Nine years after Season 1, Baek Kitae and Jang Geonyoung collide again—but neither man becomes the true winner. Here is the full story of Made in Korea Season 2, from the fall of the old regime to Kitae’s final confrontation. Full spoilers.
If Season 1 was a battle between Baek Kitae and Jang Geonyoung, Season 2 is different. The two men collide again, but in the end, neither of them is the true winner. In 1979, as the president dies and the old power structure begins to collapse, Kitae and Geonyoung charge toward each other again, while behind their fight an entirely new force named Hwang Daesik quietly begins to grow.
From here on, there are full spoilers for Season 2.
By the end of the season, Kihyun points a gun at his brother and a shot rings out, while Geonyoung comes close to completing the revenge he has wanted for years. Kitae survives, but Korea does not move into a better era at that moment. It moves into Hwang Daesik’s era. Season 2 is therefore the story of Kitae’s downfall and the end of the political world that gave him power, as a more dangerous one begins.
Nine Years Later, Baek Kitae Has Become One of the KCIA’s Most Powerful Men
Nine years have passed. Baek Kitae has risen to become acting director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, powerful enough to meet the president alone. The president tells him that KCIA Director Cho’s eyes have changed lately and orders Kitae to keep a close watch on him.
The country is tense. Large-scale protests are breaking out in Busan and Masan, while conflict is growing even inside the president’s inner circle over how to respond. Director Cho argues that the government should not provoke the public any further, while Presidential Security Chief Gwak insists that even tanks should be deployed.
Kitae’s business has also grown far beyond what it was nine years earlier. His younger sister Soyoung (So-young) oversees large-scale drug production, while in Japan he continues working with Ikeda Yuji. But Kitae still refuses to sell the drugs inside Korea. He says he will not destroy his own country with narcotics, and he still calls that patriotism.
In Japan, Yuji is fighting for control of her organization. Kitae uses his power in Korea to eliminate her rival and eventually helps her reach the top. Money, drugs, intelligence agencies, and Japanese organized crime have all become part of one enormous operation, and Kitae stands at the center of it as both a senior state official and a criminal businessman.
October 26, 1979 — The President Is Killed
When Kitae travels to Busan, he sees soldiers beating civilians and torture taking place inside the KCIA branch office. His former colleague Pyo Haksoo (Pyo Hak-soo) is now the head of the Busan branch.
Then comes October 26. At the Gungjeong-dong safe house, the president drinks with Cheon Seokjung (Cheon Seok-jung), Presidential Security Chief Gwak, and KCIA Director Cho. Another argument breaks out over how to deal with the protests, and Cho tells the president that the country cannot continue to be run this way. Sensing that something is wrong, Cheon calls Kitae.
By the time Kitae reaches the safe house, gunshots ring out. The president and Gwak are dead. Cho tries to leave with the Army Chief of Staff, but Kitae blocks them, and when Cho tries to head toward KCIA headquarters, Kitae instead forces the group toward Army Headquarters. Cho is eventually arrested.
In actual history, KCIA Director Kim Jae-gyu assassinated President Park Chung Hee and Presidential Security Chief Cha Ji-chul on October 26, 1979. Army Chief of Staff Chung Seung-hwa had been waiting in a separate building at the safe house, and Kim later moved with him before the group ended up at Army Headquarters. The drama twists that historical moment by inserting the fictional Baek Kitae into it.
The moment the president is gone, everyone begins looking toward the next center of power. The Army Chief of Staff becomes Martial Law Commander and appoints Kitae as acting KCIA director in order to keep Security Command chief Hwang Daesik in check. Hwang does not stand still, however. He becomes head of the Joint Investigation Headquarters, takes control of the presidential assassination investigation, and begins putting pressure on the KCIA, setting up a confrontation between the old center of power and a military intelligence organization that is suddenly growing stronger.
Kitae tells Cheon Seokjung, “Let’s cross the Han River.” During the May 16, 1961 military coup, coup forces broke through the Han River defense line, entered Seoul, and seized key institutions including Army Headquarters and the broadcasting station. In that context, Kitae’s line sounds almost like a proposal for another coup.
To prepare for it, Kitae arranges for 70 billion won held in Japan to be brought back to Korea. But when the vehicles carrying the money enter a tunnel, soldiers block the road. A car window rolls down, and after seven years, Jang Geonyoung appears again.
Jang Geonyoung Spent Seven Years Preparing to Catch Baek Kitae
Geonyoung lost everything at the end of Season 1. He spent two years in prison and worked construction jobs after his release, but he never gave up. For the next seven years, he searched through discarded documents and even garbage to trace the corruption of Cheon Seokjung and Baek Kitae, eventually uncovering Cheon’s 70 billion won slush fund.
Geonyoung hands the evidence to Colonel Ahn Jaeho (Ahn Jae-ho), his high school junior who is now an officer in the Security Command. He has one condition: if they succeed in bringing down Cheon and Kitae, Geonyoung wants a pardon and the restoration of his rights. That is how he returns as a special adviser to the Joint Investigation Headquarters.
