A top-secret government agent keeps his identity hidden from the woman he plans to marry. When a notorious North Korean special forces sniper, long thought to have gone underground, resurfaces, a chase begins over CTX — a newly developed liquid explosive. As the sniper seems to anticipate his every move, the agent grows suspicious of a mole within his own organization. Then comes the revelation that shatters him: the woman he loves and the enemy he has been hunting are the same person. With a North Korean unit plotting to detonate CTX at a packed stadium during a historic inter-Korean football match, he finds himself facing her across the barrel of a gun.
Drawing audiences of 2.44 million in Seoul and 6.2 million nationwide, Shiri surpassed the domestic box office record set by Titanic and ushered in the era of the Korean blockbuster. By weaving the reality of national division into a story of love and betrayal, the film proved that Korean cinema could compete with Hollywood on both commercial and narrative terms. Presented in a 4K version restored in 2019, screening at the Korean Film Archive for the first time.