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The Classified File (극비수사)

The Classified File (극비수사) is a 2015 South Korean crime drama film directed by Kwak Kyung-taek, starring Kim Yun-seok as detective Gong Gil-yong and Yoo Hae-jin as fortune teller Kim Joong-san, two men who found a kidnapped girl in a real 1978 Busan case1. It was released in South Korea on June 18, 2015 and drew 2,860,786 admissions1.

Key factDetail
Director / writerKwak Kyung-taek1
StarsKim Yun-seok (Gong Gil-yong), Yoo Hae-jin (Kim Joong-san), Song Young-chang1
BasisThe real 1978 Busan kidnapping of 12-year-old Jung Hyo-ju, daughter of a wealthy businessman2
ReleaseJune 18, 2015; 108 minutes; rated 15 in South Korea1 • 3
Box office2,860,786 admissions on 894 screens; total gross about $16.67 million1
Opening day181,737 admissions nationwide, first place ahead of Jurassic World4
FestivalsBusan International Film Festival 2015 (Korean Cinema Today-Panorama), Vancouver International Film Festival 2015 (Dragons & Tigers), and others1

Spoilers

Premise

In 1978 Busan, Eun-joo, the young daughter of a wealthy family, is kidnapped on her way home from school. Her desperate parents first hear nothing from the kidnapper, so they ask that the veteran detective Gong Gil-yong be assigned to the case and, to his annoyance, also bring in the fortune teller Kim Joong-san. The kidnapper eventually makes contact, but several ransom attempts fail, and 33 days after the disappearance the investigation comes to a head in Seoul, where Gil-yong finds his efforts obstructed by rival sections of the police force5.

The film centers on the relationship between the two men rather than on conventional thriller mechanics. Kim Joong-san alone insists the child is alive while other fortune tellers say she is dead, and he predicts that the kidnapper will contact the parents on the fifteenth day; when this happens, Gil-yong begins to trust him6. Reviews noted that the film contains emotional and heartwarming scenes rather than the violence typical of the genre7.

The true case

The film is based on the 1978 kidnapping in Busan of Jung Hyo-ju, then 12 years old, the only daughter of a wealthy businessman. She was abducted by a black sedan on September 15, 1978, while returning home from school2. She was kidnapped a second time in 1979, when the kidnapper demanded 150 million won in ransom, a case so widely followed that the president issued a public statement; she survived both abductions8.

Many of the film's seemingly superstitious plot elements are documented. The real Kim Joong-san told the mother that the child's fate (saju) was strong enough for her to survive, and he also predicted when the kidnapper would make contact and where he would be caught2. Hypnosis also contributed to the arrest: police located about ten witnesses to the kidnapper's car, none of whom could recall the plate number, so they brought in Dr. Yu Han-pyeong, president of the Korean Hypnosis Psychology Association, who hypnotized six people. A schoolmate of the victim, Shin Han-min-gun, recalled the first three digits of the plate, "208", under hypnosis; the actual plate was Seoul 1Ra 2082, and his testimony narrowed the investigation2. A Dong-A Ilbo article dated October 20, 1978 reported that hypnosis played a part in the arrest2.

Because the investigation was conducted in secret, the contributions of Gong Gil-yong and Kim Joong-san were never reported at the time and the two men received no public recognition8. Both real figures were still alive when the film was made and remained on friendly terms6.

Production

Kwak Kyung-taek, whose hits include Friend (2001) and Mutt Boy (2003), learned of the story while researching his previous film Friend: The Great Legacy (2013) and decided immediately to make it into a movie9. Kim Yun-seok and Yoo Hae-jin, who had appeared together in Tazza (2006), Woochi (2009), and Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014), played the real-life detective and fortune teller10.

The production invested heavily in period recreation. About 20 percent of the budget went to art direction and props; the crew hired a real sign painter in Gwangju to produce vintage theater placards, and transformed a street near Gudek Gymnasium in Busan's Seo-gu into a 1970s streetscape with bus-stop cigarette stands, phone booths, a record shop, and a Chinese restaurant11. The film opens with a montage of student protests, news clips, and pop-culture imagery evoking life under the military government and the police corruption of the era5.

Release and box office

The film opened on June 18, 2015 on 894 screens and took first place at the box office with 181,737 admissions, ahead of Jurassic World4. In its first week it ranked second with 981,413 admissions (1,169,823 cumulative)12, and by June 23 it had returned to first place with a cumulative 1,457,706 admissions13. It finished with 2,860,786 admissions and a gross of about $16.67 million1; IMDb lists an estimated budget of 5.5 billion won and a worldwide gross of $19,243,8903. It ranked seventh among 2015 Korean films on IPTV and digital cable with 540,575 viewings14.

Reception and festival screenings

The film screened in the Korean Cinema Today-Panorama section of the 20th Busan International Film Festival (October 1-10, 2015), in the Dragons & Tigers program of the Vancouver International Film Festival, at the Shanghai International Film & TV Festival in 2016, and at the Korean Film Festival in Australia1. At the 2015 Buil Film Awards, Kwak Kyung-taek won Best Director15.

Critical responses divided over the film's restraint. The London Korean Film Festival brochure called it a "magnificent thriller" with the feel of a drama-doc, using a police investigation to reveal truths about Korean society in the way Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder did5. The Korea Times took the opposite view, judging that despite its A-list leads it lacked the kick of thrillers such as Memories of Murder or David Fincher's Zodiac, though it noted the film was performing well commercially6. Korean reviewers praised the pairing of the two leads and the film's focus on conviction (soxin) over genre spectacle16.

References

  1. The Classified File (2015), Korean Film Council (KOFIC)
  2. ["[B급 질문을 하다] 점괘로 수사하는 영화 '극비수사' 실화인가요?", Kyunghyang Shinmun (June 15, 2015)](https://www.khan.co.kr/article/201506152112175)
  3. The Classified File (2015), IMDb
  4. "'극비수사' 개봉 첫날 18만 동원하며 박스오피스 1위", NewsPim (June 19, 2015)
  5. London Korean Film Festival 2015 brochure, "Hits from 2014-15"
  6. "'Classified File' lacks kick of crime thrillers", The Korea Times (June 29, 2015)
  7. "2015.6.18 Now Playing", Korea JoongAng Daily
  8. "1970년대를 제대로 재현해낸 어느 형사영화의 매혹", Cine21 (June 25, 2015)
  9. "True crime story unravels in 'Classified File'", Korea JoongAng Daily (June 11, 2015)
  10. ["[김윤석, 유해진] '인간의 본질을 꿰뚫어보는 더 치열한 작품이 나오면 좋겠다'", Cine21 (June 2015)](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=80114)
  11. "<새영화 뒷이야기> 1978년 부산을 되살려라…'극비수사'", Yonhap News (June 20, 2015)
  12. "박스줌인 예상과 달리 치열했던 쥬라기 월드 vs 극비수사", Ten Asia (June 22, 2015)
  13. "극비수사, 박스오피스 1위 차지 '누적 관객 145만 7706명'", ET News (June 24, 2015)
  14. 2015년도 한국영화산업결산, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
  15. 극비수사 영화정보, Filmmakers Community (KOBIS data)
  16. ["'극비수사' 곽경택의 소신이 김윤석·유해진을 만날 때 [프리뷰]", YTN (June 18, 2015)](https://star.ytn.co.kr/_sn/0117_201506180900097516)

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2015–2019 films › Crime drama and neo-noir films

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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