Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area

Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (Korean: 종이의 집: 공동경제구역) is a Korean television series and second series in the Money Heist franchise, based on the original Spanish series. The Korean series directed by Kim Hong-sun and written by Ryu Yong-jae, is an original Netflix series, starring Yoo Ji-tae, Yunjin Kim, Park Hae-soo, Jeon Jong-seo, Lee Hyun-woo, Lee Won-jong, and Park Myung-hoon.^[2] It depicts a hostage crisis situation set in a unified Korean Peninsula, involving a genius strategist and people with different personalities and abilities.^[3] The first six episodes were released on June 24, 2022, on Netflix.^[4] The second part was released on December 9, 2022.^[5]

Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area
Promotional poster
Hangul	종이의 집: 공동경제구역
Hanja	종이의 집: 共同經濟區域
Literal meaning	House of Paper: Joint Economic Area
Revised Romanization	Jongi-ui Jip: Gongdonggyeongjeguyeok
Genre	Heist Crime drama
Based on	Money Heist by Álex Pina
Developed by	Netflix^[1]
Written by	Ryu Yong-jae Kim Hwan-chae Choe Sung-jun
Directed by	Kim Hong-sun
Starring	Yoo Ji-tae Park Hae-soo Jeon Jong-seo Lee Hyun-woo Lee Won-jong Park Myung-hoon
Composer	Kim Tae-seong
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	12 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Multi camera
Running time	63–78 minutes
Production companies	BH Entertainment Zium Content
Release
Original network	Netflix
Original release	June 24 (2022-06-24) – December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
Related
Money Heist

Synopsis

The series follows the storyline and characters of the original Spanish series. "The Professor" (Yoo Ji-tae), a strategist criminal mastermind, plans to pull off a heist in the reunified Korean Peninsula. The operation involves strategists and desperados with different characteristics and abilities, who have to face unusual situations. Thieves overtake the mint of a unified Korea. With hostages trapped inside, the police must stop them, as well as the operation's shadowy mastermind.

Cast

The gang

• Yoo Ji-tae as Professor / Park Sun-ho^[6]

The mastermind of a 4 trillion won heist. He is the boyfriend of police inspector Seon Woo-jin and the Korean version of the original Professor who is portrayed by Álvaro Morte.

• Park Hae-soo as Berlin / Song Jung-ho^[7]

A 41-year-old North Korean former prisoner of the Kaechon concentration camp, where he served 25 years' detention since age nine as a result of attempted defection. He tends to resort to violence and tries to use fear to threaten the hostages, unlike the Professor's intention to not harm anyone and is the Korean version of the original Berlin who is portrayed by Pedro Alonso.

• Jeon Jong-seo as Tokyo / Lee Hong-dan^[8]

A North Korean woman with military training who was wanted for committing armed robberies and murders of loan sharks (who extorted penniless North Korean defectors) before the Professor recruited her for the heist. She serves as the narrator of the series and is the Korean version of the original Tokyo who is portrayed by Úrsula Corberó.

• Lee Hyun-woo as Rio / Han Joseph^[9]

The "maknae" (the youngest person) of the heist group and skilled hacker. He is a medical school dropout and son of an affluent family and the Korean version of the original Rio who is portrayed by Miguel Herrán.

• Lee Won-jong as Moscow / Oh Man-sik^[10]

An ex-convict, who raised his son Denver alone, after his wife left him. He was constantly in and out of prison prior to the heist and is the Korean version of the original Moscow who is portrayed by Paco Tous.

• Kim Ji-hoon as Denver / Oh Taek-su^[11]

Moscow's son and underground fighter, who later falls for Mi-seon, one of the hostages at the Mint and is the Korean version of the original Denver who is portrayed by Jaime Lorente.

• Jang Yoon-ju as Nairobi / Sim Young-mun^[12]

A con artist who was recruited by the Professor, she is the Korean version of the original Nairobi who is portrayed by Alba Flores.

• Kim Ji-hun as Helsinki / Ko Myung-tae^[8]

Oslo's brother and former member of a gang in Yanbian, he is the Korean version of the original Helsinki who is portrayed by Darko Perić.

