--- title: Breaking Down the Harsh Ending of 'Made in Korea' description: The cat-and-mouse game between Jang Geon-young and Baek Ki-tae comes to a head in the finale of the period drama. canonical: https://time.com/7346172/made-in-korea-ending-explained/ author: Kayti Burt article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-14T18:35:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:51:03.771Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Breaking Down the Harsh Ending of 'Made in Korea' og:description: The cat-and-mouse game between Jang Geon-young and Baek Ki-tae comes to a head in the finale of the period drama. og:url: https://time.com/7346172/made-in-korea-ending-explained/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d8d6aad386a913f/6998ccd7a97fc02c03a75001/180581_0003.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: JUNG WOOSUNG, HYUN BIN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Breaking Down the Harsh Ending of 'Made in Korea' twitter:description: The cat-and-mouse game between Jang Geon-young and Baek Ki-tae comes to a head in the finale of the period drama. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d8d6aad386a913f/6998ccd7a97fc02c03a75001/180581_0003.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Breaking Down the Harsh Ending of _Made in Korea_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Kayti Burt](https://time.com/author/kayti-burt/) ## Kayti Burt Burt is a contributor for TIME. Jan 14, 2026 6:35 PM UTC  Jung Woo-sung and Hyun Bin Jung Woo-sung and Hyun BinCourtesy of Disney by [Kayti Burt](https://time.com/author/kayti-burt/) ## Kayti Burt Burt is a contributor for TIME. Jan 14, 2026 6:35 PM UTC **_Warning: Spoilers ahead for_** **Made in Korea** The cat-and-mouse game between prosecutor Jang Geon-young (_12:12: The Day_’s Jung Woo-sung) and KCIA agent turned international drug smuggler Baek Ki-tae (_Harbin_’s Hyun Bin) came to a head in the season finale of the Hulu period thriller _Made in Korea_. Heading into Episode 6 of the 70s-set [K-drama](https://time.com/7340988/best-k-dramas-2025/), out on Jan. 14, Ki-tae and his corrupt KCIA compatriots had kidnapped Geon-young and his younger sister Hye-eun (Lee Ju-yeon) off of the street, ready to do whatever they needed to in order to convince Geon-young to drop their narcotics investigation against them. Family connections ground the violent [spy machinations](https://time.com/7343683/the-night-manager-season-1-recap/) of _Made in Korea_. For both righteous Geon-young and power-hungry Ki-tae, the feelings of love and protection they have for their respective siblings make them vulnerable. In the beginning of Episode 6, Ki-tae tries to break Geon-young by threatening to go after his younger sister for espionage. Hye-eun, who works at a dye factory, has been spending her time in a guitar club that may or may not have a connection to North Korea and to communist organizing. If Geon-young continues to make life hard for Ki-tae, who is planning a big meth shipment to Japan, then the KCIA will go after Hye-eun, and seek the death penalty for her violation of the Anti-Communist Act. But there were several twists and turns in store for the characters before the season came to an end. Here’s everything that went down in the _Made in Korea_ Season 1 finale, and who came out on top.  Jung Woo-sung Courtesy of Disney ## **Chief Na bails Geon-young out** As the finale makes clear, Ki-tae and Geon-young are only as powerful as the people who are backing them. Ki-tae has presidential advisor Cheon Seok-jung (Jung Sung-il) on his side, having promised Chief Cheon billions of won in presidential campaign funds once his Japan drug deal goes through. Meanwhile, Geon-young’s detainment has upset the Prosecutors’ Office, which in turn unsettles Chief Na (Oh Dae-suk), who is Cheon’s main rival within the presidential cabinet. Cheon, pressured by Na and worried that Geon-young’s arrest is a distraction from Ki-tae’s drug dealing, forces Ki-tae to release Geon-young. For now, both the cat and mouse are released back into the field. ## **A trip to Vietnam** With Ki-tae’s focus back on his meth smuggling operation, he is in need of more raw supplies to make the amount of drugs he’s promised to the Ikeda yakuza clan. Yu-ji (Won Ji-an), the adopted daughter of Ikeda boss Osamu (Lily Franky), suggests he seek out a Taiwanese American man named Jason Chang, who is currently working out of Vietnam, and the pair travel to see him. While the trip to Vietnam is a bit of a detour from the main narrative of _Made in Korea_ Season 