Made in Korea episodes 1-2

The president is killed and Baek Kitae becomes acting KCIA director. What actually happened in history, and what the drama changed. Full spoilers.

Season 1 looked good but often felt like separate incidents forced together. Season 2 is different. There’s real pleasure in watching these villains maneuver inside a history whose ending we already know.

Everything from here is a full spoiler for episodes 1 and 2.

Nine Years Later, Kitae Meets the President as KCIA Deputy Director

Baek Kitae, now a deputy director of the KCIA, meets the president privately. The president tells him that KCIA director Cho has been looking at him differently lately, and to keep an eye on the man.

Mass protests break out in Busan and Masan. Three men meet to respond: chief presidential secretary Cheon Seok-jung, director Cho, and presidential security chief Gwak. Cho argues against provoking the public. Gwak wants to roll tanks over them. They trade insults.

Leaving the room, a furious Cho tells Kitae that someday he’ll have to end this himself, and that only then will everyone survive.

Nine Years Later, Baek Kitae Still Calls It Patriotism

Nine years have made Kitae and Cheon Seok-jung close enough to call each other brothers. The drug operation has grown enormously, managed by his sister So-young.

When his aide asks why they never sell domestically, Kitae answers: would you want to poison this beautiful country? And he calls it patriotism. It’s the same conviction he held in Season 1.

A Succession War in Osaka

Ikeda Yuji is maneuvering to become the next boss. Winning over Harimoto, the Tokyo branch head, would let her beat the front-runner Kimura. In exchange, she asks Kitae to release Harimoto’s brother, held in Korea on espionage charges.

At Ikeda’s funeral, the vote for successor goes against Yuji. Then Kitae and his agents storm the room and shoot the bodyguards. Yuji cuts down both Kimura and Harimoto, who broke his promise, and takes the top seat herself.

What Kitae Sees in Busan

What Kitae finds in Busan is soldiers beating civilians indiscriminately, and a KCIA branch office filled with the sounds of torture. His old colleague Pyo Hak-soo now runs it as branch chief. Kitae releases Harimoto’s brother.

October 26, 1979 — Gungjeong-dong

At a safe house in Gungjeong-dong, the president drinks with Cheon Seok-jung, Gwak, and Cho. Gwak says Cambodia killed three million and pushes again for tanks against the protesters. Cho snaps and tells the president to govern with some perspective. The president answers: you want to die?

Cheon steps out briefly and calls Kitae, saying Cho looks ready to do something. Kitae arrives at the safe house just as gunshots ring out. Inside, the president and Gwak are dead.

Who Actually Captured Director Cho?

The next day, at the Defense Security Command, Baek Kihyun interrogates his own brother. Kitae eats jajangmyeon through the questioning — noodles delivered to an interrogation room, eaten with complete ease. In Korea it reads instantly as a man who knows he isn’t in any real danger, and as an insult to the officer across the table.

He tells Kihyun to ask the army chief of staff who actually captured director Cho. It was Kitae.

That night, Kitae had intercepted him. Cho was leaving with the army chief of staff, who had also been at the safe house, intending to drive to KCIA headquarters — to win over the man holding military authority and seize power himself. Kitae told him to head to Army Headquarters instead, saying he’d handle the KCIA. Then he called Army Headquarters and had Cho arrested.

Kitae Becomes Acting Director of the KCIA

The chief of staff becomes martial law commander. Under emergency martial law, that position carries sweeping authority to direct and supervise administrative and judicial bodies within the martial law zone.

He appoints Kitae acting director of the KCIA — a move meant to check Hwang Daesik, commander of the Defense Security Command. Hwang is already ignoring the martial law commander who outranks him. He takes the top job at the Joint Investigation Headquarters and starts using its investigative powers to tear the KCIA apart.

“Let’s Cross the Han River Bridge”

Kitae tells Cheon Seok-jung they should cross the Han River bridge together. When Park Chung Hee launched his own coup in 1961, his troops crossed the Han River bridges into Seoul. In the context of this drama, the phrase amounts to proposing a coup. To win over the martial law commander, Kitae orders all his money in Japan brought home.

