Is Netflix’s Narco Saints Based On A True Story?

The South Korean crime thriller series “Narco-Saints” on Netflix is ​​also known as “Suriname” and “The Accidental Narco”. It was created by Yoon Jong-bin and Kwon Sung-Hui.

It is about an ordinary businessman named Kang In-Gu, who goes to the South American country of Suriname to fish for a living. But he becomes entangled in a dangerous plan to capture the leader of a dangerous drug cartel. The fascinating series shows how a drug cartel works from the inside out. So, viewers should be wondering if the show is based on real events. We were also interested in the same thing, so we went in search of the truth. Here’s everything we learned about how the idea for “Narco-Saints” came about.

Is Narco-Saints based on real events?

“Narco-Saints” is based on a true story, yes. The show is based on the life of a real drug lord named Jo Bong-Haeing. It was made for TV by Yoon Jong-bin and Kwon Sung-Hui. The drug lord ran his business in Suriname, which is located in South America. He sent drugs from South America to Europe by smuggling them to the Korean people. We don’t know much about Jo’s early life, but in 1994 he had to leave South Korea because he was wanted for fraud.

In the 1990s, Jo is said to have set up a way for drug trafficking and supply. Between 2004 and 2005, Jo brought about 48.5 kilos of cocaine into Europe without being caught. There is thought to be at least 160 billion won, or $140 million, in the package. Jo hired some Koreans to help him smuggle drugs, and he paid them between 4.5 and 5 million won for each trip. In 2009 Jo was arrested by the police in Brazil. In 2011, he was returned to South Korea and charged with smuggling cocaine from South America into Europe by using Koreans as a carrier.

In an interview, co-creator Yoon Jong-bin talked about how the idea for the show came about. Yoon said that the real drug lord in Suriname was the reason he was first asked to make a movie. But when he realized it would be difficult to tell the story in a two-hour movie, he decided to turn it into a six-part TV show instead. “I found the story very interesting when I first heard it. But when I got the script for the movie, a lot of things were missing, like the things that caught my attention. Yoon said at a press conference, “It seemed difficult to fit the whole story into a two-hour runtime.”

At the beginning of the series it says that the story is based on real events. But then comes a warning. It says that the story is based on real events, but that it is heavily dramatized and that some of the characters’ names and details are made up. For example, Jo Bong-Haeing in the show is called Jeon Yo-hwan.

Nor does anyone know whether the real drug lord posed as a pastor and ran his drug cartel and drug smuggling under the guise of religion. Similarly, there are no reports of a South Korean businessman helping the NICS catch the drug lord by working undercover. Because of this, it’s likely that Kang In character gus in the show were made up. The show is also like other Netflix crime dramas about drug cartels, such as “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico,” in that it showcases different cultures.

The co-creators of “Narco-Saints” and the credits say the show is based on real events. But the story probably has some made up parts added to make it more interesting. Yet the idea of ​​a South Korean businessman entering a dangerous international cartel to assassinate its leader is based in reality. This is shown through emotional stories and dramatic scenes. So the careful mix of fiction and reality will both shock and entertain the audience.

Narco-Saints builds on what Narcos began. The crime thriller that brought Pablo Escobar back into the minds of young people.

The first Narcos ran for three seasons and both Pedro Pascal and Wagner Moura became known for this. There’s also Narcos: Mexico, which is a different show. This spin-off tells the story of the Mexican drug cartel and ended in 2021. Narco-Saints will be largely in Korean instead of Spanish, which is different from the other series. Let’s see if it’s good enough to make it a Seasons trilogy as well.

Jo Bong-haeng, whose name was changed to Jeon Yo-hwan on the show, was the leader of many drug cartels in Suriname. Jo Bong-haeng was in charge of these gangs. Because of his influence, this man has a lot of power in Suriname. Some of the names of the people in the story have been changed.

He may make a false accusation against a member of the National Intelligence Service.

It was filmed during the Covid 19 Pandemic, when it was impossible to film in Suriname. Instead, it was recorded in the Dominican Republic.