1, it sees Ki-tae at his most emotionally vulnerable. Ki-tae’s younger brother, Gi-hyeon (Woo Do-hwan), is currently stationed in Vietnam with the Korean military. Gi-hyeon is patriotic in a way that Ki-tae is not; in many ways, Gi-hyeon has more in common ethically with Geon-young. But Ki-tae is his brother, and the person who raised him when his parents died. When Gi-hyeon is ordered to spy on the meeting between Ki-tae, Yu-ji, and Chang, his career autonomy is once again threatened by Ki-tae’s machinations. He is put in the tough position of either reporting his brother’s involvement or staying quiet and putting his promised promotion at risk. While Ki-tae initially doesn’t see his little brother, they are both caught up in an explosion as they are leaving the meeting. They survive mostly unscathed, but it’s a close call. In the aftermath, Ki-tae sees his brother, and perhaps understands just how angry Gi-hyeon is with him. More broadly, Vietnam represents a turning point in Ki-tae’s life. As he tells Geon-young later in the episode, he was stationed there during the war. When his battalion was mostly slaughtered in a bombing by their American allies, Ki-tae was forced to take the blame for the unnecessary deaths. “I was just cannon fodder in someone else’s rise,” he tells Geon-young. He vows never again to be put in such a powerless position, and begins to see patriotism as something much more selfish and cutthroat.  Hyun Bin Courtesy of Disney ## **Ki-tae is arrested upon his return to Korea** Following his arrest, Geon-young tells his colleagues that they must toe the line—but he is far too invested in taking Ki-tae down to truly let it go. For Geon-young, whose father killed his mother while high on drugs, bringing down people like Ki-tae is personal. It’s patriotic. It’s an integral part of his identity. In an effort to finally take down Ki-tae, Geon-young has Ki-tae’s sister arrested while she is bringing drugs to Kang Dae-il (Kang Gil-woo). When we first met Dae-il at the beginning of the season, he was the second-in-command of Busan-based gang Manjae. When Dae-il’s boss is taken out by the KCIA, giving Ki-tae an opportunity to step into the power vacuum, Geon-young recruits Dae-il as a reluctant informant. Episodes later, Dae-il is addicted to the meth that he helps traffic and has been dating Ki-tae’s younger sister, Baek So-yeong (Cha Hee). Geon-young arrests both Dae-il and So-yeong, and convinces Dae-il to incriminate Ki-tae. Geon-young raids the KCIA offices and arrests Ki-tae. He thinks that this is finally the moment when Ki-tae will meet his downfall. Geon-young thinks he has convinced KCIA agent Pyo Hak-su (Roh Jae-won) to retrieve a tape from Ki-tae’s office that incriminates Chief Cheon, the power behind Ki-tae. But Hak-su chooses a side, and it is not Geon-young’s. ## **Ki-tae wins… for now** Hak-su chooses Ki-tae and Chief Cheon. He retrieves a tape from Ki-tae’s raided office, but it is not of Cheon. It is a tape incriminating Chief Na as accepting bribes. Hak-su gives it to Cheon, effectively ending this chapter of the power struggle. With Na’s hands tied, Geon-young doesn’t have the power to take Ki-tae down. Instead, Kang Dae-il is used as a scapegoat. He kills himself while in police custody, and the KCIA pins everything on him. Geon-young is removed as a prosecutor, and framed for helping Dae-il. “I wonder. What was my patriotism truly for?” Geon-young asks in voice over as he is led in handcuffs out of the Prosecutors’ Office. Meanwhile, Ki-tae is more powerful than ever. He closes the deal with the Ikeda Clan, and Cheon gets his money. Ki-tae is promoted within KCIA, now holding the office that Director Hwang held before Ki-tae murdered him for getting in his way. In the final scene, Ki-tae makes a pledge to devote his loyalty to the president and to the country in his new role. We know it is hollow. He only cares about his own power. ## **Made in Korea Season 2** While _Made in Korea_ could wrap up after these six episodes, we know there is more story to come. Production is [already underway on Season 2](https://www.chosun.com/english/kpop-culture-en/2025/11/13/OR5Z65J6UNFMDGSLVNHCPJOQJQ/), which is slated for release before the end of 2026\. This will give Geon-young another chance at taking down Ki-tae, who is more powerful than ever in a society—[1970s Korea](https://joysauce.com/the-real-life-history-that-grounds-hulu-thriller-made-in-korea/), under President Park Chung-hee’s authoritarian rule—that rewards corruption and cruelty. 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