begins a correspondence with Hyun-jun, a soldier, while pretending to be an elementary-school teacher older than she is. When Hyun-jun comes to meet her on leave, she cannot bring herself to appear, and the letters end.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086)\n\nYears later, when Jung-min is twenty and running a bookshop with her grandfather, a thirty-year-old man with sorrowful eyes moves into her village. He is Hyun-jun, now the owner of a pet shop specializing in birds. Unable to forget a lover who died in a traffic accident, he releases a dove each night with a letter attached to its leg, addressed to the woman he lost. One of these letters reaches Jung-min by chance, and she answers through the same pigeon, starting a regular exchange in which neither knows who the other is.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [6](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%ED%99%94%EC%9D%B4%ED%8A%B8_%EB%B0%9C%EB%A0%8C%ED%83%80%EC%9D%B8)\n\nFearing a new love and burdened by guilt, Hyun-jun leaves one final letter and prepares to go away. Jung-min then realizes that the sender of the letters is the bird-shop owner, and that he is the soldier of her childhood. To confirm his identity, she ties a strand of yarn to her last pigeon and sends it to him.[3](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/white_valentine/white_valentine.htm) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=12315)\n\n## Production and release\n\nThe film was produced by Taechang Film with [Kim Yong](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-yong)-kuk as producer, and its crew included cinematographer Lee Seok-gi, lighting director Lee Min-boo, editor Kyung Min-ho, and composer Park Ki-young.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [3](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/white_valentine/white_valentine.htm) Mirovision Inc. handled international sales.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086)\n\n**Casting.** Jun Ji-hyun, then a magazine model who had debuted in 1997, made her screen debut here; she later became widely known through *My Sassy Girl* (2001). Park Shin-yang, at the time coming off hits such as *[The Letter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-letter-1997-film)* (1997), played Hyun-jun, and the two appeared together again in *The Uninvited* (2003).[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302031/) • [7](https://chuvd.tistory.com/639) • [8](https://eiga.com/movie/52219/)\n\nThe production used dozens of trained pigeons for the correspondence scenes and shot winter exteriors around Gangwon Province in severe cold to capture the snow-covered scenery.[7](https://chuvd.tistory.com/639) The film opened in South Korean theaters on February 13, 1999, the day before [Valentine's Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/valentines-day), drew 26,343 admissions, and was rated All Ages.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) • [5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=12315) It reached Japanese theaters on June 19, 2004, after Jun Ji-hyun's breakout there.[8](https://eiga.com/movie/52219/)\n\n## Reception\n\nAt the 1999 Baeksang Arts Awards, Jun Ji-hyun won the film category's Best New Actress prize.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 57% Tomatometer with 250+ audience ratings on the Popcornmeter; user reviews commonly describe it as a quiet, sincere romance and single out Jun Ji-hyun's performance, while some criticize the pacing and an abrupt ending.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_valentine) Cine21 records an average audience rating of 5.67 out of 10.[5](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=12315)\n\nThe film is remembered chiefly as the starting point of Jun Ji-hyun's career and as an early example of the letter-mediated Korean romance melodrama; it is often grouped with *Il Mare* (2000), her next romance, which also turns on messages exchanged across a distance.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302031/) • [10](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=15aebb58f3688a2da1d9868094a6a38761a6dcd5&repid=rep1&type=pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [White Valentine (1999), Korea Film / Filmmakers database](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990086)\n2. [White Valentine (1999), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302031/)\n3. [화이트 발렌타인 (1999), Korean Film Council database (KMDb)](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/database/movie/white_valentine/white_valentine.htm)\n4. [White Valentine (1999), FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film612889.html)\n5. [화이트 발렌타인 상세정보, Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=12315)\n6. [화이트 발렌타인, 오늘의AI위키](https://wiki.onul.works/w/%ED%99%94%EC%9D%B4%ED%8A%B8_%EB%B0%9C%EB%A0%8C%ED%83%80%EC%9D%B8)\n7. [한국영화 & VHS 리뷰: 화이트 발렌타인 (1999)](https://chuvd.tistory.com/639)\n8. [ホワイト・バレンタイン 作品情報, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/52219/)\n9. [White Valentine, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_valentine)\n10. [Seeing Stars: Female Film Stars and Female Audiences (academic paper citing White Valentine and Il Mare)](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=15aebb58f3688a2da1d9868094a6a38761a6dcd5&repid=rep1&type=pdf)\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 › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1995 to 1999 › Black and satirical comedies › Released in 1999*\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/white-valentine", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine.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": "\"White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인)](https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine](https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"White Valentine (화이트 발렌타인)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/white-valentine. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "White Valentine is a 1999 South Korean romance film directed by Yang Yun-ho, starring Park Shin-yang and Jun Ji-hyun in her debut, about a dove-carried letter correspondence between reunited childhood pen pals." }