Fans of Squid Game will recognize one of the characters. The actor who played Cho Sang-woo, Park Hae-soo, has been cast as Choi Chang-ho, a key character in the story.

Kang In-gu (Ha Jung-woo) is a Korean businessman. He will have to work with the National Intelligence Agency against his will because they need a Korean citizen to get the brains. To do the work assigned to him, he will have to take a dangerous route. The goal of the mission is to catch the South Korean who runs the drug cartels in South America. Narco-Saints will be available on Netflix on September 9, 2022.

“Narco-Saints”, coming soon to Netflix, will be a fast-paced crime story with a new setting and a fake religious leader.

“I really liked the story in the series. A Korean who becomes a drug lord in a South American country on the northeastern Atlantic coast? Ha Jung-woo, who is back in a drama series after 15 years, said on Wednesday at a press conference at Josun Palace in southern Seoul that this would be a great place for a movie.

“When I first heard about the story, I hoped it would be turned into a crime movie or a drama series. Because the story was so interesting, I was able to come up with ideas for ‘Narco-Saints’ while I waited six to seven years,” Ha said.

Based on a true story about a South Korean man in Suriname who used Koreans to smuggle cocaine from South America to Europe, the six-episode series is about a hard-working man named Kang In-gu (Ha) who leaves his children in poverty. to live.

Kang starts a new business with a friend in Suriname, a place he has never been, because he wants to change his life.

Kang is used as a pawn in the international drug trade after he meets the Korean Reverend Jeon (Hwang Jung-min), who is also a drug kingpin. When Kang is caught by South Korean government agent Choi Chang-ho (Park Hae-soo), a new mind game begins.

The director of the popular crime films ‘Nameless Gangster: Rules of Time’, ‘A Violent Prosecutor’ and ‘The Spy Gone North’, Yoon Jong-bin, said he chose ‘Narco-Saints’ as his first drama because two hours would not be enough.

“When I read the script for a 120-minute movie, I saw that a lot of interesting things had been left out. I thought it would be hard to make a crime movie, so I started with a drama instead,” Yoon said.

The director also said that Pastor Jeon was created to help people understand Kang’s situation and feel sympathy for the character.

“When I found out what really happened, Kang was just someone who really wanted to help the drug kingpin. I didn’t think this was a good thing. I thought about a job where people would easily trust me,” Yoon said. “The answer was a priest.”

Aside from the thrilling stories, the director said it was a dream to have the best actors act in the same scene.

“These actors, especially Taiwanese actor Chang Chen, brought a lot of energy into the scenes,” the director said, adding that he was sure the cast’s great performances would grab people’s attention.

“Narco-Saints,” another popular Korean original series from Netflix, comes out this Friday, just in time for Chuseok’s long weekend.

The thriller-crime series is based on a true story about an entrepreneur named Kang In-gu (Ha Jung-woo) who went to Suriname, a small country in South America, to start a fish business so he could feed his family. Korea. One day he meets Jeon Yo-hwan, a Korean priest played by Hwang Jung-min, who helps him in a fight with the Chinese mafia.

When accused of drug smuggling, In-gu learns that Yo-hwan is the country’s Korean drug lord. He uses his fishing business to export drugs. Then he joins a secret government mission with agent Choi Chang-ho to kill him (Park Hae-soo).

“Narco-Saints” is Yoon Jong’s first time directing a series. He is known for films like “The Spy Gone North” (2018) and “Kundo: Age of the Rampant” (2014), but this is his first time directing a series. “Narco-Saints” was written by Kwon Sung-hui, whose previous work includes “The Closet”, a horror film due out in 2020.

The director said the drama, which should have been a movie, was turned into a six-part series so that it could tell the story of a real-life Korean drug lord who was caught in Suriname in 2009.

“When I first heard about the story, I found it very interesting. But when I got the script for the movie, a lot was missing, like the things that first interested me. It seemed difficult to tell the whole story in two hours,” he said Wednesday at a press conference for the series at Josun Palace in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

With this show, actor Ha is back on TV for the first time since he was fined last year for using propofol for non-medical reasons, which is against the law.

Ha, who has been part of the project from the beginning, said he found the story interesting enough to make it into a series.