In the tunnel, Geonyoung seizes the 70 billion won brought in from Japan and also arrests Ikeda Yuji. Hwang Daesik is pleased, but he refuses to allow an immediate raid on Kitae’s drug operation. If it becomes public that the president and the KCIA were involved in the narcotics business, Hwang argues, the scandal could shake the state itself.
What Hwang wants is not the whole truth. He wants only the truth that serves power. So instead of using the drug business to bring down Cheon and Kitae, he decides to pursue them through political funds. For that, he needs the ledger proving that the 70 billion won belonged to Cheon Seokjung.
Kitae and Geonyoung Fight Again Over One Ledger
Ikeda Yuji is interrogated by the Joint Investigation Headquarters. Oh Yejin (Oh Ye-jin), who once investigated the drug trade with Geonyoung in Busan, has become a prosecutor and has been dispatched from the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office. She objects to the torture of Yuji, but Geonyoung is no longer the same man he was before, and he ultimately uses torture to force out the location of the ledger.
Yejin asks him, “Have you changed?” In Season 1, Geonyoung believed in the law. Now he believes the law alone cannot bring down Kitae, and he is slowly beginning to resemble the very man he hates.
The ledger is in the hands of a Japanese gangster named Takahashi. Kitae knows that everything will collapse if it reaches the Joint Investigation Headquarters, so he finds Takahashi first, but Geonyoung and his forces soon storm the hotel. Takahashi is killed in the gunfight, and the ledger ends up in Geonyoung’s hands.
With both the 70 billion won and the ledger secured, the Joint Investigation Headquarters exposes Cheon Seokjung’s slush fund. Cheon, who once dreamed of becoming president, becomes a criminal overnight and is arrested. The person watching his downfall from closest range is none other than Kitae’s younger brother, Baek Kihyun.
Kihyun Has Never Been Able to Escape His Brother
Kihyun carries an old secret. When he was a high school student, he killed another student during a fight using Kitae’s gun, and Kitae, then a Special Forces captain, arrived and covered up the entire incident. Kihyun’s life was saved by his brother that day, but from that same moment, he became unable to escape him.
In Season 2, Kihyun is a lieutenant colonel in the Security Command. On the surface he works under Hwang Daesik, but he continues leaking information from the Joint Investigation Headquarters to Kitae, and Geonyoung knows it. This relationship between the two brothers continues all the way to the finale.
Meanwhile, Ikeda Yuji is released but kept under guard at a hotel. When Kitae visits her, she asks him to leave for Japan with her and says, “Come back alive. Then let’s really try loving each other.” Kitae promises, but he does not leave Korea.
Cheon Seokjung orders Kitae to kill Hwang Daesik, and Kitae reaches the same conclusion on his own. Hwang has to be removed.
The Bomb at Cheonungak
Hwang Daesik, his inner circle, and Geonyoung gather at Cheonungak. Kitae plants a bomb under their table and triggers it from a distance, but someone unexpected arrives. It is Kihyun.
When his younger brother sits at the table above the bomb, Kitae has no choice but to enter Cheonungak himself. He tries to take Kihyun outside, but Hwang stops him. Even as Kitae and Geonyoung exchange barbed remarks, the countdown continues.
Kitae finally reaches under the table himself. With less than ten seconds remaining, he must choose between a red wire and a blue wire. He cuts the red one, and the bomb does not explode.
Kitae could have killed Hwang, but because of his brother, he ends up stopping his own assassination plan with his own hands. Afterward, Kihyun tells him, “The world has changed.” Cheon Seokjung will not make it out alive either, he says, so Kitae should leave for Japan while he still can. In effect, the brothers split apart at this moment.
Hwang Daesik Makes Kihyun His Own Man
Kitae’s family is already collapsing. He visits Soyoung in the hospital after her drug use puts her there, but instead of promising to stop, she asks him to get her more drugs and breaks down, demanding to know why he killed Kang Daeil (Kang Dae-il). Then she tells him never to come back. The business Kitae believed he had built for his family is now destroying that family.
Hwang Daesik, meanwhile, approaches Kihyun. He says he takes care of loyal juniors to the end and that if no one else recognizes people who serve the country, “I will.” Kihyun is moved by the words. A man who has spent his life under his brother’s shadow is now beginning to move toward a new center of power.
Kitae prepares another attempt on Hwang’s life. This time he exploits the weakness of Security Command Captain Min Jonghwan and orders him to plant a bomb inside the Joint Investigation Headquarters meeting room. But there is one thing Kitae does not know: the person who secretly removed the first bomb from Cheonungak was Jang Geonyoung.
Geonyoung already knows what Kitae is trying to do.
The Same Battle as Season 1 — Which of Them Will Survive?
Min Jonghwan enters the meeting room with the bomb exactly as planned, but Geonyoung is waiting for him. Min is captured as he tries to leave, everyone is evacuated, and Geonyoung personally disarms the bomb.
