South Korean star Song Joong-ki’s latest release, Bogotá: City of the Lost, follows an underdog defying all odds and making it big in a foreign land. Curious to know how director Kim Seong-je wraps up the Korean movie? Here are all the details of Bogotá: City of the Lost, from its plot to the ending explained.
Written by Hwang Seong-gu and Kim Seong-je, Bogotá: City of the Lost stars Song Joong-ki, one of the highest-paid K-drama actors, as the protagonist Song Kook-hee, an immigrant who eventually becomes a Colombian crime lord. Set in the wake of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis that struck the Korean economy in the late 1990s, the movie enjoyed a special premiere at the 29th Busan International Film Festival on 3 October 2024.
Bogotá: City of the Lost ending explained: The cast and the characters they play
- Song Joong-ki as Song Kook-hee
- Lee Hee-joon as Soo-young
- Kwon Hae-hyo as Sergeant Park Jang-soo
- Park Ji-hwan as Junior Boss Park
- Cho Hyun-chul as Jae-woong
- Kim Jong-soo as Kook-hee’s father
- Jung Jong-hoon as Dr. Hong
Spoilers ahead!
Bogotá: City of the Lost ending explained: Why does Kook-hee stage his own assassination attempt?
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At the end of the Korean movie, the Colombian government introduces the Anti-Smuggling Act of 2008. Following this, law enforcement forces are ordered to conduct raids and do whatever it takes to end smuggling in the Bogotá region.
Soo-young, Kook-he’s business partner, loses his goods to one such raid and, driven by extreme anger, starts looking for opportunities to get revenge against the authorities. Kook-hee vehemently opposes this idea as it would ruin their relationship with the government. He tries to explain to Soo-young and his fellow smugglers that, with the market and the political scene changing, he didn’t want his people to keep smuggling goods in a foreign country to support themselves.
Later, when Soo-young visits Kook-hee’s office, the latter reveals that they should follow their dream of constructing a mall together and setting up legal shops to sell legal goods without any further interference from the authorities. However, Soo-young later mocks him with, “It was my dream, when did it become ours?” and leaves the place.
Following this encounter, Kook-hee, having known his mentor and best friend Soo-young for a long time, realises that an ambitious man like Soo-young would go to any lengths to prove his point. So, it wouldn’t take too long for Soo-young to provoke the other Koreans against him. Forced to secure his position in the hierarchy, Kook-hee then secretly stages his own assassination attempt. With Soo-young looking like the prime suspect for the assassination in the eyes of the public, this fake attempt gives Kook-hee a justifiable motive to kill his former mentor.
What happens to Soo-young?
After the staged assassination attempt on Kook-hee, the Korean natives who see him as their enemy flee the place in fear for their lives. Soo-young too decides to escape the country.
On his way, he visits Dr. Hong, an acupuncturist, to cash his black money in for a bunch of emeralds. Soon after, he gets a call from Kook-hee. When he picks it up, “I know you didn’t do it hyung (brother),” is the first thing Kook-hee informs him. When Soo-young demands an explanation, Kook-hee reveals that he was the one who staged the assassination attempt. Kook-hee then requests Soo-young to return to him but the latter threatens to kill him and his mother. In the next instant, Soo-young feels a sharp object being pierced into the back of his head and screams in pain. The viewers then discover that through Sergeant Park, Kook-hee had already bought Hong’s loyalty and asked him to give his friend Soo-young a slow death if he didn’t change his mind and return to Kook-hee after the phone call.
Bogotá: City of the Lost ending explained: Does Kook-hee survive and make it to Zone 6?
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Yes, he does.
Sergeant Park and Kook-hee return to Bogotá after burying Soo-young’s body outside the city. On the way, Park stops near a hill to take a piss while Kook-hee stays inside the car. Soon, a masked shooter arrives on a motorcycle and fires at Kook-hee. Park returns and reminds the shooter that his car is bulletproof. He then calls Kook-hee and confesses that he had never forgotten about the betrayal and was waiting for the right moment to strike. For context, Kook-hee had betrayed Park in 2002 and sided with Soo-young, which led to Park losing all his power in the smuggling market. While he did get a share of the profits, he no longer had any influence left in the foreign country.
Realising that Park conspired with Alejandro’s son (the masked shooter) to have him killed, Kook-hee acts on instinct and shoots the duo dead.
Before the credits roll, viewers see a blood-stained Kook-hee staring impassively at the city from the top of the hill — in a way symbolising that the young immigrant boy who came to Bogotá to fulfil his dreams, finally outplayed the top players to reach Zone 6, the realm of the rich in the city.
Watch Bogotá: City of the Lost on Netflix.
(Hero and featured image: Courtesy Netflix)
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Written by
Sushmita Mahanta
Digital Writer (Growth) - Entertainment
Sushmita is a writer with a passion for crafting engaging and informative stories. An avid fan of K-pop and K-dramas, Sushmita mostly writes about Korean culture and entertainment. When not writing, you can find Sushmita dancing, reading, collecting books, learning about fashion, art, motion pictures, and appreciating BTS.
