What do Gong Yoo, T.O.P. and Kim Soo Hyun have in common? They all played North Korean spies and defectors this year. Recent news reports noted a rise in the number of North Korean defectors and one place more North Korean defectors are turning up is as fictional characters in South Korean films.

Tensions between North and South Korea escalated after Kim Jong Un was declared North Korea's supreme leader in 2011. The new leader issued threats that South Koreans did their best to ignore. But it's hard to completely ignore the idea that an attack could be a reality, even if North Korea could not win a war. And it's also hard to ignore the growing number of defectors. According to England's Financial Times more than 25,000 North Korean defectors have so far risked their lives to head south.

The ever-present threat of a strike and the number of defectors may not be a common topic of conversation but the two subjects have found their way into the plots of a few recent South Korean films.

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