At the same time, Kitae attacks Hwang Daesik’s motorcade. After a barrage of gunfire, one vehicle finally stops, but Hwang is not inside. The man behind the wheel, apparently wounded, is Kihyun.
It was all a trap created by Geonyoung. He had predicted that Kitae would not only plant the meeting-room bomb but also try to draw Hwang outside and assassinate him separately. Hwang remained at Joint Investigation Headquarters while Kihyun was sent in his place. Geonyoung has taken the methods that once destroyed him and turned them back on Kitae.
Even Cheon Seokjung Abandons Baek Kitae
After the assassination attempt fails, Hwang Daesik pressures Cheon Seokjung. Cheon eventually appears at a press conference arranged by the Joint Investigation Headquarters and places the entire 70 billion won slush fund and every related crime on Kitae, even revealing that Kitae tried to assassinate Hwang in order to stop the investigation.
Geonyoung is furious. He did not fight this far just to wrap everything up neatly; he wanted both Cheon and Kitae investigated to the end. Hwang, however, says that he is the one who decides who ends and who begins. Geonyoung walks out, and Hwang orders Ahn Jaeho to find Kitae and kill him before the day is over.
Baek Kitae Has Nowhere Left to Go
Kitae becomes a fugitive. He calls Yuji in Japan and asks her to send a boat, but there are still people he needs to deal with before he leaves. He encounters Cheon Seokjung coming out of the president’s inner office carrying money, and when Cheon insists that he had no choice and asks Kitae to trust him, Kitae answers, “I have never trusted you.” Then he shoots him in the ear.
Back in his own office, Kitae finds Pyo Haksoo breaking into his safe. He shoots Pyo in the leg and points a gun at his forehead as Pyo begs for his life, but he does not kill him.
Pyo appears again later, alive. As if nothing has happened, he limps after the new center of power, Hwang Daesik.
Baek Kitae Turns His Gun on Jang Geonyoung
Kitae hears that Kihyun is in critical condition and goes to the hospital. The atmosphere feels wrong, and he realizes it is a trap, but it is already too late. Soldiers open fire, and Kitae’s subordinate blows up a medical oxygen cylinder to clear an escape route. Kitae is wounded as well, but he manages to get away in a car.
Geonyoung pursues Kitae’s vehicle. Kitae draws him into an isolated factory and appears behind him, shooting Geonyoung in the arm. Now Kitae has the chance to kill him, and he asks, “Do you still believe you’re right?”
Geonyoung answers, “The world has changed. The world doesn’t need you anymore. You’re finished.” But Kitae does not kill him and walks back toward his car. At that moment, another vehicle arrives, and Kihyun gets out, crying as he points a gun at his brother.
As Kitae looks at his younger brother, one thought seems to cross his mind: “I was a patriot. Everything I did was for this country.” Then a gunshot rings out, but the drama does not show him being hit or show his body afterward.
The Seat Baek Kitae Wanted
The final scene returns to the opening scene of Season 2, Episode 1. The president is speaking with Baek Kitae in the presidential office, and then leaves for the inner room with Shin, a mysterious shaman close to the president. While they are gone, Kitae sits in the president’s chair and puts a cigarette in his mouth.
That is where Season 2 leaves Kitae. Director Woo Min-ho has since confirmed in a post-finale interview that he is alive and will return in Season 3. The season ends his place in the old political order, while his story continues.
Made in Korea Season 2 Ending Explained
Made in Korea Season 2 leaves even more to explain after the story itself is over. Kitae survives, but the final gunshot still marks the end of his era. Why did he spare Jang Geonyoung at the very end, and what did Geonyoung mean when he said, “The world has changed”?
Who exactly is Shin, and why does Kitae’s final word, “Imja,” matter? And after Baek Kitae disappears, what kind of era is waiting under Hwang Daesik? I will break down those questions and the meaning of the Season 2 ending in a separate post.
Made in Korea Season 2: Ending Explained and Drama Analysis
Basic Info
Director: Woo Min-ho
Writers: Park Eun-gyo, Park Joon-suk
Cast: Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung, Woo Do-hwan, Won Ji-an, Seo Eun-soo, Jung Sung-il, Heo Jung-do
Episodes: 6
Season 1 Release: December 24, 2025 – January 14, 2026, on Disney+ and Hulu
Season 2 Release: September 9–23, 2026, with two episodes weekly, on Disney+ and Hulu
More on Made in Korea
Made in Korea Season 1: Full Story and Ending Explained — Before Season 2
Made in Korea Season 2: What You Need to Know Before You Watch
Made in Korea Season 2 Episodes 1–2: What Really Happened on October 26
Made in Korea Season 2 Episodes 3-4: The Enemy of My Enemy—and the Beginning of the End
Made in Korea Season 2 Episodes 5–6: Did Baek Ki-tae Die? The Meaning of the Ending
Made in Korea: Is It a True Story? The Real History Behind Season 1
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