Agent Kim Who Can Go on Their Own, Location Tour
ilmicio05
7 days ago
I’m MICHIYO, and when my husband and I travel, we pretty often go around visiting filming locations.
The drama “Agent Kim” that I watched on NETFLIX and found super interesting,
on this trip, we went around to a few filming locations from this still very popular series.
This time our hotel was in Yongsan, so it worked out perfectly to head out on Line 1.
First, to see the area that appears at the very end of the drama, and to eat at a popular restaurant nearby, we went to Uijeongbu Station.
There are two things to keep in mind when going to Uijeongbu Station.
First, even on Line 1 going in the same direction, trains to different destinations arrive on the same platform, so you absolutely have to check the destination.
We didn’t check anything and jumped on the first train that came, then realized around Dongdaemun that it only went as far as Cheongnyangni Station, so we transferred.
When I looked back at my photos, it was written on the board too, but, well…
The other thing is that Uijeongbu Station is outside the Climate Companion Card coverage area.
I knew this from researching beforehand, but on Line 1, the covered area only goes as far as Dobongsan, which is three stops before Uijeongbu Station, so I wondered if it would just be like paying an overage fare, and tried going with the Climate Companion Card anyway.
But even after arriving, it didn’t seem like something you could do at an “overage fare” machine or anything…
Like in Japan, there usually aren’t staff standing around at the station, so you end up calling them over using the intercom.
A staff member who understood my broken Korean came over and told me that since this station isn’t covered by the Climate Companion Card, I’d need to pay the fare from the station I boarded, either in cash or with T-money.
With T-money, they process it as if you came using that, then let you out through the gate, so I couldn’t pay for two people together.
So if you already know you’ll be getting off at a station outside the coverage area, I recommend using T-money from the start.
Uijeongbu Station
Right in front of the station there was a big Shinsegae Department Store, and it felt really city-like.
But once you head from the station toward town, it has a vibe like old-school Myeongdong…
When I first started going to Seoul, I used to go a lot around the entrance area of Euljiro, and my memory is that it was tiring because there weren’t many crosswalks, so to get to the other side you absolutely had to use the underpass.
This place feels exactly like the Euljiro entrance area back in those days.
You go underground and wonder which side to come up on to reach your destination, and since I have zero sense of direction, I’d be nervous if I were alone…
But it’s not so big that you’ll get seriously lost, so no worries.
It’s an underground shopping area, so if you went a bit farther there might have been escalators too.
First filming location
Uijeongbu, Haengbok-ro (행복로)
If you watched to the end, does this look familiar?
It was such a happy-looking scene, and even the road name here sounds happy too.
This is where they were walking after buying glasses.
I totally forgot to go to the glasses shop…
The ad on the 2nd floor of Olive Young was for Manager Kim.
Next, lunch.
I heard this area has a lot of military facilities, and that there’s a restaurant considered the birthplace of Budae Jjigae, so we went to try it.
Oden Sikdang
There were lots of Budae Jjigae places around, but this one is apparently the original, and it was the most crowded.
But this location is half floor-seating, and because people kept deciding not to go in because of that, we got in right away, lucky us.
With the typical Korean “hot pot” style dishes, I never know how to order, so I just said, “Two servings, please.”
I don’t think I’ve gone to Budae Jjigae places much, and I found myself thinking, oh, so this is what it’s like.
The older guys and the stylish women around us were all putting it over rice and eating it, so we copied them.
The retro vibe was really fun.
Oden Sikdang was great, but the restroom felt a little intimidating, so we went to a cafe nearby, partly to use the restroom.
COFFEEBAY
A delicious cafe latte, and even though they used bear-shaped ice, it was at a retro price point, I was shocked…
These days, getting change back from W10,000 for two people is just… wow…
The staff were kind too, and the sweet older lady working there was really eager to show off the bear ice, it warmed my heart.
After a break, on to the next filming location.
From here on, it’s all bus travel using the Climate Companion Card.
It’s a bit far, but you can get there with one transfer from the bus stop near this cafe.
From 의정부부대찌개거리.중앙역, take 72-3.
Get off at 천주교도봉동교회.
About 20 stops, around 31 minutes.
Transfer on the spot, take 1167.
Get off at 영신여객차고지.
About 8 stops, around 11 minutes.
navermap suggested getting off one stop earlier, but it looked a bit like a mountain road and made me nervous, so I went one stop further, and it worked out perfectly, you pass the destination and then walk back a little.
When you think of “Agent Kim,” this is the place, it’s that memorable.
Uncle Park Jin-cheol’s Marine Corps HQ (강북해병대전우회)
They’re promoting it too.
There isn’t really anything else to do there, so we quickly moved on to the next spot.
Go to the bus stop along the main road, across from the bus stop where you got off near the Marine Corps base filming location.
From 우이동도선사입구.북한산우이역, take 163.
Get off at 청덕초등학교입구.
About 23 stops, around 44 minutes.
From where you get off, cross to the other side and walk a little.
On the way, the road felt like it could show up in a scary drama, and I was thinking it would be scary at night or on a rainy day…
Here!
This is the place that appeared in the opening scene.
Where Manager Kim got hassled by some scary guys (정릉로8길)
Again, we quickly took photos and moved on.
Go back to the bus stop where you got off,
From 청덕초등학교입구, take either 163, 110B, or 7211 (green).
Get off at 롯데아파트.
About 2 stops, around 5 minutes.
Walk uphill for about 5 minutes from the bus stop, and you’ll see
Manager Kim’s house and the dry cleaners (평창사 세탁)
This was the place I most wanted to see.
Just like the rumors said, it was an actual dry cleaner.
The area had celebrity-style mansions and art galleries, and the mountains you can see in the distance made it feel so striking.
On the way back there was a cafe with cats, and lots of museum-like buildings, it feels like a neighborhood you might want to visit slowly and take your time.
As a filming-location tour, I also wanted to go to the conveyor-belt sushi restaurant from the last episode, but the route would be a bit tricky, so we gave up this time and wrapped up our filming locations.
After this, the plan was to check out stylish shops in Hannam-dong, then have dinner in Sinsa.
We were a bit tired, so even though it takes longer, we took a route that gets you to Hannam-dong on just one bus.
The bus stop we got on at,
From 롯데아파트, take 110B.
Get off at 한남동 주민센터 (Hannam-dong).
41 stops, 1 hour 23 minutes (by taxi it’s about a 50-minute route)
I wrote out the routes we actually used for getting to each spot, but if you enter each place’s Korean name into navermap from where you are, it’ll show the best route each time, so just use this as a reference…
We’re the type who would rather choose a bus if we can sit and ride instead of making lots of train transfers, but it can take longer pretty often, so go with what you prefer.
By the way, it seems we were able to do it all in 4 hours, from arriving in Uijeongbu to finishing at the last dry cleaners.
It’s a lot of travel time, but it’s surprisingly fun, so please give it a try.
