Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (; Taegukgi Hwinallimyeo) is a 2004 South Korean wartime action drama film directed by Kang Je-gyu. It stars Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin and tells the story of two brothers who are forcibly drafted into the South Korean army at the outbreak of the Korean War. Kang Je-gyu made a name for himself directing Shiri and was able to attract top talent and capital to his new project, eventually spending 12.8 million USD on production. The film became one of the biggest successes in the South Korean film history up to that time, attracting 11.74 million people to the theatre, beating the previous record holder Silmido. Plot In 2003, while digging up remains at a Korean War battlefield to set up a memorial site, a South Korean army excavation team notifies an elderly man that they identified some remains as his own even though he is still alive. 53 years earlier, in June 1950, the Lee family goes about their lives in the South Korean capital of Seoul. Lee Jin-tae owns a shoeshine stand to pay for his younger brother Jin-seok's education. Jin-tae has also bought them a silver pen, a precious item the brothers share, and is working on a pair of immaculate shoes for his brother to wear to school. Jin-tae's fiancée, Young-shin, works with the Lees' noodle shop. On June 25, 1950, North Korea invades South Korea, and both brothers are forcibly conscripted. They are assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, fighting at the Pusan Perimeter before advancing north upon the successful U.S. amphibious landing at Inchon. Jin-tae is told by a superior that if he can earn the highest award for a South Korean soldier, the Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit, his brother can be sent home. Jin-tae volunteers for many dangerous missions and performs suicidal acts of bravery to earn the medal, and is quickly promoted to sergeant. His heroism during the urban Battle of Pyongyang finally results in Jin-tae's nomination for the medal, but his combat experiences have made him into an emotionless killer, which horrifies his younger brother. The UN coalition is eventually forced to retreat all the way back to Seoul when the Chinese enter the war on the North Korean side. Jin-tae finally earns his medal, but in Seoul, Young-shin, suspected of joining the Communist Party during the Communist occupation, is arrested by