• Lee Kyu-ho as Oslo / Lee Sang-yeon^[8]

Helsinki's brother and former member of a gang in Yanbian, he is the Korean version of the original Oslo who is portrayed by Roberto García Ruiz.

Task Force

• Kim Yun-jin as Seon Woo-jin, a crisis negotiation team leader belonging to the National Police Agency in South Korea. She is based on Raquel Murillo, an inspector and negotiator with the Spanish National Police Corps portrayed by Itziar Ituño.^[8]
• Kim Sung-oh as Captain Cha Moo-hyuk, a former special agent from North Korea who was dispatched to handle the hostage crisis. He is based on Ángel Rubio, a deputy inspector with the Spanish National Police Corps who is Raquel's second-in-command, who he is portrayed by Fernando Soto.^[8]
• Park Su-yeong as Yun Chang-su

JEA Police Chief

• Sun Woo-seong as Nam Dong-cheol

Gyeonggi Police Agency Sergeant

Hostages

• Park Myung-hoon as Cho Young-min^[8]

Director of the Mint Bureau. He only cares about his own safety and disregards the others' welfare. He has an affair with Mi-seon despite being married with two children. He is based on Arturo Román, the Director of the Royal Mint of Spain who he is portrayed by Enrique Arce.

• Lee Joo-bin as Yoon Mi-seon^[13]

An employee in charge of accounting at the Mint. She is Young-min's lover, and later falls for Denver. Based on the character of Mónica Gaztambide aka Stockholm who she is portrayed by Esther Acebo.

• Lee Si-woo as Anne Kim^[14]

A high school student and the daughter of the U.S. Ambassador, who came with her class for a field trip at the Mint. She is one of the hostages and is based on Alison Parker, the daughter of the British ambassador to Spain who she is portrayed by María Pedraza.

• Hong In as Hwang Hyun-ho^[15]

Deputy director of the Mint Bureau installed in JEA, a general economic zone on the Korean Peninsula.

• Gil Eun-seong as Park Chul-woo^[16]

A member of the North Korean military special operations unit who infiltrates the bandit-occupied Mint.

Others

• Lim Ji-yeon as Seoul^[17][18]

The leader of the mercenaries outside the mint to help the robbers.

• Lim Hyeong-guk as Jeon Yong-soo^[19][20]

A leader who came down from the North Korean for inter-Korean economic cooperation

• Jang Hyun-sung as Kim Sang-man^[21]

A politician who is the former husband of Woo-jin. He is quite similar to Raquel Murillo's ex-husband Alberto Vicuña, a forensic examiner with the Spanish National Police Corps, who he is portrayed by Miquel García Borda.

• Gil Eun-seong as Kim Chul-yoon

a former special agent from North Korea.^[22]

• Han Seo-jin as Kim Min-ah

Seon Woo-jin's and Kim Sang-man's daughter

• Yi Yong-nyeo as Park Pil-sun

Seon Woon-jin's mother

• Kim Jun as Nairobi's son

• Jeong Jae-seong as Marshall Kim

U.S. Ambassador to Korea and Anne Kim's father

• Lee Chang-hoon as Oh Jae-yoon

The chairman of Ohsung Group, a supporter of Kim Sang-man and a person at the pinnacle of fulfilling his desires through the establishment of an inter-Korean economic cooperation model

