[Politics That Day] Is the Movie Confidential, Haeundae's Jo Jin-woong Based on a True Story?

Local Politician Appearing as the Son of Haeundae
1992 14th General Election, Busan Haeundae Background
Minjadang Victory in Haeundae, No Independent Candidates Running

Editor's Note‘Politics, That Day...’ is a series planning corner that looks back on Korean politics through the ‘recollection of memories’ related to notable scenes, events, and figures.

“This is Jeon Hae-woong, the son of Haeundae...”

The movie Top Secret is set against the backdrop of the 14th general election in 1992, which took place in Haeundae District, Busan. It depicts the process in which local politician Jo Jin-woong (playing Jeon Hae-woong) is effectively granted the ruling party’s nomination, which almost guarantees victory in Busan, only to have it taken away. To make up for this, he becomes entangled in a massive conspiracy, which forms the core of the film’s story.

According to the Integrated Computerized Ticketing System for Movie Theaters, as of the 9th, Top Secret has accumulated over 570,000 viewers, ranking first at the box office in March. The film contains elements that attract public interest, such as the reality of dark deals over power, backroom dealings among politicians, gangsters, and the media.

What is intriguing is that the story’s axis revolves around an episode concerning a candidate running in a specific area, Haeundae District in Busan, during the 14th general election in 1992. Actor Jo Jin-woong, who plays Jeon Hae-woong, is truly known as the son of Haeundae, but did he actually run in the 14th general election as mentioned in the film?

As explained in the film’s background, 1992 was a special year. Both the presidential and legislative elections were held in the same year. Until then, South Korean politics had never seen a regime change through a popular vote. At that time, the ruling power aspired to win the December presidential election based on a victory in the general election.

Therefore, winning the general election was even more important. The formation of the Democratic Liberal Party (Minjadong) ? despite criticism of a three-party coalition ? was part of a grand plan for the 1992 presidential election. In fact, the 14th general election was held on March 24, 1992.

Busan was naturally heated with election fever. As shown in the film, a fierce competition took place in Haeundae to elect a new member of the National Assembly. At that time, the ruling party Minjadong’s dominance was so pronounced that the formula ‘Minjadong nomination = election victory’ was established in Busan.

The party that Jeon Hae-woong, the son of Haeundae, sought nomination from was most likely Minjadong.

In the 14th general election for Haeundae District, Busan, four candidates ran: Kim Un-hwan from Minjadong, Choi Dal-woong from the Democratic Party, Lee Byung-hee from the Unification National Party, and Lee Dong-hwan from the People’s Party. In the film, Jeon Hae-woong, who sought the nomination of the party assigned number 1, runs as an independent after a suspicious loss of nomination.

However, in reality, there was not a single independent candidate in the Haeundae District election during the 14th general election. So, who was the winner in the Haeundae District election? Was the assumption that nomination guaranteed victory a reality?

On the afternoon of March 8, 2022, one day before the 20th presidential election, a Jongno-gu Office employee is holding up a voting stamp at the Cheongunhyoja-dong Community Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Reality was indeed so. Minjadong candidate Kim Un-hwan won in Haeundae District with 61,013 votes, accounting for 51.74% of the vote. Considering that the second-place Democratic Party candidate Choi Dal-woong received 28.21%, it was a one-sided victory. Although the film depicts Jeon Hae-woong causing an independent candidate surge and leading in opinion polls, the actual Haeundae District election ended with a landslide victory for Minjadong.

Politician Kim Un-hwan was a three-term member of the National Assembly. He first won a seat in the 13th general election in 1988 as a proportional representative candidate for the Unification Democratic Party led by politician Kim Young-sam. In the 14th general election in 1992, he ran as a Minjadong candidate in Busan’s Haeundae District, becoming a directly elected member of the National Assembly and securing his second term.

In the 15th general election in 1996, he ran as a candidate for the New Korea Party in Busan Haeundae·Gijang-gun Gap district, winning with 49.15% of the vote and securing a third term. Kim Un-hwan, who had grown to be the dominant political figure in Haeundae during the 1990s, experienced political turbulence during the 1997 presidential election.

Kim Un-hwan, who participated in politician Lee In-je’s People’s New Party, became affiliated with the National Congress for New Politics during the merger process after the presidential election. Thus, Kim Un-hwan took the position of head of the Busan Metropolitan City branch of the ruling party (National Congress for New Politics).

Although it was good to hold a key position in the ruling party, his political career was not smooth. In the 16th general election in 2000, he ran as a candidate for the Millennium Democratic Party in Busan Haeundae·Gijang-gun Gap district but lost with a low vote share of 21.45%, quietly disappearing from the Yeouido political stage.