Twenty-five years ago, director Park Chan-wook risked jail to make a movie about friendship between North and South Korean soldiers, striking box office gold and beginning his actors' ascent to global stardom.

Relations between the two Koreas have since plunged, with Pyongyang renouncing its long-held goal of unification and last week destroying a venue that traditionally hosted reunions of families separated by decades of divisions.

Park said his smash hit "Joint Security Area" still strikes a chord a quarter of a century later.

"It is a sad reality that this movie's themes still resonate with the younger generation," he told reporters in Seoul this month.

"I hope that by the 50th anniversary, we will be able to discuss it as just a story from the past."

The film is widely regarded as a masterpiece of South Korean cinema and its cast members have gone on to wider success, including "Squid Game" actor Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho from Oscar-winning "Parasite".

But when he set out to make it, Park -- best known today for action thriller "Oldboy" and mystery romance "Decision to Leave" --........

© International Business Times