Episodes

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released
1	12	6	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
		6	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date ^[23]
Part 1
1	1	"Episode 1"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
A female North Korean soldier, secretly a fan of South Korean K-pop boy band BTS, narrates her life before the re-unification of both North Korea and South Korea. The story began in 2025 when the North-South border of the Korean peninsula opened to allow North Koreans and South Koreans to commute between both countries for work, as well as the South's investments in the North and the construction of the Joint-Economic Area (JEA) for economic growth of the two Koreas. The soldier, like many North Koreans, went to the South to find work, but ended up turning to a life of crime, robbing and killing loan sharks who extorted many Northerners and poor Southerners, and becoming a nationwide fugitive. A year later, after her partner was killed, the soldier was recruited by a man who introduced himself as the "Professor" to help commit a four trillion won money heist. The soldier would join him and take on the code name "Tokyo". Tokyo is also joined by former North Korean camp prisoner "Berlin", con artist "Nairobi", ex-convict "Moscow" and his son, underground fighter "Denver", skilled hacker "Rio", and brothers "Oslo" and "Helsinki" from a Yanbian gang. Together, the group went to the Mint at JEA, where they hold the employees and visitors hostage and begin to print bank notes worth four trillion won. South Korean crisis negotiation team leader Seon Woo-jin and North Korean captain Cha Moo-hyuk are later ordered to lead a group of police officers from both Koreas to monitor and diffuse the hostage situation. Unknown to Woo-jin however, the Professor is her current boyfriend and cafe owner Park Sun-ho.
2	2	"Episode 2"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Not knowing the Professor's identity, Woo-jin negotiates with the Professor (who is giving orders in a secret room in his cafe) to ensure the safety of the hostages; the group (except Berlin) had promised to not hurt the hostages as long as they follow orders. Among the hostages are the Mint's director Cho Young-min, Young-min's lover and employee Yoon Mi-seon, and high school student Anne Kim, who is the daughter of the US Ambassador and part of a school field trip. As several employees of the Mint were ordered by their captors to print the notes, Young-min, who is desperate to get out, asks Mi-seon to help him take his smartwatch from his office to contact the police, since the hostages' handphones were confiscated. Mi-seon pretends to be pregnant in accordance to Young-min's lies and Denver thus takes her away to another room, where she sneaks out and retrieves the watch, with Anne's help. After a few attempts to contact the outside world, the smartwatch is discovered and Berlin, despite the Professor's orders, decides to punish Young-min by having his lover Mi-seon executed. Denver takes her to the bathroom and shoots her.
3	3	"Episode 3"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Tokyo discovers that Denver shot Mi-seon in the leg, and decides to help him hide her in an underground vault, where they apply first aid. Tokyo wants to have Berlin removed from his leader position due to his violence and unpredictability, while Denver tends to Mi-seon. Young-min struggles with his sadness over Mi-seon's "death" while enduring the other hostages' condemnation for putting Mi-seon in danger in his place out of selfishness; the North Korean employees even threaten to kill him if he ever tries to put the others in danger again. Later, Tokyo enlists Nairobi and Rio's help to subdue Helsinki and Oslo and they confront Berlin at the office, where the heist members get into a heated argument over Berlin's disobedience. During the argument, Moscow is shocked and distraught to hear that Denver killed Mi-seon, and without knowing the full truth, he recklessly opens the door to surrender in his son's place, willing to take the fall for Mi-seon's "murder". Denver manages to catch up and stop him, revealing that Mi-seon is alive. As there are snipers stationed outside the Mint aiming their guns at the two, Berlin sends the team and a few hostages to escort Moscow and Denver back inside while armed. Young-min tries to once again threaten Tokyo and the others to release him. Mistaking Young-min as the captor, Woo-jin gives the order to the snipers to shoot Young-min.