best action Korean movies

Lately, the world has seen the spread of the Hallyu wave. Hallyu wave, which means the Korean wave, has led to a drastic change in the world of dramas, movies, series, music, beauty, and fashion. Providing all genres of shows, action Korean movies have a great fanbase.

Be it BTS and k-pop for their music, k-dramas and movies for their storyline, artists for their talent, Korean glass skin / K-beauty, and fashion, all have been conquering the world lately.

So, if you’re a k-lover, addicted to K-dramas, you’re on the right page.

Here’s a list of the best action Korean movies and dramas that you can binge upon over the weekend.

Even if you’re not a Korean lover, these movies will make you fall in love with the K-industry, for sure.

Alert all action movie lovers, you are missing out on a lot if you haven’t seen the following action Korean movies. So, what is the wait for? Check out this compilation of some of the best Korean action movies of all time.

Best Action Korean Movies List :

Train to Busan (2016)

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Director: Yeon Sang-Ho

Category: Action / Horror

Cast: Gong Yoo, Don Lee, Jung Yu-Mi, Kim Su-an

Seo Seok Woo is a divorcee who lives with his daughter Su-an. On his daughter’s birthday, he takes her to meet her mom, who lives in Busan after their divorce. A chemical leak leads to a zombie apocalypse and one of the infected people boards that train. Soon, the infected lady turns into a zombie and makes other passengers turn into zombies by attacking them. Seok-woo and Su-an try to save themselves and protect the remaining passengers at the same time. Their happy journey becomes a nightmare.

Will they be able to rescue the survivors and not become zombies themselves? Watch: Train to Busan to find out. This is one of the best action Korean movies that has received a great response from its viewers.

This movie had so many viewers that its makers were bound to release the second season of this film. Named Peninsula, starring Gang Dong-won, Koo Kyo-Hwan, and Lee Re, released in 2020, this movie is yet another hit in the action Korean movie list.

Train to Busan was also released in multiple languages. Make sure not to miss out on this one.

The Divine Fury (2019)

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Director: Jason Kim

Category: Horror / Action

Cast: Park Seo-Joon, Woo Do-hwan, Choi Woo-Shik, Ahn Sung-ki

Yong Hoo, who lost his parents at an early age, has no belief in God. He is a martial arts champion. One day, in his sleep, he gets unexplained wounds. Priest An is an exorcist who Yong Hoo gets involved with fighting evil powers. The entities that were causing those wounds were evil powers, trying to mess with the human world. They team up to fight the demons because Yong Hoo has the power to defeat the devil and Priest An has the means and methods to help him do so.

The divine fury is a horror, one of the most watched action Korean movies featuring Park Seo-Joon which had a Box office collection of $11.1 million.

Believer (2018)

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Director: Lee Hae-young

Category: Action / Crime

Cast: Kim Joo-hyuk, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Choi Jin-Woong, Jin Seo-Yeon

The story of Believer is about catching Mr. Lee, who is the biggest drug dealer and mafia. Won-Ho is the police detective in charge of catching Mr. Lee. However, it’s difficult as Mr. Lee had never been seen or heard of, but was the most powerful man among all dealers. Thus, many drug dealers posed to be him.  Rak is a survivor of an explosion caused by Lee’s gang and is found to be Lee’s gang member. For all those who love action Korean movies, this one is a must-watch.

Rak teamed up with Detective Won-Ho to track down Mr. Lee. Soon, with the help of Rak, Won-Ho and his team disguised themselves as Mr. Lee and his gang to meet other drug dealers and find Lee. But he is attacked by a criminal called Brian, who Won-Ho suspects to be Mr. Lee.

Later, it is revealed that Brian gets kidnapped by Rak.

This story is full of plot twists and mysteries. Watch Believer and find out who the real Mr. Lee is.

Midnight runners (2017)

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Director: Jason Kim

Category: Action / Comedy

Cast: Park Seo-joon, , Lee Ho-jung, Kang Ha-neul

Two Korean National Police University students, Ki-Joon and Hee-Yeol witness a kidnapping around midnight. They try to chase the kidnappers and rescue the girl. Being Police University students, they try to investigate the kidnapping without the permission of the authorities. They found that the kidnappers were running an egg harvesting ring that involved the forceful extraction of eggs from young women and selling them. They find all the victims but soon get caught and are beaten to a pulp. However, the duo doesn’t give up and they try to rescue all the girls.

Knowing this act might cost them their studentship and place in the Police Academy, will they continue with their rescue mission? Watch Midnight Runners and find out if they succeed.

This is one of the most-watched action Korean movies and it highlights the heinous crime of Egg Harvesting.

