Yaksha: Ruthless Operations | K-Drama | Political Thriller

Yaksha: Ruthless Operations is a Korean movie streaming on Netflix. This political thriller was released April 2022. Yaksha is the code name for a rogue spy in charge of a black ops team and he is out of control. Or is he?

Who is the Real Bad Guy?

Yaksha is a code name. It could mean a hideous, violent demon who eats people. But it’s also a name for a guardian in the Buddhist faith.

Ji Kang-in AKA “Yaksha” is played by Sol Kyung-gu.

Yaksha works for the NIS, Korea’s National Intelligence Service. He has been deep undercover for years, eliminating the bad guys who pose a threat to national security. But his superiors who sit at a comfortable desk in NIS headquarters, are questioning his patriotism and loyalty. Has he gone rogue? Has he gone mad? He’s killing a lot of people and not checking with them to see if it’s OK. He says when you’re out in the field confronting bad guys, you don’t always have time to make a phone call to get approval. Decisions must be made on the spot!

In the very first scene, he shoots one of those traitors dead. He makes the phone call afterward and tells them to send someone to “clean up”! You can’t have dead bodies lying around in the streets. Send a clean-up team to clear away the evidence before the local police arrive on the scene. It’s not like the cops “need to know” who the real bad guys are that threaten the country. Finding and eliminating those guys is a job for the NIS. A job that Yaksha does quite well. Too well!

So the question is: Is Yaksha the real bad guy?

Who is the Rookie Good Guy?

It’s very difficult to control a field agent who has taken it upon himself to wipe out traitors who are moles within the organization and are hindering the true mission. He’s broken his leash and his superiors send out another guy to try to put the leash back on and get him under control. Can he do it?

Han Ji-hoon is played by Park Hae-soo.

Han Ji-hoon is not a trained and skilled spy. He’s a lawyer; a former prosecutor. But he’s as just and upright as they come. Nobody has any questions about him being one of the good guys. He goes by the rules of law to achieve justice. Isn’t that the only way? He’s the complete opposite of Yaksha who threw away the rule book a long time ago.

But why send him to check on Yaksha’s ruthless operations and report back to headquarters?

Uuhh … he volunteered for the job.

What’s Really Going On?

What’s really going on is that there is a power struggle over North Korea, and certain countries never want to see a UNITED Korea. Thus there are spies or “intelligence agents” from various countries assigned to work all over the world who make sure North and South Korea stay divided. Japan is one of those countries.

A North Korean official has maintained a secret list of all of the intelligence agents around the world who are on a mission to work against Korean unity. Japan wants that list! The North Korean official does not have it. He gave it to his daughter does; the only person in the world he can trust. She’s tech-savvy and wrote a computer program to hide the list. Only she knows how to access the information. The Japanese agents kidnap her and compel her to divulge the information.

What happens next?

Sorry. NO SPOILERS.

Viewership and Ratings

Many viewers gave Yaksha: Ruthless Operations an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. My rating is slightly lower. It’s 4 out of 5 stars. Here’s why.

Political thrillers with spies or secret agents are one of my favorite movie genres. Because I have watched so many of them, the plot for Yaksha seemed kind of predictable. From the beginning, I had already guessed who the real bad guys were. That’s why I took off one star for my rating.

On the other hand, the movie definitely deserves 4 stars because it left the viewer with a burning question:

• WHY are other countries opposed to a UNITED Korea?

I am not a student of political science and world history, I’m just an ignorant Western foreigner looking at this situation from a distance. But it seems like uniting North and South Korea under one flag and promoting freedom and equality of all citizens would be a good thing. Just sayin’.

Whenever a fictional film leaves you pondering the real-world consequences of a What If? Scenario, it deserves 4 out of 5 stars.

**Watch List Recommendation

If you like Yaksha: Ruthless Operations, then you’ll probably like “Korean Peninsula”. It stars Hwang Jung-min (“Narco-Saints”) as a South Korean scientist who falls in love with a North Korean scientist. This is a 2012 TV series and it was the first K-drama that started me thinking about the possibility of a UNITED Korea.