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Young-min is shot in the chest and barely survives; he is brought back inside the Mint to be given first aid, but there's little the robbers can do. The police recognise Young-min and decide to negotiate with the Professor to send medics inside the Mint to treat and save Young-min. Moo-hyuk pretends to be a nurse and enters the Mint with two nurses and a surgeon. Berlin, tipped off by the Professor, confronts Moo-hyuk. Moo-hyuk states that he's a policeman sent to ensure the medics' safety. In reality, an ambush team (wearing the same attire and mask as the heist team) was secretly infiltrating the Mint while Moo-hyuk and the medics helped buy them time to enter the compound. The Professor manages to see through this and orders the hostages and heist team to switch to another mask (to differentiate themselves from the officers); this leads to Woo-jin ordering the team to abort their mission and retreat. Before they do, however, Rio manages to install eavesdropping software on Moo-hyuk's phone. Denver and Tokyo steal the medics' medical supplies to allow Rio, a medical school dropout, to operate on Mi-seon. Berlin detains Tokyo and Rio, and tries to kill Mi-seon; Denver stands in front of Berlin's gun, showing his growing affection for Mi-seon. Nairobi subdues Berlin, who is later tied up as punishment for defying the Professor's orders. Mi-seon, now largely improved from her injuries, rejoins the hostages, who rejoice at the truth of her survival as Nairobi and Tokyo took charge and give more freedom to the hostages under their supervision.
5	5	"Episode 5"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Park Chul-woo, a secret agent who was part of the ambush team earlier on, blends in as a hostage after he failed to escape with the other agents on time. He gets into contact with Young-min, Mi-seon and Anne to devise a plan to save the hostages and subdue the captors. Woo-jin gradually realises the Professor was outside the Mint instead of inside, and there was evidence that a used car sent to the junkyard was used by the Professor on the first day the hostage situation occurred. As the Professor narrowly escapes police pursuit to take away the car and destroy evidence, Chul-woo and Young-min abducts Denver to torture and interrogate him on the Professor's identity and whereabouts. Chul-woo and Anne subsequently fake a situation of a fire breaking out as a distraction, while Berlin attacks Rio to escape his bonds. Young-min, thinking that Denver and Mi-seon were in a relationship, beats up Denver, but Mi-seon, who seems to have fallen for Denver, stops him and tells Denver about Chul-woo's plan. Just as Chul-woo is about to shoot Tokyo, Denver alerts her. A gunshot is heard from the distance. Outside, Woo-jin opens up to the Professor more as the latter begins to feel guilty for his secret identity.
6	6	"Episode 6"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	June 24, 2022 (2022-06-24)
Having overheard the gunshot through a wiretap, the police assume that Chul-woo was murdered (it is revealed that Berlin showed up and shot him down before he could kill Tokyo). Woo-jin devises a plan to use media attention to turn public opinion against the heist team, as that seems to be what they value most. They negotiate for Woo-jin to enter with a camera to broadcast every face of the surviving hostages to assure the hostages' loved ones. Berlin, who reveals his real name as Song Jung-ho, gathers the hostages and allows Woo-jin to enter and verify the hostages' safety. Woo-jin reveals to the public that the "hostage" Chul-woo was missing and assumed dead, lying that he was a recently hired security guard, something that Anne and Young-min confirm. She claims the heist team broke their promise to not hurt the hostages, and takes the chance to demand for the students' release, which stirs the audience's outrage against the heist team. However, Berlin reveals that Chul-woo was still alive, as he had been wearing a vest when he was shot. Having overheard the police and their plan, the Professor sent CCTV footage of Chul-woo's actions to the press. Berlin accuses the police of using Chul-woo to endanger the hostages' safety, as well as only intending to save Anne (due to her father's political background) but not the others. Berlin declares that this proves the heist team only wanted money and never to harm the hostages, which further cements the public anger against the police and government; Woo-jin leaves the Mint in defeat. As heist team nears the end of their mission, Denver has sex with Mi-seon after implicitly bidding her an early farewell. On the outside, Moo-hyuk resigns, while a distressed Woo-jin goes on a date with the Professor, who realises his love for Woo-jin. This date is cut short when Woo-jin finds a secret message left by Anne. As the Professor returns to his café, he comes face-to-face with Moo-hyuk, who earlier suspected him.
Part 2
7	7	"Episode 7"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
Moo-hyuk visits the Professor's café, where he probes him. He secretly steals a handcraft blade to confirm his suspicion that Park Sun-ho is the Professor. Aware that Moo-hyuk is suspicious, the Professor instructs Rio to hack into Moo-hyuk's phone to make it appear as Moo-hyuk was the mole who fed information to the robbers. While Moo-hyuk is at the JEA Police Headquarters to retrieve DNA results on the handcraft blade, the JEA Police attempt to arrest him for leaking official secrets. Moo-hyuk resists arrest and runs away to attempt to tell Woo-jin that Sun-ho, her boyfriend, is the Professor. Moo-hyuk is not aware that Rio has intercepted his phone and is blocking his phone calls, so Woo-jin never receives the message. However, the Professor is waiting for him and after a struggle, injects him with an unknown liquid that makes him unconscious. He