General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Land of Happiness (행복의 나라)

Land of Happiness (행복의 나라) is a 2024 South Korean political courtroom drama directed by Choo Chang-min, based on the real trial of an army colonel involved in the October 1979 assassination of President Park Chung-hee. It stars Cho Jung-seok as defense lawyer Jung In-hoo and the late Lee Sun-kyun as Colonel Park Tae-joo, a character inspired by the real-life Park Heung-joo.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director	Choo Chang-min, whose earlier films include Masquerade (2012) and Seven Years of Night (2018)²
Release	August 14, 2024 (South Korea); limited North American release August 23, 2024¹^•³
Runtime and rating	124 minutes; rated 12 and older in South Korea¹
Production	Papa's Film and Oscar 10 Studio; distributed by Next Entertainment World (NEW)³
Lead cast	Cho Jung-seok (Jung In-hoo), Lee Sun-kyun (Park Tae-joo), Yoo Jae-myung (Jeon Sang-doo)⁴
Box office	710,620 admissions and $4,884,763 gross in South Korea (KOFIC, as of September 12, 2026)¹
IMDb rating	6.0/10 from 271 user ratings⁵

Spoilers

Story and historical basis

The film opens with a recreation of the assassination of President Park Chung-hee on October 26, 1979, a watershed moment in modern Korean history. Colonel Park Tae-joo, an aide to the intelligence agency chief, becomes involved in the assassination under orders from his superior, and lawyer Jung In-hoo takes on his defense in what the film presents as South Korea's most notorious political trial.⁶^•³

The protagonist is inspired by Park Heung-joo, a real army colonel who participated in the assassination under his superior's orders. Director Choo Chang-min said the film's central aim is to illuminate the life of this lesser-known figure, whom he found widely praised for his human qualities and military professionalism regardless of political affiliation.² According to Yonhap, Park Heung-joo was the only military serviceman among the subordinates of Kim Jae-gyu, the intelligence chief who shot the president, so the single-trial system applied to him and his death sentence was confirmed immediately; the film imaginatively reconstructs that trial.⁷

The lawyer Jung In-hoo is a created character who synthesizes the trial records and the people involved in the actual defense; actor Cho Jung-seok described him as possibly the only entirely fictional character in the film, an observer through whom the audience watches and judges the events.² The story sits between two events that dominate Korean films about the era: the October 26 assassination and the December 12, 1979 military coup led by General Chun Doo-hwan, the latter depicted in the 2023 hit 12.12: The Day. Choo said many people know of both incidents but have forgotten the stories that unfolded between them.²

Historical texture. The director based many scenes and dialogues on actual courtroom scenes, records, and documentaries, and used a filmlike, grainy visual texture to evoke the 1970s. He said he tried to maintain a balanced perspective without leaning to one side.²^•⁶ In selecting the title, Cho said he hoped that, through reflecting on past errors, the nation might someday turn into a land of happiness.²

Production and release

The project predates Masquerade: Choo said NEW had offered him the scenario years earlier, he declined at the time, and after finishing Seven Years of Night he proposed revising the script and directing it himself.⁸ The film was in post-production when Lee Sun-kyun died in December 2023; at that point its distributor said the release date and whether it would open at all were still under discussion.⁹ It opened in South Korea on August 14, 2024 on 1,096 screens.¹

Lee Sun-kyun's performance is one of his final film appearances. The 29th Busan International Film Festival included the film in its special program "In Memory of Lee Sun-kyun" in October 2024, and the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival screened it the same year in its Cineaste Delights section.¹^•⁴ It later screened at the Paris Korean Film Festival (2024) and the Florence Korea Film Fest (2025, K-orizzonti section), and was listed among the Paeksang Arts Awards (2025).¹

Reception

The film earned 710,620 admissions in South Korea, placing it among the year's mid-scale domestic releases but well behind 2024's leading Korean titles such as Exhuma and The Roundup: Punishment.¹^•¹⁰ On IMDb it holds a 6.0/10 weighted rating from 271 users.⁵ Rotten Tomatoes listed no critic reviews and fewer than 50 audience ratings.³

Critics divided over the film's dramatization. A Yonhap review praised the courtroom realism, the grainy 1970s texture, and the ensemble of the three leads, set against a period when military might superseded human rights and dignity.⁶ The cityonfire review rated it 6.5/10, calling Lee Sun-kyun's performance suitably haunting but finding the histrionic finale a sharp turn from the measured approach of most of the narrative.¹¹ Reviewer Seongyong Cho gave it 2 of 4 stars, finding it tame and bland compared with 12.12: The Day, which is set in the same period.¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026