Movies like Traveler from the North (2013)
The best movies like Traveler from the North (2013) are The Net (2016), The Suspect (2013) and Escape (2024). If Traveler from the North hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSilenced (2011)8.2/10 from 829 votes
- NewestHi, Hello (2025)Released 2025
- In KoreanThe Net (2016)Also in Korean
The Net (2016)
A poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Suspect (2013)
Betrayed and on the run, a former North Korean agent tries to seek revenge on the man who killed his wife, find his missing daughter, and uncover the secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape (2024)
After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeyond Utopia (2023)
A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMissing (2016)
A working single mother comes home one day to find that her daughter and the nanny have disappeared -- and this is just the beginning of her nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Name Is Loh Kiwan (2024)
After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisV.I.P. (2017)
A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNameless Gangster (2012)
Ik-hyeon, a corrupt officer, joins forces with another crook, Hyung-bae, to continue his illegal activities before he loses his job. Eventually, he decides to escape and pin the blame on his partner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisServe the People (2022)
Mu-kwang volunteers to be a kitchen police of Sa-taek, the divisional commander, dreaming of success. One day, Mu-kwang meets Su-ryeon by chance, who is a young and beautiful wife of the commander. Soon, he feels a strong attraction by her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe Made Them Do It (2012)
"She Made Them Do It" follows the twisted life of Sarah Pender, a charismatic, intelligent young woman who would become one of the country’s most sought after fugitives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2022)
A young woman with psychokinetic powers breaks out of a Louisiana asylum and makes her way to New Orleans, where she falls into the city’s netherworld of misfits and miscreants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnne of Green Gables (2016)
Anne Shirley, an orphan, is fostered by farmer Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla, who were expecting a boy to be sent them to help with their farm work. They accept Anne, who quickly endears herself to them and to the local villagers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCoin Locker Girl (2015)
Il-young tries to get away from her adoptive mother because she does not want to get involved in her mother's criminal activities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFailan (2001)
After losing both her parents, Failan emmigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan is forced to have an arranged marriage through a match-making agency.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoor Lock (2018)
Kyung-min lives alone in a one-room apartment. One day, she finds traces of a stranger breaking into her room and soon a mysterious murder case begins to unravel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSilenced (2011)
Based on actual events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEscape from Mogadishu (2021)
Diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies in Somalia attempt a daring joint escape from Mogadishu when the outbreak of civil war leaves them stranded.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRevolver (2024)
Su-young, a police detective who went to prison for someone else, is surprised when a mysterious woman named Yoon-sun arrives to collect her on her day of release. As she discovers that the promised compensation for her time behind bars has vanished, Su-young embarks on a mission to reclaim what rightfully belongs to her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSmugglers (2023)
During the 1970s, in Kunchon, there were women divers who were able to dive without equipment, including two best friends Choon-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook's brother and Hammer. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as fewer factories started to be built near the beach, the women divers started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join the smuggling business in the water to seek a way for their living. But the smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook's family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRyeohaeng (2019)
A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Shadow Flowers (2021)
Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Journals of Musan (2011)
North Korean defector Seung-chul is a refugee living on the harsh edges of Seoul. Bewildered by exploitative employers and cynical urbanites, he’s no good for business. A powerful realism underscores this prize-winning feature debut about the struggle to survive in a strange new world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Eun-seo (2019)
North Korean Refugee Eunseo has been living in South Korea for 20 years. Now she is almost South Korean. No one knows she came from North Korea. Then her mother, who has been out of contact, comes to South Korea, and gets to live with her. People get to know that Eunseo came from North Korea, and Eunseo starts to feel uncomfortable with her mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Poongsan (2011)
Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dreamer (2020)
The North Korean defector, who has just settled in the South, is confused by his brother who was separated from the defection process. Ji-hyeok, a Chinese restaurant deliveryman who is having a hard time finding a job due to his criminal record, wants to leave Korea as soon as possible. To raise money for his defector brother, Ji-hyeok, who is involved in a dangerous drug-transport errand, suggests intercepting billions of won of methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Crossing (2008)
Yong-soo is an ex-soccer player who lives in a small coal-mine village in North Korea with his wife and young son, Joon. Although living in extreme poverty like many other families in North Korea, the family is happy just to be with each other. Then one day, Yong-soo's pregnant wife becomes critically ill. Let alone medicine, Yong-soo can't even find food for her in North Korea. So he decides to secretly cross the border to China hoping to find the medicine for his wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Tour Guide (2023)
Making use of her Chinese that she had picked up while living in China, Han-young obtains her tour guide-interpreter's license and starts working as a guide in Korea. She gets used to her new surroundings and gains good results at work. However, she is forced to face challenges and changes as she loses touch with her brother In-hyuk, and the number of Chinese tourists decreases due to political tension between Korean and China.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Traveler from the North and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Traveler from the North?
The closest matches to Traveler from the North are The Net (2016), The Suspect (2013) and Escape (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Traveler from the North?
Start with The Net (2016), the closest match to Traveler from the North.
What is the highest-rated movie like Traveler from the North?
Silenced (2011), rated 8.2/10 by 829 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Traveler from the North?
Hi, Hello (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Traveler from the North?
Yes: The Net (2016), The Suspect (2013) and Escape (2024).
How are movies similar to Traveler from the North chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Traveler from the North, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.