puts him in the trunk of a car. Woo-jin's mother witnesses the event from inside the house, and runs to the phone to tell her daughter. Conscious that there can be no loose ends, the Professor enters the house with the intention of killing Woo-jin's mother. Upon entering, he overhears her phonecall with her daughter. She cannot remember why she rung her daughter. The Professor recalls that Woo-jin told him that her mother has "an illness as a result of old age", and he realises that Woo-jin's mother suffers from dementia. He leaves the house without killing Woo-jin's mother. Kim Sangman, a politician, broadcasts a message to the thieves that he would speak to the President to grant immunity to any thieves that would bring an end to the heist. An unidentified thief contacts Sangman, and Sangman provides a condition that the US ambassador's daughter, Anne Kim, must first be killed. Anne was the only factor stopping the police from using brute force to enter the Mint. Woo-jin finds this out after speaking with Sangman, and informs the Professor. The Professor contacts the thieves who frantically search for Anne, and discover a bomb in the vault. Anne is safe, as she did not wish to go on her own. Woo-jin, upon discovering of Moo-hyuk's supposed betrayal, visits Sun-ho. She points a gun towards him and demands he show her upstairs in his café. When they enter the room, it appears to be a storage room. Woo-jin apologises, Sun-ho tells her to leave and ends the relationship. After realizing that the thieves are printing money, Woo-jin orders the Mint's electricity to be cut off.
8	8	"Episode 8"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
Oslo is struck down by the hostages, who set their escape plan into motion while the lights go out in the Mint. The hostages head to the loading bay, but find the exit blocked by explosives. The thieves reach and subdue the hostages just as the police blows their way inside. The thieves manage to push the police off and block the entrance while the hostages head to the rooftop for rescue. Meanwhile, Park Chul-woo finds and destroy the thieves's communication equipment, and secures a vial of Berlin's medicine. Although the thieves reach the rooftop and stop the hostages, 29 of them manage to escape. Helsinki finds Oslo and Rio tries to reanimate him, but it is too late. The remaining hostages start acting defiant towards the group. Without his medicine, a deranged Berlin is hell-bent on finding the traitor, who is revealed to be Nairobi. She called Sangman after seeing her son on television. Convinced that Tokyo is the traitor, Berlin restrains her, while a grieving Helsinki sides with Berlin and knocks Rio out. Rio confesses to be the traitor, but Berlin is sure that he is only doing so to protect Tokyo and concluded that she is traitor. He hauls her off, tied up on a cart, to be arrested. Park Chul-woo provides Woo-jin the medicine he retrieved. Deducing that one of the thieves has a terminal disease, she has deliveries of the medicine tracked down to the resort where the thieves planned their heist. The Professor and Berlin are revealed to be brothers.
9	9	"Episode 9"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
The Professor led the police to the fake evidence he planted where he trained the Heist team where he blew some of the fake evidence. Woo-jin start questioning Tokyo who was sent out by a crazed Berlin who lacks of his medicine. After Tokyo didn't take any of Woo-jin offer to tattle on the heist team, she was sent into a detention center. It is revealed that Berlin and Tokyo planned the entire skit so that they can narrow out who is the traitor which turn out to be Nairobi who Sangman threaten her child safety. Tokyo was saved by Berlin's henchman while on route to the detention center where Tokyo relayed the team predicament after the lose of communication and also that Nairobi kid predicament. Sangman then proceeded to enter the taskforce to relief Woo-jin as the South Korea Counter Terrorism Unit is in charge of the situation with Yong-soo who was Berlin concentration camp warden who volunteered to stall as they attempt to raid The Mint at all cost. The Professor sent Tokyo and Seoul to rescue Nairobi kid while Woo-jin was told that one kid from the video broadcast is a child of the Heist team and said that he didn't return to the orphanage to which Woo-jin realised that Sangman help an innocent kid hostage to get Anne killed. As Yong-soo and Berlin chat, Yong-soo tries to portray as Berlin as an enraged killer who raped and killed his daughter but a live broadcast by the Professor revealed that Yong-soo daughter is well and alive as she is Seoul who helped Tokyo escaped earlier and tells the truth of why Berlin initiated the riot at the concentration camp leaving Yong-soo embarrassed and the talk falter due to that.
10	10	"Episode 10"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
