EXCLUSIVE: Park Hae Soo on significance of using traditional Korean mask Hahoe in Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area – “It is embodying the criticism of the powerful”

By Monica Yadav -

June 23, 2022 - 1:00 PM IST

Last year, Netflix had announced the Korean adaptation of the popular Spanish series Money Heist and the cast was announced in March 2021. Titled Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area, the series is set to arrive on the streaming platform on June 24. Ahead of the premiere, the cast sat down for a global press conference, which was attended by Bollywood Hungama.

EXCLUSIVE: Park Hae Soo on significance of using traditional Korean mask Hahoe in Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area – “It is embodying the criticism of the powerful”

In the trailer, one sees the gang of thieves with the striking traditional Hahoe masks, instead of the Dali masks worn in the Spanish version. But the Hahoe masks have a cultural inheritance. Speaking of the same, Park Hae Soo, who takes on the role of Berlin in the Korean version, said, "I mean, that is a mask that is sending a lot of message in the show. In Spain, the Dali mask was used to send the message of freedom, and in Korea, we used the Hahoe mask from the Andong area, and the Hahoe mask has some significance to it. It is embodying the criticism of the powerful, and it has a sense of humor in it as well. And when the mask was first brought to me, I actually felt this sense of overwhelming power when the mask is worn by every member of the cast. It has different angles from the center and from the side as well. I mean, the look that the mask is portraying from different angles may seem quite different, so that is something that I was intrigued."

Jeon Jong Seo, who takes on the role of Tokyo, added, "Even before the shooting started, we were quite curious about what kind of mask we will be wearing, and when we heard that the Hahoe mask was chosen, and when we saw the mask in reality, I was really surprised because it is not a plain-looking mask, it is having a big smile on it and sends a sense of humor and at the same time sends a sense of mystery as well. So it has multi-layered meaning to it and I was feeling really intrigued by the mask."

A remake of Spanish series La Casa De Papel, Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area is the first Korean blockbuster to kick off the second half of the year, and it will feature director Kim Hong Sun and writer Ryu Yong Jae’s distinct take on this popular story. In this new retelling, there is a Joint Security Area – located where today’s North and South Korea are divided – which contains a mint that becomes the focus of the action. Amid reunification, the mint is printing a new unified currency as the groundwork to build a stable joint economy.

Netflix had earlier announced the casting of the Korean adaptation of its beloved Spanish Original Series La Casa De Papel. The Korean Original Series will feature an exciting cast from Korea’s top talents including Yoo Ji Tae who takes the role of Álvaro Morte's Professor and Kim Yunjin as Seon Woo Jin, an inspector at Task Force Team, who is set for the role of Itziar Ituño's Raquel. The other gang members include Jeon Jong Seo as Tokyo, Lee Won Jong as Moscow, Kim Ji Hun as Denver, Jang Yoon Ju as Nairobi, Park Jung-woo as Rio, Kim Ji Hun as Helsinki, Lee Kyu Ho as Oslo. The hostages will be played by Park Myung Hoon (Cho Youngmin) who will reportedly play the Korean counterpart of Arturo and Lee Joo Been (Youn Misun) who takes over the role of Mónica Gaztambide/Stockholm.

Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area is written by Ryu Yong Jae, Kim Hwan Chae, and Choe Sung Jun and directed by Kim Hong-sun. The Korean adaptation of La Casa De Papel is set on the Korean peninsula, and the shows’ creators will breathe new life into the familiar storyline and bring the material afresh to global audiences with 12 episodes.