[Feature] ‘Jopok’ through the lens of three iconic K-films

Italy has the mafia, Japan has yakuza and South Korea has "jopok."

Just like their counterparts in Italy and Japan, Korean gangsters have captured the fascination of filmmakers and storytellers here, giving rise to a genre of their own.

Among numerous films and TV dramas inspired by gang culture, three stand out, not just for their box office success but for their portrayal of jopok at key stages in their historical development. They are: “The General’s Son” trilogy directed by Im Kwon-taek, “Friend” by director Kwak Kyung-taek and the “Roundup” series by Heo Myeong-haeng.

‘The General’s Son’: Jopok as vigilantes against the tyranny of Japanese yakuza

In the early history of jopok, one name stands out: Kim Du-han, the son of a legendary commander of Korea’s rebel army. He grew up on the street as a beggar and eventually rose to prominence in the nascent Korean gang scene.

The stranger-than-fiction story of Kim (1918-1972) was made into a megahit trilogy in the '90s: “The General’s Son,” directed by Im Kwon-taek.

A 2002 TV drama based on his life, “Rustic Period,” was also a success, deepening the country’s fascination with Kim and the historical era in which he lived.

"The General’s Son" films, released annually from 1990 to 1992, unfold in the 1930s, with a particular focus on the dark alleys of Jongno in central Seoul.

It follows the journey of the young Kim, renowned for his strong fists, played by actor Park Sang-min, as he rises to dominate the street fighting scene in Jongno, culminating in a showdown with a Japanese yakuza leader named Hayashi, played by Shin Hyun-joon.

The movie marked the first major attempt at an action blockbuster in the Korean film industry, which had previously been dominated by love stories and dramas.

In the films, Kim is depicted as driven by patriotism, seeking to protect fellow Korean merchants from Japanese colonizers' harassment. And by doing so, he unknowingly carries on the legacy of his father, Gen. Kim Chwa-chin of Korea’s Independence Army.

In real life, Kim was a more complex figure. He is known to have formed the first Korean gang that rivaled yakuza groups that were trying to take over the commercial districts of Jongno and Myeong-dong. While there was a patriotic aspect to his group, Kim himself acknowledged in his memoir that he and the Hiyashi group sometimes cooperated.

After Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945, chaos gripped South Korea. Ideological battles ensued among socialists, liberals, the far right, nationalists and anarchists.

During this turbulent time, the fate of gangsters largely depended on their ability to align themselves with political factions. Kim Du-han first associated with the left, but swiftly switched over to the pro-US liberal camp. He also entered politics, taking the lead in suppressing the left, including communists.

Another infamous political gangster, Lee Jeong-jae emerged during this time. He participated in an anticommunist youth group, leading the suppression of students from Korea University who protested President Syngman Rhee’s administration in 1960.

The collusion between politics and gangsters continued until Park Chung-hee, the iron-fisted leader of a military junta, rose to power and launched a crackdown on political gangsters. With many, including Lee, sentenced to death, the reign of political thugs ended.

Kim, however, managed to transform himself into a politician and get elected to the National Assembly twice. He died of a longstanding illness in 1972.

‘Friend’: Rise of regional gangs, their ruthless power struggles

"Stop. I’ve had enough," Dong-soo, played by Jang Dong-gun, tells Jun-seok's henchman in a heavy Busan dialect as the attacker continues to stab him in the abdomen. Dong-soo utters the phrase, resigned to his fate — dying at the hands of his childhood friend-turned-rival Jun-seok played by actor Yu Oh-seong.

This, the most famous scene from the 2001 neonoir film "Friend," marks the climax of a dramatic conflict between the two protagonists -- childhood friends who ended up becoming archrivals in adulthood, leading opposing gangs. Dong-soo attacked Jun-seok's men first, and in retaliation, Jun-seok sent a man to kill Dong-soo.

“Friend” became the highest-grossing Korean film to date at that time, garnering more than 8 million viewers.

Director Kwak Kyung-taek said it was based on real events between Busan’s two rival jopok groups: “Chilsung-pa” and “20th-century-pa.”

In a broader context, the film sheds light on an era of regional gangs in South Korea.

Under the crackdown by the Park Chung-hee administration, early jopok groups met their demise, creating an opportunity for smaller, regional thugs to rise and expand. By the 1980s, three gangs had grown to become the nation's largest, with each one boasting thousands of members. They are: "Beomseobang-pa," founded in the 1980s by Kim Tae-chon; "Yangeuni-pa," established in the 1970s by Cho Yang-eun; and "OB-pa," led by Lee Dong-jae. Initially rooted in the Jeolla region, these groups expanded their influence into other regions and eventually Seoul.

The period was marked by violent power struggles among major gangs, with the use of weapons like sashimi knives becoming widespread, replacing the fistfights of early-generation gangsters.

The gangs covered their backs with tattoos, wore black suits and extorted money from adult entertainment venues like “room salons” (bars with private rooms for hostesses and often prostitutes) under the guise of protecting the venues. They used violence to "maintain" their territories or expand their gang membership.

One of the most prominent incidents showing their cruelty occurred at the Savoy Hotel in Myeong-dong in 1975. Cho’s Yangeuni-pa raided a New Year’s party of senior leaders of Seoul’s "Shinsangsapa," armed with baseball bats and sashimi knives. The bloodshed sent shockwaves through the public, leaving many terrified.

The 1980s was a flourishing period for gangsters, but the horrifying violence displayed by warring jopok groups prompted the Roh Tae-woo administration to launch a "war on gangs" in 1990.

‘The Roundup: Punishment’: Gangsters adapt to the digital age

“The Roundup” series, directed by Heo Myeong-haeng and starring actor Ma Dong-seok (Don Lee) as the robust police officer of the same name, is Korean cinema’s latest box office fascination. From the first installment to the most recent fourth, each film has seen 10 million ticket sales.

In the fourth installment, “Punishment,” which came out in April, Ma traces down a drug trafficking group, which then leads him to a large-scale illegal online gambling organization based in in the Philippines. The mastermind behind this operation is IT genius Jang Dong-cheol.

The entire "The Roundup" franchise is about Detective Ma taking on various gangs. In "Punishment," the focus is on online gambling and cybercrimes, which according to law enforcement authorities are prevalent among today's jopok groups.

In 2000s, the number of gang members dwindled and their traditional income sources -- openly extorting money -- became harder to sustain due to the emergence of advanced digital technologies for reporting to the police and recording evidence.

They began to diversify their operations into other lucrative, but more surreptitious areas, including online gambling, stock manipulation and adult arcades.

Also, the concept of “nawabari,” or a gang’s territory, became blurred. The number of small gangs increased, some with as few as 10 members. As of 2024, there are 208 gang groups with 5,622 members under police monitoring.

Smaller gangs have sustained themselves through voice phishing and financial scams related to stocks, loans and cryptocurrencies.

The police said although their means of profit have evolved into more corporate and sophisticated types, violence is their basic activity as their name “jopok” implies. “Jopok” means "organized violence" in Korean.

It is getting more difficult to track their crimes as they become smaller and more cunning in luring people to steal their money, and they hire legal experts and operate on the border between what is legal and illegal to avoid arrest, according to Yeom Gun-woong, a professor in U1 University’s Department of Police Science. Regarding online gambling, it is difficult to track them since their servers are usually located abroad.

“Although the types of gangsters have transformed over the last 100 years, gangsters are all criminals and they are a cancer to society,” said Yeom.

“They create income in an illegal way and if they fail, they use violence as a last resort to get what they want,” he said.