As the thieves prepare for the return of Tokyo into the Mint, Berlin offers the hostages a choice between freedom and money, if they decide to help them. A few hostages, including Young-min, Mi-seun, and Anne, decide to stay. After finding out about Denver's love affair with Mi-seun, Moscow reveals to him that his mother was also a hostage that fell in love with him, but left him after giving birth to Denver. A devastated Denver urges Mi-seun to forget about him and leave the Mint. Woo-jin passes out from exhaustion, but Sun-ho takes her to the hospital. After recovering, she visits him, and they reconcile. While planning their future, Sun-ho reveals that his father suffered from dementia, just like Woo-jin's mother. On her way back, Woo-jin has an epiphany and goes to her mother, who confirms that she saw Sun-ho earlier. At the JEA Police Headquarters, Woo-jin retrieves the DNA result that Moo-hyuk requested and realizes that Sun-ho is the Professor. The group releases the hostages that chose freedom and uses them as cover while Tokyo races on a motorbike back to the Mint. Amid the chaos, Mi-seun runs back to the Mint, and Moscow is shot by a sniper, though he hides in the bathroom before anyone notices. A restrained Moo-hyuk frees himself and escapes the Professor's hideout, but the group quickly gives pursuit. Cornered, he throws himself in front of a car and falls on the road unconscious.
11	11	"Episode 11"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
Moscow is injured due to the shot by the snipers of the Police, which puts the thieves on edge as their plan to leave The Mint was cut short with no one to dig the tunnel, while the deadline to carry out their plan is cut short. Woo-jin, having finally deduces that the Professor is her boyfriend, lures him to a nearby hospital where Moo-hyuk is being treated. She then plans to catch him at the hideout but failed, as Seoul notified that Woo-jin's car is reaching the hideout together with the Professor. Woo-jin is being suspended for internal questioning because the Professor is her boyfriend. Moscow chats with Mi-seon and finally Moscow asks Denver to take care of Mi-seon if they both make it out of The Mint before telling the team his name before breathing his last breath. Moscow's death makes the mood in The Mint sollemn as they print the last remaining money. Rio questions the motive of the Professor and Berlin before being told by Tokyo that she believes in the Professor, as he is the team leader of the entire heist. She tells Rio that she came back not only for them but she had a reason to return, which makes Rio uncomfortable. He decides to go to the tunnel to help Denver, who took over digging duty. Woo-jin is able to track down the Professor's hideout and holds him at gunpoint. He explains his reasons before subduing her.
12	12	"Episode 12"	Kim Hong-sun	Ryu Yong-jae, Kim Hwan-chae, Choe Sung-jun	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
The police close in on the thieves as they prepare a barricade to stall the entering forces. As the team were preparing, they breached and Tokyo was shot by Chul-woo before Denver fight him and Chul-woo almost killed Denver before Mi-seun shot Chul-woo elbow and was knocked out as he attempts to stab Mi-seun, Denver then knocked him out. The whole heist team alongside Mi-seun stalled the Police long enough to escape to the tunnel as the team outside The Mint transfer the money through the tunnel, Woo-jin entered the tunnel earlier then the Police but was captured under the orders of Sangman. As Nairobi wanted to close the tunnel, the bomb timer malfunctioned and Berlin who took one of the hostage phone called the Professor to say his last final word as he tries to stall them from entering the tunnel. Seoul who heard that Berlin is the last man return to the tunnel to find Berlin in the tunnel wanting to do a last stand before Seoul shot at the bomb which sealed the hole. As the Professor realised that they are cornered at their initial place where they want to escape, the Professor realised that the paper where he drew is the map of the last remaining open tunnel linking North and South Korea and decided to go through that passage; as the Police entered the tunnel, the mercenary placed bombs at the manhole surrounding Peace Square and Sangman instruct the police to close them to prevent the Heist team to escape under the chaos. The bombs explodes and balloons of pigs filled with the Professor's share is blown leaving the money scatter everywhere. Moo-hyuk then leave the taskforce in anger because Sangman cares about killing the civilians and also the robbers and he proceeds to free Woo-jin from police custody so that she can chase after the heist team. The heist team successfully escape through the tunnel where they board a train to cross over to Russia. Months later, Woo-jin was told by an international law firm that they are taking the defense of the internal investigation of Woo-jin and she realise that the Professor is the one who assisted her in his special way. She then ransacks her belonging before her mother gave the postcard that Professor gave her to which she travels to Kherson, Ukraine and encounters the Professor and he ask if she wants to join the heist of the century. In a mid-credits scene, Young-min, who was kicked out of home by his family, is packing his belongings in a moving truck. He rejects a box that he does not recognize, and when he leaves, the box is revealed to be full of cash and sent by the Professor.

