Joo Gyeok-chan [Kim Min-gyu] (♂, 26 years old) North Korean Special Operative
A man like an efficient weapon, he’s a well-honed blade who graduated from the Geumseong Political and Military College, which trains operatives. As a cool-headed, cold-blooded operative full of belief in his homeland, he has not only a well-muscled body but a tempered mind; he never, ever has second thoughts. Naturally, jokes are lost on him, too. Though he’s operating alongside Soo-ho in life-or-death situations, the more time passes, the more he finds himself in polar opposition to Soo-ho, his CO.
[see notes]
Li Eung-cheol [Jang In-seop] (♂, 22 years old) North Korean Special Operative
Taking on a mission to help Soo-ho, whom he’s idolised since their Geumseong Political and Military College days, he was dispatched to the South for the first time. He’s an operative like a child soldier* whose wish is to complete their mission and return home, be named a Hero of the Republic, and take his beloved mother for a ride around Pyongyang in a Benz.
[see notes]
Oh Gwang-tae [Heo Nam-joon] (♂, 24 years old) Hye-ryeong’s beau, Hankuk University Student
His self-estimation at having passed the first round of the civil service exam is sky-high. He likes pretending to know everything, acting like a hot-shot, and putting on airs–he’s the ‘King of Frivolity.’ He has a complex about poverty, so he likes anyone who gives off a rich air, be they male or female. This is also the reason he likes Soo-ho, who seems well-off. Outraged that Hye-ryeong had two-timed him with Byeong-tae, he chases her down at the dorm and gets swept up in an unexpected situation.
[see notes]
Lim Ji-rok [Jeon Mu-song] (♂, 64 years old) Director of the United Front Department (N.Kor)
A cunning politician, he’s outstandingly resourceful and shrewd, as well as skilled at negotiation. He’s well-versed in the South Korean political landscape. No matter the situation, he doesn’t attack head-on with clear intent but instead employs diversion tactics to adapt to the situation as it unfolds, ultimately stabbing his opponent where they’re most vulnerable and gaining the advantage; a utilitarian through-and-through. Currently, he’s after one thing only: money! There is nothing he wouldn’t do for the sake of making bank.
[see notes]
Choi Soo-ryeon [Jung Ae-ri] (♀️, 53 years old) Deputy Director of the State Security Agency (N.Kor)
Lim Ji-rok’s political opponent. Devotion to the Party is the sole basis on which her existence is founded. She’s hellbent on eliminating bigwig Lim Ji-rok, who claims to advocate utilitarianism but would even station US troops in Rajin Port if it served his interests...
[see notes]Other:
Lim Soo-hee [Chae Won-bin]: Soo-ho’s beloved younger sister. Soo-ho describes her as a tomboy who nags him like a mum. The two are very close. When he was dispatched to East Germany, she gave the dove necklace he had made for her back to him with the hope that it would keep him safe. In the time since Soo-ho was deployed, she’s a had a baby he has yet to meet. According to the script, she’s three years younger than him (24).
Park Geum-cheol [Lee Jung-hyun]: One of the North Korean operatives under Soo-ho’s command. When taken into custody, he ingests cyanide. According to the script, he’s 25-years-old.
Yesang-gang 1 [unbilled]: The North Korean sleeper agent who runs the safe house Soo-ho and his team are operating out of at the start of the drama. Their front is ‘Taeguk Electrical Repairs.’
Choi Seong-mook [unbilled]: A naturalised German citizen with ties to North Korea; professor at Berlin’s Humboldt University. The second POI in Gang-mu’s Daedong-gang 1 investigation and one-time professor of Ms Pi’s former fiancé.
Han Yi-seop [Kim Jeong-ho]: A Professor of Economics at Hankuk University and the ‘economic brain’ of the non-incumbent presidential candidate in the 1987 South Korean presidential election (fictional). Gwang-tae is his TA.
Han Min-jae (mentioned): Professor Han Yi-seop’s son, supposedly studying abroad in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mrs Bong [unbilled]: The lady who runs the Haedal Boarding House where Soo-ho and Gwang-tae are staying at the start of the drama.
Yeon-hwa [unbilled]: Lim Ji-rok’s aide.
Gong Gil-soon [Ariane Desgagnés-Leclerc]: Cheong-ya’s con-artist contact who poses as Linda Young.
Instructor Comrade [Tae Sang-ho]: The North Korean instructor who oversees Soo Ho et al.’s training in the Mt Buksubaek flashback sequences. The cameo was played by the drama’s weapons specialist.
A few notes on the above:
- What I’ve rendered here as ‘North Korean Special Operative’ (Nampa Gongjak-won 남파공작원) is more rightly ‘operative dispatched to the south,’ where ‘Nampa’ (南派) literally means ‘south-dispatch’. They’re also sometimes called ‘Bukhan’ (北韓) Operatives, meaning ‘North Korean’, hence my choice of translation. They’re dispatched to carry out assassinations, terror attacks, kidnappings, or assess the chances of victory in a war and are accustomed to surviving in extreme conditions on little food or sleep. This makes sense story-wise since Soo-ho’s mission is essentially a kidnapping. In contrast, their ‘Bukpa’ (北派) or ‘north-dispatch’ counterparts are typically charged with conveying equipment or taking surveillance/reconnaissance photos.
