The Journey to Gyeong-ju (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

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The Journey to Gyeong-ju follows a mother and her three daughters on a seemingly commemorative trip to Gyeongju, where an unsettling secret travels with them. As the family retraces the place connected to Gyeong-ju’s death, the film combines crime, mystery, revenge and family drama around a dangerous journey.

The Journey to Gyeong-ju is a South Korean drama, mystery, crime and thriller film written and directed by Kim Mi-jo. Its story centers on a family returning to Gyeongju eight years after the youngest daughter disappeared during a school field trip.

What begins as a trip to honor Gyeong-ju’s memory carries a far darker purpose. The family’s van contains a bound, unconscious man concealed in a plastic bag, raising immediate questions about his identity, the family’s motives and the secret behind the journey.

The Journey to Gyeong-ju movie details

Story without spoilers

On what would have been Gyeong-ju’s birthday, her mother Ok-sil travels with her three daughters—Jang-ju, Young-ju and Dong-ju—to the city where Gyeong-ju vanished and died. Wearing matching family T-shirts, they present the trip as a way to remember her.

That appearance of togetherness hides a criminal act. A man is being transported in the trunk, and the tagline identifies him as a killer. The film follows the family’s road journey as its personal grief, concealed purpose and connection to Gyeongju come into focus without revealing how the situation unfolds.

What to expect

The film combines a family road movie with crime, mystery and thriller elements. Its premise places grief and revenge alongside a confined, dangerous journey, while the mother-daughter relationship provides the central family context. The return to Gyeongju and the hidden passenger create a structure built around questions of motive, identity and what happened eight years earlier.

Cast and creative team

Kim Mi-jo serves as both director and writer. Lee Jung-eun plays Ok-sil, with Gong Hyo-jin as Jang-ju, Park So-dam as Young-ju and Lee Yeon as Dong-ju. The cast also includes Kim Young-sung as Jang-ju’s husband, Kim Se-ah as Yun-ji and Byun Yo-han.

• Lee Jung-eun as Ok-sil
• Gong Hyo-jin as Jang-ju
• Park So-dam as Young-ju
• Lee Yeon as Dong-ju
• Kim Young-sung as Jang-ju's husband
• Kim Se-ah as Yun-ji
• Byun Yo-han

Release and production context

The Journey to Gyeong-ju is a 2026 South Korean production from Studio Highfive. It is listed as released on August 26, 2026, with a runtime of 1 hour and 51 minutes. The film is in Korean and is categorized as Drama, Mystery, Crime and Thriller.

Production companies: Studio Highfive

Movies Dock view

With its combination of a family memorial trip, an imprisoned suspect and a long-buried loss, The Journey to Gyeong-ju is structured around a tense moral mystery. The supplied premise leaves the family’s full plan unresolved, making the film’s central appeal its gradual exploration of the secret carried on the road to Gyeongju.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb