Why visit Hapcheon Film Theme Park
Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (태극기 휘날리며) is a 2004 Korean War film directed by Kang Je-gyu and distributed by Showbox. Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin play two brothers drawn into the war in June 1950. It was the second Korean film to pass 10 million admissions, and its scale is part of why the set survived: after the film’s success, Hapcheon County turned the location into the Hapcheon Film Theme Park rather than striking it.
That is what makes this place worth the trip. It is not a museum built to look like a film set. It is a working open set you can walk through, run by Hapcheon County. The Korean Film Commissions directory calls it the biggest outdoor studio in Korea: established in 2004, about 75,000 square metres, with approximately 80 structures and sets recreating Korea from 1910 to 1980 — the Japanese colonization era, the Korean War, and modern history. The county describes its streets as running from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Because it is still used by productions, the same street can look different from one visit to the next. The county says more than 200 films, dramas, ads and music videos have been shot here; VisitKorea puts the figure at over 190 dramas, movies and music videos. Come for Taegukgi, and you are walking through the backlot of two decades of Korean screen history.
What to see at the park
Hapcheon Film Theme Park
Start with the era streets, which are the core of the visit. The Korean Film Commissions directory breaks the park into zones. The 1910s to 1940s zone includes a train station, a hospital, the Government General building, a street market alley, a school, a Japanese-style mansion, and old buildings and old streets of Seoul. The 1940s to 1970s zone holds about 10 structures, including Ihwajang House, Donamjang House, a commoners’ village of approximately 13 structures, Kyungsung Station, the first department store of Korea, and a Jeoksan-style house. The 1970s to 1980s zone recreates the streets of Jongno and Sogong-dong, the Bank of Korea, Wongudan Altar, a railway bridge, a hospital, city alleys, and Hongyemun in Incheon. A dedicated Korean War set sits alongside them — the ground Taegukgi was shot on.
Look out for the Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) filming set, which VisitKorea calls the park’s main filming set. No cars are allowed to it (as of Sep 1, 2019), so expect to reach it on foot. The park’s own site says this Blue House replica was used for Steel Rain (2017), a film about a crisis between the two Koreas; that link is reported, from one source family, not confirmed.
Beyond Taegukgi, the park’s credits are long. The Korean Film Commissions directory names films shot here including Operation Chromite, Love Lies, Assassination, Sunny, The Age of Shadows, Anarchist from Colony and A Taxi Driver, and TV dramas including Seoul 1945, East of Eden, Scandal in Old Seoul, Chicago Typewriter, Stranger and Mr. Sunshine. Fans also match scenes from Made in Korea Season 2 to the park; see our Made in Korea Season 2 guide. That match is fan-spotted, not confirmed by an official source.
Practical tips: VisitKorea says visitors can look around using trams, wagons and more, which helps on a site of this size. Behind the theme park are a bonsai park and a garden theme park spanning 150,000 square metres, with a bonsai greenhouse, an ecological forest experience center and a wood culture experience center that VisitKorea says can be enjoyed by both adults and children — a natural second stop if you have a full day.
Plan your visit
The park is a working film set, so parts may be closed during shoots. Check opening hours and admission on the county page before you go — this guide does not state them, because we could not verify them against an official page.
For getting there, we have not verified a route against an official page. Check Kakao Map or Naver Map for express buses to Hapcheon, then the local route to the park. A taxi from Hapcheon town is the simple fallback.
How we checked
How we checked. Confirmed on this site means the filming-location claim is backed by two or more independent sources. The Taegukgi link is confirmed by three: Hapcheon County, VisitKorea, and the Korean Film Commissions directory (checked Sep 29, 2026; the VisitKorea and Film Commissions pages were re-checked Oct 17, 2026 for the set and facility details in this guide). Reported means one source: Hapcheon County lists Steel Rain among the productions filmed at the park, and the park’s own site says its Blue House replica was used, but the county and its park site count as one source family, so a second source is still missing. Fan-spotted means Korean fan researchers matched scenes — here, Made in Korea Season 2 — without an official source confirming it. We state no address, bus number, opening hours or admission for this park, because we could not verify them against an official page. The photos on this page are location photos from the Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1), not drama stills.
For other Korean War and DMZ films, and what was real and what was a set, see our DMZ in Korean film hub. For another Korean War-era open set you can visit, see our Welcome to Dongmakgol guide — an open village set built for the 2005 film in Pyeongchang. For the fan-spotted production filmed at this same park, see Made in Korea Season 2.
Sources
All sources for this guide
Accessed Sep 29, 2026 (Asia/Seoul) unless noted. The VisitKorea and Korean Film Commissions pages were re-checked Oct 17, 2026 for the set, production and facility details added in the October 2026 enrichment.
- Hapcheon County — Film Theme Park
- Hapcheon Film Theme Park — Steel Rain
- VisitKorea — Hapcheon Film Park
- Korean Film Commissions — Hapcheon Image Theme Park
- Korean Movie Database (KMDb) — Taegukgi
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