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

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Director: Lee Jeong-Beom

Category:  Action / Thriller

Cast: Won Bin, Kim Sae-Ron

This story is about Cha Tae Sik who is a former police officer, who runs a pawn shop. He is reserved and likes being friends with a little girl So-mi. So-mi’s mother is a nightclub dancer and drug addict. Once, while delivering Heroin, she gets caught and hides it in Cha Tae-Sik’s pawnshop. The drug dealers found her and tortured her in front of her daughter So-mi. She was killed and her organs harvested. So-mi is forced to deliver the drugs and Tae-Sik, while protecting her, gets arrested.

Upon interrogation, it was found that Tae-Sik, after quitting his special police agent’s job was on a mission on his own to track down all the drug smugglers and punish them. Watch the man from Nowhere to find out what made Tae-Sik do all this.

This is one of the best action Korean movies and was South Korea’s highest-grossing film in 2010.

Also, check out Best Adult Movies 2021.

Secretly Greatly (2013)

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Director: Jang Cheol-soo

Category: Action / Comedy

Cast: Lee Hyun-woo, Park Ki-woong, Kim Soo-Hyun

This movie is based on the webtoon, named Covertness by Hun. This movie is about North Korean spies who are sent to South Korea. They are young boys who have disguised themselves as different young boys. One of them disguised as a high schooler, another an idol to be, and one is a fool. These boys remain in a small South Korean town and are expected to live like that until they get orders from the North.

The boys get acquainted with that lifestyle and feel that life is their own. One day, during the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, South Korea demands all the North Korean spies to turn themselves in. However, the North Korean government orders all its spies to kill themselves or take each other’s lives rather than surrender.

The boys who have well assimilated with the South Korean city, are now ordered to commit suicide, this was their secret great mission in South Korea. This movie includes comedy, espionage, and action, all in one. In short, one of the cutest, action Korean movies. Watch secretly greatly and see South Korean heartthrob Kim Soo-Hyun in a cute guy’s appearance.

 

Descendants of the Sun (2016)

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Directors: Baek Sang-hoon, Lee Eung-bok

Category: Action / Romance / Melodrama

Cast: Song Joong-ki, Jin Goo, Song Hye-kyo, Kim Ji-won

Descendants of the sun revolve around Yoo Shi-jin and Dr. Kang Mo-Yeon. Yoo Shi-jin is the captain of the special forces unit and Kang Mo Yeon is a pretty, strict doctor. As a coincidence, Dr. Kang was sent to Uruk to lead a team of medical volunteers where the South Korean Special forces unit worked. Soon, they started dating. They also save a lot of workers from earthquakes. A viral pandemic hits too, they bear it together.

After returning to Korea, Captain Yoo Shi-jin is sent for a secret mission and Dr. Kang receives a letter of his martyrdom. Dr. Kang breaks down after learning so. But a year later, she finds Captain Yoo alive in Albania. Turns out that a North Korean soldier saved his life. Dr. Kang, who leads the medical team, and Captain Yoo, who leads the special forces unit, continue working together in remote areas, helping people in need.

This series is one of the most-watched Korean series. The action, storyline, romance, and international locations of this series led to its huge success. All action Korean movie lovers, you cannot skip this series. Almost all K-drama lovers have this series on their list of top shows. Seen it yet? You can watch this on Netflix or on Viki.

The K2 (2016)

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Director: Kwak Jung-Hwan

Category: Action / Politics / Melodrama

Cast: Ji Chang-Wook, Song Yoon-ah, Im Yoon-Ah, Jo Sung-ha

The K2 is one of the best action Korean movies that involves a very interesting storyline. Kim Je-ha returns to South Korea after being framed for the murder of his lover in Iraq. In South Korea, he starts working for Jang Se-Joon to seek revenge on the person who ordered the murder of his lover. He gets the job of guarding and protecting Jang Se-Joon’s daughter Anna. Anna was a quiet, lonely girl, who Je-ha had to take care of. Soon, they become friends and eventually fall in love. But things turn bad when Anna’s father and stepmother are killed.

Will Je-ha be able to clear his name from his previous lover’s murder and continue with Anna or will his revenge lead to more troubles for him? This series has Ji Chang-Wook in amazing looks. Seen it yet?

Healer (2014)

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Directors: Lee Jung-sub, Kim Jin-woo

Category: Action / Romance / Crime

Cast: Ji Chang-Wook, Yoo Ji-Tae, Park Min-young

Healer is the code name of Ji Chang-Wook, who plays the role of an illegal night courier. Chae Young sin is a tabloid reporter at a news agency. Healer is assigned a task to monitor her. It turns out that Healer takes up a job at the news agency where she works. Although he is meant to monitor her, he falls in love with her.