Meanwhile, Oh Ye-jin has become Korea’s first female prosecutor and restarts her drug investigation in Busan. The Joint Investigation Headquarters, realizing the drug money belongs to Cheon Seok-jung, summons her. At the same time, Baek Kihyun is assigned to investigate Cheon’s slush fund.

Before dawn, the convoy carrying Kitae, Yuji, and the money from Japan is stopped by soldiers opening fire. Through the open window, Jang Geonyoung speaks. Long time no see.

Who Was Actually in the Gungjeong-dong Safe House?

The real dinner included President Park Chung Hee, security chief Cha Ji-chul, and KCIA director Kim Jae-gyu — but also Kim Gye-won, the chief presidential secretary. Singer Shim Soo-bong and Shin Jae-soon were there as well. Kim Gye-won survived the shooting.

So putting a chief presidential secretary in that room isn’t an invention. What changed is his role. Kim Gye-won never stepped out just before the shooting to summon someone like Baek Kitae. The drama uses the fictional Cheon Seok-jung to open a path for Kitae into the events of October 26.

Which Was Stronger, the KCIA or the Security Command?

The drama presents the KCIA as a formidable organization. It genuinely was. But it had one decisive weakness: it couldn’t move troops directly. With the president dead and martial law declared, whoever could command military forces held the far stronger position. That’s exactly why, in the show, Kitae works to bring the army chief of staff onto his side.

In real history, Chun Doo-hwan’s faction moved first against army chief of staff Chung Seung-hwa during the December 12 coup, arresting him before anything else. Chung was later tortured during the Security Command’s interrogation.

Who Is Cheon Seok-jung Based On?

It’s hard to read Cheon Seok-jung as a copy of any one real figure. By title, he recalls Kim Gye-won, who actually held the chief presidential secretary post in 1979. The political weight of having been with Park Chung Hee since the 1961 coup brings someone like Kim Jong-pil to mind.

But the man most often described as the real number two in Park’s final years was security chief Cha Ji-chul. And the drama already has a far more direct stand-in for Cha in the form of Gwak.

Cheon Seok-jung looks less like a transplanted historical figure than a fictional composite, assembled from pieces of several powerful men of the Park era.

What If Director Cho Had Gone to the KCIA Instead?

In the drama, Kitae sends Cho to Army Headquarters and takes the KCIA himself. The scene inverts what many Koreans consider the most agonizing moment in the real history.

After shooting the president, Kim Jae-gyu set out for KCIA headquarters in Namsan with army chief of staff Chung Seung-hwa in his car. Chung insisted on going to Army Headquarters instead, the destination changed, and that is what led to Kim Jae-gyu’s arrest.

One historical what-if has circulated in Korea ever since. What if Kim Jae-gyu had gone to his own stronghold at the KCIA rather than Army Headquarters? His capture is what allowed Chun Doo-hwan, then only a major general, to climb all the way to the presidency. Whether anything would truly have been better under Kim Jae-gyu is another question entirely.

Which is what gives the scene its weight. A decision Kim Jae-gyu made himself in history becomes, in the drama, a trap laid by Baek Kitae.

A Parade of Villains

This is a contest between genuine villains. The KCIA is one, and Hwang Daesik — standing where Chun Doo-hwan stood — is another. The only character you can really warm to is Oh Ye-jin. I’m curious what happens to Korea’s first female prosecutor from here.

Anyone who knows Korean history can roughly guess where Baek Kihyun ends up. This is the history where the Security Command wins.

Will Jang Geonyoung’s Revenge Succeed?

He’s the one I’m most curious about. Does he become a hero or a villain? In Season 1, he attached himself to the chief presidential secretary to bring Baek Kitae down. In Season 2, he’s joined the Joint Investigation Headquarters. Each time, he chooses the stronger power. And this time, the side he’s chosen is the one that wins in real history.

Basic Info

Director: Woo Min-ho
Writers: Park Eun-gyo, Park Joon-suk
Cast: Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung, Woo Do-hwan, Jang Hye-jin, Heo Jung-do
Episodes: 6
Release: September 9, 2026, with two episodes weekly through September 23, on Disney+ and Hulu

Before you watch Season 2, catch up on the story and the history behind it.

Made in Korea Season 1: Full Story and Ending Explained

Made in Korea: Is It a True Story? The Real History Behind Season 1

Made in Korea Season 2: What You Need to Know Before You Watch