Jeonju 2025 Review: 3670, Fresh and Vibrant Drama Dives Into Life of Gay NK Defector

Away from the incandescent lights of K-pop and the bubble-gum romance of K-dramas, Korean independent cinema often compels us to grapple with more difficult emotions and take a good hard look at the less-well represented sectors of local society.

It is thus no surprise that the low-budget film industry is awash with films training their cameras on the LGBTQ and North Korean defector communities, among the most discriminated against minorities in the country, but seldom have we seen these worlds collide on the big screen.

Enter Park Joon-ho's debut film 3670, a frank look at the intersection of two worlds often forced to live in the shadows.

The film opens with two young men having sex in a dark room. This is no couple but rather an online hookup--there is no emotion involved, only a physical act. While this is an act that must take place in secret for both of them, it's clear that it is more meaningful for one of the participants, namely Cheol-jun, a lonely North Korean defector desperate for any form of connection. His nameless partner makes limited eye contact and tries to leave as quickly as he can, turning down Cheol-jun's offer of sharing a meal together.

Park opens his film by inviting us into a vulnerable moment which, for some viewers, may be an uncomfortable one. Though simple in its staging, this scene effectively conveys the emotional isolation of its central protagonist while also placing us directly into a secret and intimate space within Korea's queer subculture. There is almost no sex shown throughout the rest of the film but this opening one is crucial--it invites viewers to let their guard down.

On the suggestion of his one-night stand, Cheol-jun joins a casual gathering for young gay men. He steadily enters Seoul's queer community, experiencing various ups and downs along the way, while also juggling his life with other defectors to whom he has not shared his sexual identity.

Fuelled by a vibrant cast led by theatre actor Cho You-hyun as Cheol-jun and Kim Hyeon-mok as Yeong-jun, the first gay friend he makes, 3670 is a charming slice-of-life drama that explores alienation and the need to belong.

The emphasis here is on the community and the experience of being in and around it, rather than any discrimination faced by Cheol-jun. That much is clear from the film's title, which refers to a secret code used by a group of gay friends to coordinate their gatherings.

For most of its running time, 3670 offers a very engaging look at its characters and their environment, but once it tries to wrap its story in the final third, a few unfortunate cracks begin to appear. The plotting gets a little scattered as story beats begin to feel overly engineered with several instances of characters overhearing things at the wrong moment or reaching out to someone at exactly the right time despite weeks of no communication.

These issues crop up as the film heads to a somewhat unconvincing climax that gives the impression that Park didn't quite know how to conclude his story. Yet the overall impression left by the film is still a strong one for all involved.