In 1950, just a few months after North Korean forces (Supported by the Soviet Union) have overrun most of South Korea, an American-led UN coalition is deployed to Korea to aid the struggling South Koreans. General Douglas MacArthur (Liam Neeson), leader of the UN forces in Korea, devises a secret plan to attack behind enemy lines at the port city of Incheon. At this point of the war South Korea only controls a small territory south of the Nakdong river. The risky strategy is opposed by leaders of the other military branches, forcing MacArthur to devise a clandestine operation to gather essential information from within occupied Incheon by coordinating a week-long South Korean intelligence operation known as "X-ray". The linchpin of this top-secret incursion, Captain Jang Hak-Soo (Lee Jung-Jae) of the ROK Navy Intelligence Unit (a former Korean People's Army officer who defected to South Korea after seeing his father executed in front of him by his fellow communist officers), and seven members of the X-Ray unit disguise themselves as a Korean People's Army inspection unit (led by Park Nam-Chul) and infiltrate the North Korean command center in Incheon, coordinated by the Soviet-trained commander Lim Gye-Jin (Lee Beom-Soo), a protege of Kim Il Sung (Lee Won-Jong). Their prime objective is to determine the placement of North Korean defenses (such as mines and artillery) and the tactical characteristics of the Incheon harbor (notorious for swift currents and major tidal surges which go from 29 feet to 36 feet each day) and secure a lighthouse (so that the landing troops can climb even during dusk, in low daylight) crucial to the landing's success. The harbor itself has a narrow channel for ships to enter. This channel can be blocked by a single sunk boat and then the enemy ship can be slaughtered by a 76 MM gun. The US forces cannot use a minesweeper as the coverage area is too wide for that. Immediately suspicious of Jang's "inspection mission", Lim attempts to impede his comrade's investigation and orders his staff to monitor the new arrivals closely. Lim refuses to share the maps of mine locations around Incheon harbor with Jang. The X-Ray group is in touch with the South Korean intelligence agency via the KLO (Korea Liaison Office) a covert unit in Incheon led by Seo Jin-Chul (Jung Joon-Ho). The 2 groups communicate over short wave radio using Morse code. Jang develops feelings for a nurse Han Chae-Seon (Jin Se-Yeon). Lim finds from North Korean HQ that Park has a knife scar on his neck. Lim finds the same scar on Jang, but still suspects him due to his interest in the naval mines' charts. The U.S. command relays MacArthur's orders to obtain navigation charts showing naval mine placements in the harbor and prepare a strategy to assist the coalition forces with landing an amphibious assault in a narrow two-hour window between tides. When contacts within the South Korean military intelligence unit known as KLO (Korea Liaison Office, predecessor to present-day South Korean Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment, or HID) warn Jang that time is running out to successfully complete the mission, he pushes his group to extremes. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, MacArthur prepares Operation Chromite, an invasion force of 75,000 UN troops and over 260 warships, to imminently depart for the Korean Peninsula. The forces are facing Hurricane Jean which is heading towards them from the Philippines, but MacArthur is determined to carry out his plan. Hoyt Vandenberg (Jon Gries) believes Incheon is a suicide mission, but MacArthur argues that this is the only place North Koreans are weak. Vanderberg says that Truman will agree to the plan if MacArthur commits to not crossing the 45th parallel as the US doesn't want the Chinese to get into the fight. Vanderberg believes that MacArthur wants Incheon as a grand gesture for his 2nd run at the Presidency. Jang orders his men to break into Lim's office to secure the charts. Jang's men find the charts inside a safe but are discovered by commander Ryu Jang-Choon (Kim Hee-Jin). In the ensuing shootout, an alarm is sounded. The charts are lost to fire in the shootout. Ryu manages to call Lim and informs him that Jang is impersonating Park and is in fact a South Korean spy. Lim attacks Jang, but Jang manages to escape with a few of his men. Lim brutally shoots anyone suspected of being a spy. He learns from torture that his regular barber Choi Suk-Joong (Kim Byeong-Ok) is also a spy. Jang and his surviving men were hidden by Choi in his basement. Han was Choi's niece and is horrified to learn that Choi is a traitor. Lim captures Choi as he tries to make contact with the KLO to hand over the maps. Choi is executed publicly even as Han begs Jang to save his life. Fortunately, Choi's message reaches the KLO and Hwa-Gyoon (Lee Choong-Goo) arrives to take over the maps. Jang says that now the only option is to kidnap Ryu as he knows the mine locations by memory. Ryu is hospitalized. Jang takes Han's help to infiltrate the hospital. Despite Lim reaching there, the South Koreans manage to kidnap Ryu and load him into a truck. They start to fight their way out of the hospital and a heavily fortified Incheon. The group manages to exit Incheon and they get Ryu onto a military aircraft bound for the South Korean HQ. MacArthur now messages the X-Ray team to capture the Incheon Lighthouse on September 15th, 1950, at midnight. The fleet arrives at Incheon Sea on September 14th, 1950, at 2252 hours. The fleet guns open fire on Wolmido Island. The X-Ray team reaches Palmido Island, which is the location of the lighthouse, but Jang goes to Wolmido Island due to a warning given by Ryu of "something big" at Wolmido, before he was picked up for transport. The Palmido lighthouse is activated at precisely midnight, and MacArthur launches the land invasion. But he didn't know that Wolmido island contained a huge number of North Korean forces in underground bunkers along with tanks and artillery guns, who survived the artillery shelling. Lim litters Wolmido island with TNT. Lim then opens fire on the advancing ships with artillery and Jang saves the day when he takes over a tank and fires on the artillery positions, destroying them. Jang's men sacrifice themselves to blow up the TNT on the beaches, killing themselves in the process. Jang sets off the flare, giving the signal to MacArthur to start landing on the beaches. Jang kills Lim as the US forces take over the beach. Jang dies from his injuries and is saluted by MacArthur. 13 days later, UN forces captured Seoul. They march on to Pyeongyang, but the Chinese army drove them back. On July 27, 1953, an armistice is reached. 3 million people died in the war.
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