Yadang: The Snitch – Review

29th April 2025

A Ya-dang is a type of police informant, who gets drug offenders to reveal information they then pass on to the authorities and prosecutors, for which the offender receives a reduced sentence for their cooperation, and any corrupt drug enforcement officers are prevented from obtaining such information by unethical means.

It seems the latter is as big a problem in South Korea as drug use itself, something professional Ya-dang Lee Kang-su knows all too well. He was imprisoned by a corrupt officer who injected him with methadone just to make an arrest, an act so callous it almost doesn’t sink in for Kang-su just how much he has been harshly acted against. Though he initially feels bleak and scared, prosecutor Ku Gwan-hee (Yoo Hae-jin) discovers Kang-su has a photographic memory and sees his potential in becoming a snitch. Kang-su agrees to learn and pass on information about one of his inmates’ dealings on the outside in return for an early release, which he does so well Ku encourages him to continue doing so once he is free.

So far, Yadang: The Snitch may sound heavily plotted, which it is, but while writer Kim Hyo-seok’s script may take some time to digest properly, it allows the story to unfold naturally instead of stopping to explain, making for more effective drama. South Korea has become known for its exports’ intricate plots and well-drawn character arcs, and while this film does not push the envelope as much as such other exports as Parasite or Kim’s last effort 12.12: The Day, it adds to the familiar and the interplay between plot and character development is interesting.

Anchoring Yadang: The Snitch is Squid Game‘s Kang Ha-neul in the lead role, delivering a central performance that is both charismatic and effectively transformative for how the character develops over the course of the film. When Kang-su lands in prison he is nervous and timid, doing what he can to survive in a situation he never expected to be in. Having control of his life taken from him early on, he assumes a new persona once back on the outside. Asserting control of every situation he finds himself in, he becomes far more poised and self-assured, swaggering around the streets and offices of Incheon, beaming with confidence.

Kang-su proves such an effective tool in the war on drugs that his service is highly sought after by other drug prosecutors looking to improve their arrest record, including the ruthless Yeom Tae-su (Yoo Seong-ju), but Kang-su has not let his morals slip and he remains loyal to Ku, the man who earned him his freedom. When a new drug, Blue Meth, hits the streets, Kang-su learns about a supplier holding a private party in his hotel room. He plans to infiltrate the party and obtain video evidence of them in the act himself.

At the same time, by-the-book narcotics cop Oh Sang-jae (Park Hae-joon) is working a case where where aspiring young actor Uhm Su-jin (Chae Won-bin) is caught in possession of Blue Meth. While he has no sympathy for addicts, he realizes it is better to eliminate the problem at the source. He offers Su-jin a deal to drop the charges against her in return for her going to the same party at the hotel and wearing a wire and getting evidence.

The plot starts to thicken, though, as there are some who, for reasons of their own, do not want this evidence getting out. Anyone who knows about what happened in that hotel room – namely Kang-su, Sang-jae and Su-jin – are kept from speaking out. This sees all their lives upended in very drastic ways and when their paths all come together a year later, they plot to bring those who have done them wrong to justice.

For it’s final third, Y:TS almost re-invents itself from a drug procedural to a composite film of Ocean’s Eleven meets Traffic. It’s a more breezy turn of events, but director Hwang Byeong-guk keeps the film at a brisk pace and holds the narrative divergences together with ease. That said, it does also fall into some unfortunate tropes that, which don’t spoil the film but does let down characters that have been built up so much. When one character dies, for example, it is affecting and sad but also disappointing because it feels unnecessary for them to end up only becoming motivation for the survivors.

It’s particularly frustrating because the most interesting component of Yadang: The Snitch is how the characters develop over the course of the film. Kang-su, for example, becomes increasingly bitter and erratic the more he keeps falling victim to a corrupt system, while Sang-jae’s morals are strengthened and he’s determined to show the system can work by exposing those who have done him wrong by the book. Most effective of all is Su-jin, who goes from being expressive and full of hope for her future to cynical and withdrawn.

This complicates Sang-jae’s feelings about her as a drug user, as he feels responsible for what has happened to her, though Su-jin seems to no longer be able to care about herself or what others feel for her. This is the greatest strength of Yadang: The Snitch, that it gives us well-crafted, interesting characters and sends them on a journey that takes a lot of different turns, but they make us want to see the journey through to its conclusion.

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