Trivia

Director Kim Hak-soon acquired the rights of the same-named novel by Choi Soon-jo in 2006 and planned to film the movie in 2007. But the families of the soldiers who had died in the battle had been against the movie, so Kim stopped the Project back then. But after the sinking of the war-ship Cheonan in 2010, the families made contact with Kim Hak-soon and asked him to do the movie.

This movie is about the second battle of Yeonpyeong, which took place in the yellow sea in 2002.

After initial investors backed out, it took the film seven years to finish production. A third of the US$6 million budget was raised through crowdfunding by 7,000 individuals. They include 23 members of the 2002 South Korean national football team, and Jung Mong-joon, owner of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group and former president of the Korea Football Association, who donated 100 million won.

The theatrical release had been originally planned in May 2014. But when the Ferry MV Sewol sank in March 2014, where 302 people were killed, the release date had been pushed back to June 2015.

Since the 1990s, there have been several notable clashes between North and South Korean patrol craft at the Northern Limit Line. The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, as shown here, was the only one where the North Koreans achieved a real first strike, the only one where the South Koreans suffered any dead, and also the only one where a patrol craft was lost (357 sank while being towed).