- The military college Gyeok-chan and Eung-cheol are said to have graduated from is fictional, but almost certainly modeled after Geumseong Political University, located in the mountains and said to have been established chiefly for the purpose of training and educating operatives. ‘Geumseong,’ written with the hanja for ‘gold-star’ (金星), is a reference to Kim Il Sung.
- Gyeok-chan’s character description literally uses the word ‘naengcheol’ (冷徹), meaning ‘cool-headed; dispassionate’ but I find this confusing given that he’s arguably the most hot-headed character in the drama.
- His code name is Cheongcheon-gang (청천강); his number during training was 521.
- Eung-cheol’s surname is Li (리), a strong indicator that he’s from the North. Normally, the Korean surname Romanized as ‘Lee’ or ‘Yi’ is actually just written and pronounced ‘I/ee’ (이) in South Korea. Both are written with the same hanja–most commonly (李)–but the initial ‘L’ sound and spelling occurs at a much higher incidence north of the border. The same principle applies to Lim Ji-rok’s surname (Lim/Im).
- The website has his age as 22, but according to the script he’s 23.
- In Eung-cheol’s character description, I used the word ‘idolised’ to avoid getting overly wordy, but what it literally says is that ‘he can’t help but (strongly) respect’ Soo-ho. The reason for this is revealed in-drama.
- *Eung-cheol’s profile also uses the word ‘child soldier’ (소년병)–literally ‘sonyeon’ (young boy) + ‘byeong’ (soldier)–which is the word used for child soldiers as we think of them in English. I found this jarring, because I’m fairly certain what they mean is that he can come across as young and untried, despite the fact that he received the same brutal training Soo-ho and Gyeok-chan did. But he’s 22 and the comparison seems in poor taste. It’s possible the word has a less specific connotation in Korean than it does in English.
- The word used for ‘mother’ in Eung-cheol’s character blurb, ‘omani’ (오마니), is North Korean dialect. In standard (SK) Korean, this would be ‘eomeoni’ (어머니).
- I’m not sure if whoever was writing the character descriptions got confused or if this detail got reassigned at some point, but Eung-cheol’s wish as it’s given here is actually the wish Geum-cheol voices in the EP02 bonus scene.
- There is no Hankuk University (or Korea University) in Seoul, but there is a Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. They could have been going for a hyper-generic name, or simply wanted to avoid using the names of any real-life institutions in the drama.
- Though not given in Gwang-tae’s profile, it’s stated in-drama that he passed the first round of the civil service exam in finance administration (재경 행시) specifically, which makes sense given that he’s economics professor Han Yi-seop’s TA.
- Gwang-tae’s character description says he has a ‘complex about poverty.’ I feel like Korean (and Japanese) use the word ‘complex’ (콤플렉스) more liberally than we do in English. Tack ‘complex’ onto just about any noun and it basically means you’re overly concerned with it. Here, they mean he has an (inferiority) complex about his humble origins. Which is why he tries to ingratiate himself with people he assumes are wealthy.
- His birthday is given as 29 October 1964.
- Lim Ji-rok’s full title is Director of the United Front Department (통일전선부) of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the department of the WPK’s Central Committee tasked with managing relations with South Korea. It conducts propaganda and espionage operations and manages front organisations, making him the obvious liaison for Operation Phoenix.
- Both Lim Ji-rok’s character description and the official relationship chart have his title as ‘Deputy Director’ (부부장) but he’s consistently identified as ‘Director’ (부장) throughout the drama, so I took the liberty of amending it here.
- Lim Ji-rok’s profile also includes a Badook (aka Go) metaphor that doesn’t translate well, but speaks to his skill as a tactician. Literally what it says is that he ‘doesn’t attack head on with black or white,’ a reference to the stones used as game pieces. Given that each player plays exclusively with either black stones or white ones, I took this to mean that he doesn’t make his allegiances or intentions clear, but there’s room for interpretation.
- Though not given in his profile, his code name is Myohyang-san (묘향산).
- Lim Ji-rok is revealed to be Soo-ho and Soo-hee’s adoptive father, having taken them in when they were 9 and 6 respectively with the intention of using them against their biological mother, a political opponent of his.
- Choi Soo-ryeon is identified as the Deputy Director of the State Security Agency (국가안전보위부), which I believe is a precursor to the modern Ministry of State Security (국가보위성). This would be North Korea’s secret police agency, which reports directly to the Supreme Leader (currently Kim Jong-eun).
- The ‘Party’ (당) would be the Workers’ Party of Korea (조선로동당).
- Rajin Port (라진항) is actually written ‘Najin-hang’ (나진항) here, which is how it’s pronounced in standard (SK) Korean, though the port is located in Rason, North Korea. It’s a strategically located, ice-free port on the northeast tip of the Korean Peninsula.
- Choi Soo-ryeon is revealed to be Soo-ho and Soo-hee’s birth mother. When her husband was labelled a reactionary, she divorced him and abandoned their children.
You can find the original Korean on JTBC’s official website here.
All source materials belong to the parties to which they are licensed. All translations are our own.