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Crash Landing on You (사랑의 불시착) aired on tvN from December 2019 to February 2020, in 16 episodes. Son Ye-jin plays Yoon Se-ri, a South Korean heiress who paraglides into North Korea by accident, and Hyun Bin plays Ri Jeong-hyeok, the North Korean officer who hides her. It was written by Park Ji-eun, who later wrote Queen of Tears (our Queen of Tears guide). It streams on Netflix.
The leads have other guides here: Hyun Bin in Made in Korea and Son Ye-jin in The Scandal.
The three Chungju places below are each named by both VisitKorea and Chungju City, so all three are confirmed.
Where was “North Korea” filmed?
None of the drama was filmed in North Korea. According to press reports at the time of broadcast:
- The North Korean village and army post were reportedly sets built on idle former military land in Mukgye-ri, Hoengseong, Gangwon. We found no official source on whether the set still stands, and it was never presented as a place to visit.
- The DMZ scenes were reportedly filmed on Jeju, among the island’s volcanic cones (oreum). We found no official source naming a specific spot, so none is listed.
- Pyongyang Station was reportedly filmed in Mongolia.
Chungju stood in for North Korea too: the picnic on Binaeseom takes place on the North Korean side of the story.
Chungju: Binaeseom Island
Check access first. Binaeseom became a national wetland protection area in 2021. Part of the island is also used as a U.S. Forces Korea training ground for up to 48 days a year, according to a 2021 Chungbuk Ilbo report. We could not find an official training calendar or closure notice, so contact Chungju City before you go. Cars, camping and cooking are banned on the island.
The island sits in the middle of the Namhan River and is covered in silver grass. VisitKorea says it is where Se-ri has her last picnic with the soldiers before she leaves for the South, in episode 6. In 2020 Chungju City put up signboards and a banner of the episode 6 scene; we could not confirm they are still there. A two-day silver grass festival has been held on the island in autumn (News1, 2024).
Chungju: Jungangtap Historic Park and Tangeumho Rainbow Road
The park and the lakeside walk sit next to each other, so plan them as one stop. In the park, the Silla-era stone pagoda known as Jungangtap is the backdrop for the episode 12 scene where Jeong-hyeok’s men find him and Se-ri again, according to Chungju City. Tangeumho Rainbow Road, a floating walkway on the lake, starts just to the north. VisitKorea notes that it is lit in rainbow colors after dark, so go in the late afternoon and stay for the lights.
Also nearby (not filming locations)
- Muhak Market: a traditional market in central Chungju, listed by VisitKorea. It is not a filming location of the drama.
Getting to Chungju
Check Korail for trains from Seoul to Chungju, then search each place on Naver Map (English UI). Express and intercity buses run from Seoul’s 동서울종합터미널 and 센트럴시티터미널 to 충주공용버스터미널; check the official timetable (Chungju City: intercity buses, checked Sep 29, 2026).
From 충주공용버스터미널, buses 112-1 and 411 go to 중앙탑사적공원 / 충주박물관 (Chungju City tourism, checked Sep 29, 2026), and buses 360, 364 and 365 go to 오대호아트팩토리, about 4.1 km from Binaeseom (VisitKorea, checked Sep 29, 2026). Check the official timetable on the Chungju bus information system. We could not confirm a public bus to Binaeseom, and the other places are in different parts of the city. Look up the day’s route on Naver Map before you set off.
Sources
All sources for this guide
Accessed Sep 28, 2026 (Asia/Seoul).
- VisitKorea — 재미와 낭만, 모두 챙기는 충주여행
- VisitKorea — Yu Soo-bin & Tang Jun-sang’s Pick: Chungju
- VisitKorea — Tangeumho Rainbow Road
- VisitKorea — Muhak Market
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Chungju City to develop Crash Landing on You locations (Feb 13, 2020)
- Joongdo Ilbo — Chungju City: Jungangtap in Crash Landing on You (Feb 4, 2020)
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Binaeseom natural rest area (Sep 24, 2020)
- Ministry of Environment — Binaeseom wetland protection area
- Chungbuk Ilbo — Binaeseom wetland designation and the training ground
- News1 — Binaeseom autumn festival (2024)
- Gangwon Domin Ilbo — Hoengseong Mukgye-ri as a filming site
- eToday — Crash Landing on You filming locations
- Netflix — Crash Landing on You
- Korail — https://www.korail.com/global/eng
- Chungju City — Intercity buses (checked Sep 29, 2026)
- Chungju City tourism — Jungangtap Historic Park (checked Sep 29, 2026)
- Chungju City — Bus information system (checked Sep 29, 2026)
