Steel Rain

In North Korea, Eom Chul-Woo is assigned by chief director Ri Tae-han of the Reconnaissance General Bureau to assassinate Supreme Guard Command chief Park Byung-jin and the minister of state security for planning a coup d'état. Over the border in South Korea, senior presidential secretary Kwak Chul-woo congratulates Kim Kyung-young for winning the presidential election, while his ex-wife Su-hyeon leaves with his children. Back in Pyongyang, Eom runs the minister's car off the bridge and flees the scene. The next morning, Kwak meets Li, an ethnic Korean in charge of the Korean branch of China's ministry of state security. Li informs his counterpart of the assassination and of a possible coup in the North.

Eom bids farewell to his wife and daughter and proceeds to the Kaesong Industrial Region to kill Park, who is due to arrive with the supreme leader[lower-alpha 1] for a North Korean-Chinese event. While Eom waits in an air-vent, Park radios the go ahead for North Korean infiltrators disguised as ROK Army soldiers to hijack a US Army MLRS vehicle. Eom notices Park's absence as the supreme leader arrives for the event, but is unable to contact Ri. Meanwhile, a US Army helicopter locates the MLRS, but fails to prevent it from firing two missiles at Kaesong.

The vent Eom is in collapses, but he survives the attack and surveys the scene of devastation. After the second strike, KPA soldiers led by Captain Choi Myung-Rok arrive and begin massacring the remaining survivors. Eom and two schoolgirls rescue the gravely injured supreme leader in a toy company van and escapes across the border to the South with the rest of the Chinese delegation. In South Korea, the incumbent and incoming presidents agree to expedite the crossings at China's request. Kwak meets with CIA station chief Joanne Martin, where she says the U.S. needs to absolve its responsibility for the incident.

Eom arrives at a small clinic in Ilsan and asks an obstetrician to save the supreme leader. While she works, Eom contacts Ri and informs him of his location, who promises to send reinforcements. The obstetrician confesses of her inability to extract one bullet lodged near the supreme leader's brain. A van arrives with North Korean personnel to kill the supreme leader, but Eom eliminates them and evacuates him to a plastic surgery clinic staffed by Kwak's ex-wife, Su-Hyeong. Kwak is notified of the fight and makes his way to the clinic, where he finds Eom and the others. Eom binds his captives, but turns on the TV and realizes the North has declared war. The clinic is surrounded by South Korean special forces and President Lee declares martial law in the country.

The next morning, Eom and Kwak shadow the director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service as he meets with North Korean military leaders at Nodongdangsa. North Korean snipers attack the meeting and a car chase ensues with Eom and Kawk joining in. Eom unexpectedly rescues Park from the vehicle, having expected Ri instead. In an underground military base in the North, Ri turns out to be using the coup to install himself in power. He learns the whereabouts of the supreme leader and sends an assassination squad, which is foiled. Later that night, the US Air Force launches nuclear missiles at North Korea, which responds by launching a nuclear missile towards Japan. The missile is intercepted by a Japanese ship, but the electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear explosion takes down the US missiles. Alarmed at the deteriorating situation, Eom convinces Kwak to publish false information that the supreme leader is dead, saying that this will cause the North to pause its plans.

Eom forms a plan with Kwak, and returns to the North via a secret tunnel to meet Ri in his underground bunker. Eom confronts him and before being shot, presses a button on a watch signaling the ROK Air Force to launch missiles at his location, destroying the bunker and killing everyone. After the coup attempt has ended, newly-inaugurated President Kim announces peace and reunification talks with North Korea. South Korean officials repatriate the supreme leader in return for half of North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

A sequel Steel Rain 2: Summit was released on 29 July 2020. Jung Woo-sung and Kwak Do-won returned to star, but in different roles compared to the first film.[13][14]

• Mutual assured destruction
• 2017–18 North Korea crisis

• Steel Rain at HanCinema
• Steel Rain at IMDb