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That line. That moment. That look in his eyes when he says it.
"This is patriotic."
Baek Gi-tae, played by Hyun Bin in Made in Korea, isn't justifying his drug business. He genuinely believes it.
In the 1970s in Korea, he wasn't alone.
Table of Contents
Why "This Is Patriotic" Actually Worked
Most villains lie to themselves.
Gi-tae? He's convinced himself it's true.
Watch his eyes when he tells his sister So-young: "This is patriotic." That's not performance. That's belief.
And the devastating part? In 1970s Korea, drug manufacturers selling methamphetamine to Japan would publicly declare: "We're rotting Japanese minds and earning dollars. That's patriotism."
They said it out loud. Some even celebrated them.
Because under the national slogan "Let's Live Well," economic development excused almost anything. Export anything. Earn foreign currency. Be a patriot.
The mental gymnastics here would win Olympic gold—but they made a sick kind of sense in post-war Korea, desperate to prove its worth, desperate to never be weak again.
And that's what created Baek Gi-tae.
Made In Korea from Disney+
"Turns out this guy's a fox"
That rooftop scene. Gi-tae lunging at Hak-su—fist clenched, ready to throw him off the edge—but stopping mid-motion.
Not mercy. Calculation.
Because he already knows Hak-su is a spy planted by the presidential security chief. And he's already three moves ahead, figuring out how to use that.
This is a man who wears layers of ambition:
✅ Polite but brutal
✅ Family-loyal but ruthless
✅ Self-aware but self-deceiving
Every layer meticulously constructed. Every layer hiding something darker underneath.
For this role, Hyun Bin gained over 10kg. You can feel that weight crushing the screen.
E4 S1 Made In Korea
Woo Min-ho's Men: A Lineage
If you know director Woo Min-ho's work—The Insiders, The Man Standing Next—you know what's coming.
Men honest about their desires. Men who collide like sparks thrown on gasoline. Men who escalate toward a climax where someone, inevitably, has to die.
Prosecutor Woo Jang-hoon (The Insiders): Desperately focused on advancement because powerlessness means being crushed.
Kim Gyu-pyeong (The Man Standing Next): The president's closest aide, slowly withering under psychological torture, knowing his power is a mirage.
Baek Gi-tae (Made in Korea): The complete form. The final evolution.
He knows phantom power evaporates. He knows titles can be stripped away. So he doesn't just want promotion—he wants inexhaustible money. The kind of power that doesn't disappear when political winds shift.
Watching Gi-tae felt like watching an upgraded version of all of Woo's previous men.
🎬 Watch the Full Breakdown
I spent way too much time analyzing every layer of this character—from the rooftop confrontation to the 1970s drug trade history that inspired his "patriotism."
👉 Watch the video here to see how director Woo Min-ho turns ambition into tragedy:
(8 minutes. Coffee recommended.)
Want the Deep Dive?
The video only covers about 2/3 of what I researched. For the complete breakdown:
📍 Full English essay:
📍 한영 혼용 버전 (Korean-English bilingual):
Both dive deeper into:
Woo Min-ho's "Desire Trilogy" framework
The real 1970s Korean drug manufacturers
Why every character in this drama is a Janus figure
The question I can't stop asking
The Question
Is this portrait only from back then, the 1970s?
Or do we still live in a world where ambition justifies cruelty, where economic success excuses moral failure, where "for the nation" can rationalize almost anything?
Made in Korea isn't just a period drama.
It's a mirror held up to our present, asking us to look—really look—at the monsters we create and the ones we might become.
Made in Korea is now streaming on Disney+.
Watch it. Think about it. Let it disturb you.
Then come tell me what you saw in Baek Gi-tae's eyes.
Because I'm still trying to figure it out.
Thanks for reading.
See you in the comments. 🎬
— Jennie
Love catching cultural layers subtitles miss? You're exactly who I write for.
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🚫 Copyright Disclaimer: All drama footage, images, and references belong to their respective copyright holders including streaming platforms and original creators. Materials are used minimally for educational criticism and analysis with no intention of copyright infringement.