Soon, they discover an old, hidden murder incident that had their lives shaken. How will this murder mystery unfold and how are they related to it? Watch Healer and find out.

Squid Game (2021)

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Director: Hwang Dong-Hyuk

Category: Action / Suspense / Drama

Cast: Ho Yeon-Jung, Park Hae-Su, Lee Jung-Jae, Anupam Tripathi

Squid Game is a real-life children’s game in South Korea. This series involves a set of games, played by 456 people from different areas and backgrounds. But what is common among the players is that they are in heavy debt. Song Gi-hun is a divorcee, in heavy debt due to his gambling habits. Once, he is invited to play this game series that involves a huge prize amount. Imagine, playing kids’ games and winning billions of dollars. He agrees and enters the game with other players.

The winner has to be one and the other players, who lose have to die! Not knowing about this, he and his friend entered the game. They keep winning each round but see others being shot to death. What sort of a game is this and who sponsors such dangerous games? Poor, indebted people in need of that money entered the game and lost their lives. What do you think happens to Gi-Hun?

Watch squid game on Netflix to find out. This web series is currently rocking the world of action Korean movies. Having 9 episodes, this one has broken all records and is receiving a great response worldwide.

Alive (2020)

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Director: Il Choo

Category: Thriller / Action

Cast: Park Shin-Hye, Yoo Ah-In, Lee Hyun-Wook, Jo Bo-bi

Alive is yet another action Korean movie about zombies. So, if you like watching zombies doing some action, this one is a must-watch for you. Oh Joon-woo relaxes in his house when a zombie apocalypse hits. His entire neighborhood gets affected. Joon-Woo somehow managed to make a social media post before the internet connection was disrupted, requesting to rescue him, but the zombies barged him and tried to kill him, Joon-woo somehow tricked them and escaped.

After a lot of struggle to survive, Joon-woo and Kim Yoo-bin (Park Shin-Hye) end up in a stranger’s house. The stranger adds drugs to their food and locks Yoo-bin with his infected wife. How will Yoo-bin and Joon-woo escape from the zombie? Watch out to find out!

Vagabond (2019)

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Director: Yoo In-Sik

Category: Action / Spy / Crime

Cast: Lee Seung-Gi, Shin Sung-Rok, Bae Suzy

Vagabond is one of the major hit K-dramas of all time. Cha-Hoon is the nephew of a stuntman, Cha Dal-gun. On his way to Morocco for a field trip, Hoon’s plane crashes which leads to the death of a lot of passengers. When Dal-gun visits Morocco to attend his nephew’s funeral, he finds out that the plane crash wasn’t due to the structural failure of the plane, rather a planned mission. He then teams up with Go Hae-Ri and they decide to unfold this mystery and find out the real reason behind this plane crash. As they explore more, they discover a complex web of corrupt politics.

Rugal (2020)

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Director: Jin Hyuk

Category: Action / Science Fiction

Cast:  Choi Jin-hyuk, Park Sung-woong, Jo Dung-hyuk

This story is based on the webtoon called Rel.Mae. This story revolves around Kang Gi-Beom, who is a police officer trying his best to track one of South Korea’s biggest criminal groups. Named Argos. This criminal group murdered Gi Beom’s wife and he was blamed for the murder. Kang decides to clear his name and track down those criminals. He joins Rugal, which is a special force of the National Intelligence Service of Korea. After losing everything including his eyesight, he gains two artificial eyes and superhuman powers through biotechnology.

Will Kang be able to seek revenge for his wife’s death?

Watch Rugal and find out.

Bad Guys (2014)

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Director: Kim Jung-min

Category: Action / Thriller / Crime

Cast: Park Hae-Jin, Ma Dong-Seok, Sang Jung Kim

Bad guys is a 2014 Korean drama about a police detective, dedicated to catching criminals. He uses all means to catch them and give them the worst punishment. To catch them, he gets three convicts released. His team includes a serial killer who is a mad genius, a gangster boss, and a contract killer who surrendered.

Watch the bad guys gang up and track down all the criminals and punish them. The series was a major hit and had its second season released in 2017.

If you are an action genre lover, this one has to make up your list.

Final Words

The above films and series are some of the best action Korean movies. These movies and shows include action, comedy, horror, drama, and romance too. These will surely satisfy your search for the best action Korean movies. Starring the best actors and having amazing storylines, these movies and series are the major hits in the K-industry.

Make sure you take note of this and get your weekend sorted. So, are you ready to binge upon some action Korean movies? Don’t forget your ramen while you watch K-shows for extra fun!

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