Production

Development

In June 2020, it was reported that BH Entertainment was planning for a remake of Money Heist co-producing it with Zium Content. They were in talks with Netflix, and it was in the development stage.^[24] On December 1, it was reported that a Korean remake of the series has been confirmed by Netflix with Kim Hong-sun as director and Ryu Yong-jae as script writer. BH Entertainment is in charge of production, with the series having 12 episodes.^[25][26]

Casting

On March 31, the casting line-up was confirmed by Netflix.^[8][27] After finalising the cast, the story and characters were formulated. The focus was to keep the narrative of the original and the attributes of the characters alive.^[28] Lim Ji-yeon joined the cast in April 2021.^[17] Lee Hyun-woo replaced Park Jung-woo due to date conflicts with the series Fly High Butterfly.^[29] The Korean cast was compared by drawing the similarities and differences among the original and the adaptation.^[30]

Filming

Filming was suspended on July 7, 2021, to accommodate guidelines intended to limit the spread of COVID-19.^[31]

On January 17, 2022, Netflix revealed the English title of the series: Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area.^[32]

On April 29, 2022, it was announced that Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area would be released on June 24, 2022.^[4]

On May 20, 2022, the official teaser was released.^[33]

Reception

Viewership

Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area featuring in Global Top 10 weekly list of the most-watched international Netflix TV shows, topped the list with 33,740,000 viewing hours in the week from June 20 to June 26 and with 49,000,000 viewing hours in the week from June 27 to July 3. In the week July 4 to July 10 it was at 3rd place with 15,630,000 viewing hours.^[34][35] Additionally it ranked first in the Top-10 list of 51 countries.^[36]

Critical response

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 73% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10. Its critical consensus reads "This Korean remake of Money Heist pilfers from the original to the point of holding no surprises for established fans, but the execution is slick and blueprint rock-solid."^[37] On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[38]

Joel Keller of Decider appreciated the performances of Yoo Ji-tae as the Professor, Jeon Jong-seo as Tokyo and Kim Yun-jin as Seon Woo-jin, writing, "each providing just the right tone to make the show less an over-the-top heist series and more of a layered treatise on the economic gap that everyone is suffering through at this stage in world history." Keller concluded, "If you're a fan of Money Heist, you'll like Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area."^[39] Pierce Conran of the South China Morning Post rated the series with 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "the purpose of Money Heist is to entertain rather than educate, and entertain it does with a story that hums along with all the thrills and twists required of a well-planned and inventively thwarted heist narrative."^[40]

S. Poorvaja of The Hindu wrote, "The first season of Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area gets right in terms of its setting and characters, but here's hoping the makers push the envelope and take some risks in the second season."^[41]

References

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External links

• Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area on Netflix  
• Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area at HanCinema  
• Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area at IMDb  
• Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area at Rotten Tomatoes