Haemoo plot
Kang is the captain of a fishing boat manned by a bunch of rough-and-tumble men accustomed to the harsh realities of life at sea. Their regular fishing is going badly and with only a meager income they return home. Then Kang gets a lucrative opportunity that he grabs with both hands: to smuggle a group of ethnic Koreans out of China for a better life in South Korea. It's risky, and illegal, but offers the prospect of a lot of money. Desperate migrants or dead fish, for Kang it is anything he brings back to port as long as it makes money.