Watching Korean Movies – How to watch Korean Movies

I’ve written a few pages on Korean films I recommend but haven’t mentioned how to view them in Korea. Here are some options.

Theater
Korean films don’t have English subs in theaters with rare exception. A few years ago the government wanted to promote Korean cinema and helped to add English subtitles to one current movie at only one location in Seoul. Both the movie and the location would change on a weekly basis. I watched two movies this way; “The Good, The Bad, The Weird” (좋은놈 나쁜놈 이상한 놈) and “Take Off” (국가 대표). Both times I was the only non-Korean in the theater and both times I found them since I happened to be at the theater when I saw a sign saying there were subtitles in English. I found a few websites that tried to tell what movie was being featured where but I think they both have ceased. Your best luck might be here.

The main theater chains are CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox.

DVDs – Unlike Japan almost all local movies have English subtitles. To confirm if there are English subtitles flip over the DVD box to the back, look at the bottom 1/3. Chances are this will all be in Korean. Not to worry, the term “subtitle” is “자막” and “English” is “영어”.

If playing the DVD on your computer and you want to watch two sets of subtitles at the same time use Cyberlink’s Power DVD Player. It frequently comes as free software if the DVD-rom is from Samsung.

Online websites:
Amazon – they have sites in multiple countries but outside of Asia their choice of Asian media is very limited.

Ebay – also have multiple sites in different countries. Shipping and quality (fakes?) depend on who you buy from.

Yesasia – This has been my favorite US based supplier since around the year 2000. Korean, Japanese, and Chinese media, all legit. They sell movies, audio CDs, and tons of other things. They clearly state if subtitles exist of not.

Gmarket – The Amazon.com of Korea. I love this site. They sell practically everything and the site exists in English too and allow non-Korean citizens to easily register (not always true on Korean sites). In Korea if you want to buy DVDs online I recommend this. The biggest problem is searching in English is not nearly as effective as searching in Korean.

Seoul Selection  – Nice store with good selection on books on Korea written in English. New and used movies for sale shipped from Seoul.

Physical “brick and morter” stores

There are many stores that sell DVDs and audio CDs throughout the country. My personal favorites include Emart (small selection, good prices), the music/movie store next to CGV in Yongsan (bigger selection, nice location), and the various stores in Myeongdong (aimed at tourists, popular items, but stick to the real stores and not the street venders if you want legit).

DVD “Room”

You’ll see these around the city in all sorts of areas. You are effectively renting a mini-theater. There is a large TV, great speakers, and a dark room…with a bed. Yeah, these are as risqué as they sound. Selection and price depend on where you go and possibly how many people are in your group. The controls for the DVD player and audio are at the front counter, not in your semi-private room.

DVD – fakes

There are various vendors that sell DVDs they made from files they downloaded from the internet. Quality varies, don’t expect English subtitles or any special features. Exception for Japanese subtitles if purchased in Myeongdong. They have a DVD player with them so if you want to see quality/subtitles you can ask to see it. Traditionally they sold from tarps on the floor in subway stations but have been moving to street vender carts in places like behind the Yongsan subway/train station.

DVD – used (중고 jung.ko)

This is my favorite and also the hardest to find as a brink and mortar store. These stores sell legal, used copies of DVDs and (Korean language) comics/mangas. The newer movies cost around 7~10,000 won, the rest are around 4,000 each and frequently they drop down to 3 DVDs for 10,000 won. Their supplies come from rental stores that either closed or are trying to get rid of older stock so sometimes there is still a sticker on the disc from the rental store. I mentioned these are hard to find because they tend to not be very popular and locations are usually closed 6 months after I find one.

DVD Rental
There are rental stores usually in neighborhoods. They have DVDs and Korean manga. Membership is a simple process of filling out a paper and putting down a deposit in case you don’t return the movie. Rentals are for one night. These stores are getting harder to find as people download their movies more as opposed to renting them.

Downloading/Streaming
While I won’t go into telling you specific download or subtitle websites I will mention there is a great streaming site at My Soju Free, no registration, all have English subs, TV and movies from Korea, Japan, and China.

But if you download films and want to watch them with subtitles I recommend the following video player programs:

VLC Player – plays pretty much everything, sometimes Asian language subtitles don’t work without tweaking some menu items.

Gom Player – available in English and Korean and is the main media player Koreans use. Has great control over the videos and at least in the Korean edition there is an option to search for Korean subtitles for non-Korean media. At the bottom click “자막도우미” then “자막 찾기” This is great for trying to learn Korean.

K Player – I don’t like this player as much except they have the option for multiple subtitles on the screen at the same time. Very handy for comparing languages.


About the author

rick-n-nyo-koreaRichard Moore holds a B.A. in film production and has finished his M.A. in English Education in Seoul. You can see other posts about the life of him and his wife in Korea at www.rickandnyo.com.

Richard was my roommate in Seoul and now is a very good friend of mine. He and Nyo are undoubtedly my guiding light whenever I am in doubt about anything related to life in Korea.