Domestic spy thriller "The Spy Gone North" has been sold to 111 countries around the world, the film's local distributor said Thursday.

Directed by Yoon Jong-bin of "Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time" (2012), "The Spy Gone North" premiered to a standing ovation in the Midnight Screenings section of the 71st Cannes Film Festival in May.

Based on favorable reviews, the rights to the forthcoming film have been sold to distributors in Americas and Asian and European countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, France, Poland, Britain and Spain, according to CJ E&M.

Dates for theatrical release are under discussion in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, it added.

Starring Hwang Jung-min, Lee Sung-min, Cho Jin-woong and Ju Ji-hoon, the film tells the story of a South Korean spy who goes undercover as a businessman in North Korea in the 1990s to infiltrate its nuclear facilities using the codename "Black Venus." He is plagued by an inner conflict after observing the two Koreas' leaders making a secret deal to prevent liberal candidate Kim Dae-jung from winning the 1997 South Korean presidential election. (Yonhap)