Escape (2024 South Korean film)

Escape is a 2024 South Korean action thriller film directed by Lee Jong-pil and starring Lee Je-hoon, Koo Kyo-hwan and Hong Xa-bin. This film depicts the life-threatening defection and chase of Lim Gyu-nam, a North Korean soldier who dreams of a life with a tomorrow on the other side of the barbed-wire fence, and Hyeon-sang, a North Korean State Security officer who must stop him. It was released on July 3, 2024.

Plot
At North Korea's front-line military unit near the cease-fire line, Sergeant Lim Gyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon), who is about to be discharged after 10 years of service, prepares to escape from North Korea, where he cannot choose his future, to beyond the barbed wire fence where he can do what he wants. However, low-ranking soldier Kim Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), who discovered Gyu-nam's plan, attempted to escape first, and Gyu-nam, who tried to stop him, was suddenly arrested as a deserter.

Major Li Hyeon-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan) of the State Security Ministry who came to the unit to investigate a deserter, transforms Gyu-nam, whom he had known since childhood, into a hero for his efforts to apprehend a deserter, and gives him a position as a direct assistant to the division commander, promoting his performance. He's trying to raise it. However, when Gyu-nam makes a full-scale escape, Hyeon-sang begins a pursuit with no way to back down.

In the end, Gyu-nam makes it past the Korean Demilitarized Zone and one of the intervals of Military Demarcation Line on the South Korean side, having suffered many injuries inflicted by Hyeon-sang. While Dong-hyuk couldn't make it together, Gyu-nam is able to see Dong-hyuk's mother safe and sound and pass along the family necklace.

Main

 * Lee Je-hoon as Sergeant first class Lim Gyu-nam, a North Korean soldier who dreams of a new life in the South, away from the North where the future is predetermined.
 * Koo Kyo-hwan as Major Lee Hyun-sang, an officer of North Korea's National Security Department, an intelligence department, who initially promoted Gyu-nam for apprehending a deserter but now leads a pursuit.
 * Hong Xa-bin as Kim Dong-hyuk, a low-ranking soldier who dreams of escaping like Gyu-nam, but was apprehended.

Supporting

 * Seo Hyun-woo as Major Cha, the head of the police department in charge of the 1st Division's battlefield area.
 * Lee Sung-wook as First Lieutenant Hong, a military officer belonging to the Ministry of Police in charge of the battalion.
 * Jung Joon-won as Second Lieutenant Park Jun-pyeong.
 * Park Yoon-hee as Director of the General Political Bureau.

Special appearance

 * Song Kang as Seon Woo-min
 * Esom as nomad leader
 * Lee Ho-jung as wandering rifle girl
 * Hyun Ji Shin as nomad
 * Jang Young-nam as Dong-hyuk's mother
 * Bae Cheol-soo as himself

Music
In the movie, Major Li Hyeon-sang turns out to have won international piano competitions, but chooses the military career because he is the son of a general trying to survive in the regime. According to the closing credits accompanied by Zion.T's 2014 digital single Yanghwa BRDG, these are the classical music that have appeared in the movie
 * Johann Strauss II's Wener Blut Op. 354
 * Dmitri Shostakovich's Dances of the Dolls - 1. Lyric Waltz
 * Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor Op. 23 No. 5 & Piano Concerto No. 2 Op 18
 * Frédéric Chopin's Waltz in B minor, Op. 69, No. 2