SILMIDO WRAPPING UP

SILMIDO, the 2003 Korean blockbuster about the 684 Unit, has done a lot of good. The 684 was officially denied until 2004 around the same time that the movie was released. The families of the 684 soldiers have been denied compensation, but now the government is putting its shoulder to the wheel and taking the first step by recovering the bodies of the unit's four missing soldiers. Whereas most of the unit were killed on the streets of Seoul, four of the soldiers were executed and buried, then the location of their grave was lost.

A group of university students and an Army unit are conducting the search.

The 684 Unit was a secret commando team formed by the South Korean government to invade North Korea and kill Kim Il-Sung. It was made up mostly of convicted criminals, many of whom were reported to their families as being dead. The unit was kept in seclusion until they mutinied and died in street fighting in Seoul. SILMIDO speculates that the reason the unit mutinied was because they were going to be decommisioned and executed by the South Korean government who were embarrassed by their continued existence.