Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area is a South Korean television series and the second entry in the Money Heist franchise, built on the original Spanish show. Netflix released it as an original. Ryu Yong-jae wrote it. Kim Hong-sun directed. The ensemble is led by Yoo Ji-tae, Kim Yun-jin, Park Hae-soo and Jeon Jong-seo.
The premise transplants the Spanish storyline. A criminal mastermind known as “The Professor,” played by Yoo Ji-tae, plans a heist on the reunified Korean Peninsula. His crew of strategists and desperados overtakes the mint of a unified Korea. Hostages are trapped inside. The police have to stop the robbers and the shadowy man directing them.
Netflix split the season into two parts, six episodes each.
Trailer, via Netflix.
A Mint, a Mask, and a Unified Peninsula
The first six episodes were released on June 24, 2022. The second part followed on December 9, 2022. Twelve episodes total, one season, and a gap of about five and a half months between the two halves.
| Part | Episodes | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | 1–6 | June 24, 2022 |
| Part 2 | 7–12 | December 9, 2022 |
The show is listed under Action & Adventure, Crime, Drama and Mystery.
The Cast Netflix Confirmed
Netflix confirmed the casting line-up on March 31. After the cast was finalized, the story and characters were formulated. The stated focus was to keep the narrative of the original and the attributes of the characters alive.
The cast is large. Park Hae-soo plays Berlin. Jeon Jong-seo plays Tokyo. Lee Won-jong is Moscow. Kim Ji-hoon is Denver. Jang Yoon-ju is Nairobi. Lee Hyun-woo is Rio. Kim Ji-hoon is Helsinki. Lee Kyu-ho is Oslo. Im Ji-yeon is Seoul. Yunjin Kim is Seon Woo-jin. Kim Seung-oh is Cha Moo-hyeok.
The source lists Kim Ji-hoon twice, once as Denver and once as Helsinki. That duplication sits in the record. It is not clear from the source whether one actor holds both roles or whether the second name is an error.
A Replacement and a Comparison
Lim Ji-yeon joined the cast in April 2021. Lee Hyun-woo replaced Park Jung-woo because of date conflicts with the series Fly High Butterfly. The Korean cast was compared to the original by drawing out the similarities and differences between the two.
What the 5.6 Says
The published critical score is 5.6/10. Metacritic lists 56/100. That is the number on the record, and it is the number this piece reports. It is not this paper’s own score.
The show’s clearest facts are its dates and its cast. One season, twelve episodes, two release windows five and a half months apart. A confirmed ensemble that Netflix assembled and then compared against the Spanish original. A replacement made for scheduling reasons and stated as such.
Those are the verifiable parts. Everything else — whether the split hurt the show, whether the crew was too large, whether the peninsula setting carried weight — the source does not settle. This paper will not settle it either.
What is worth watching is the duplicate name. Kim Ji-hoon appears twice in the cast list, as Denver and as Helsinki. A reader trying to follow the show against its own credits will hit that wall. It is a small thing, and it is the kind of small thing that makes a cast list unusable. If the record is wrong, it should be fixed. If one actor plays both parts, that should be said plainly.
The 5.6/10 is the published critical score.
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