# The Unjust (부당거래)
**The Unjust** (부당거래) is a 2010 South Korean crime thriller directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, in which a police captain, a corrupt prosecutor, and a gangster-turned-businessman fabricate a culprit for a serial murder case that the police failed to solve. It stars [Hwang Jung-min](https://www.edgepedia.org/hwang-jung-min), Ryoo Seung-bum, and Yoo Hai-jin, was written by Park Hoon-jung, and ran 119 minutes with a rating restricting it to audiences 19 and older.[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) • [2](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | October 28, 2010 (South Korea); CJ ENM's English page lists October 27, 2010[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) • [2](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/) |
| Director / writer | Ryoo Seung-wan / Park Hoon-jung[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) |
| Lead cast | Hwang Jung-min as police captain Choi Cheol-gi, Ryoo Seung-bum as prosecutor Joo Yang, Yoo Hai-jin as gangster-turned-builder Jang Seok-gu[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) |
| Box office | 2,722,996 admissions and 20,996,302,500 won in South Korea, the 8th highest-grossing Korean film of 2010[3](https://stockant.tistory.com/973) |
| Awards | Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the 32nd Blue Dragon Awards; invited to the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in Competition[2](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/) |
| Rating and runtime | 119 minutes; restricted to audiences 19 and over (청소년관람불가)[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) |
| Production | Film Train with Oui Yu Nae Kang (외유내강), distributed by CJ Entertainment; 86 days of location filming across South Korea[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens with a serial murder case that has unsettled the whole country: the killer targets young schoolgirls, and the president himself visits the police agency to demand a swift arrest.[4](https://vop.co.kr/A00000343700.html) Before the special investigation unit is even formed, the most likely suspect is shot dead by police, leaving the case at a dead end.[5](https://www.dongascience.com/news/17261) Under pressure from above, the police leadership orders a fabricated culprit, and the job falls to Choi Cheol-gi (Hwang Jung-min), a capable metropolitan investigation captain who has repeatedly missed promotion because he lacks connections.[4](https://vop.co.kr/A00000343700.html)
**The deal.** Choi secretly recruits Jang Seok-gu (Yoo Hai-jin), a gangster-turned-construction businessman who has been supplying him with off-the-books funds, and has him bring in an "actor" to play the murderer.[5](https://www.dongascience.com/news/17261) The staged arrest succeeds, but prosecutor Joo Yang (Ryoo Seung-bum), who is well practiced in the improper deals his own sponsors hand him, senses something wrong while interrogating the suspect and forces his way into the game.[4](https://vop.co.kr/A00000343700.html) A review in the Maeil newspaper described the three leads as men at the edge of power, a police officer obsessed with promotion, a prosecutor who trades on his sponsors, and a builder rising through crime, figures drawn from stories that appear in the daily news.[6](https://www.imaeil.com/page/view/2010102808191679543)
## Production
The film was produced by Film Train and co-produced by Oui Yu Nae Kang, the company run by Ryoo Seung-wan's collaborator [Kang Hye-jung](https://www.edgepedia.org/kang-hye-jung), with CJ Entertainment providing and distributing.[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) • [7](https://filmrnk.com/about/) To add realism, the production spent 86 days on location across the country; the rooftop deal scenes were shot on the roofs of two buildings in Seoul and Daejeon, and a rooftop cafe was built in the plaza of the Daejeon Arts Center for the staged public event, with extras of all ages recruited for the scene.[1](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm) Filming also took place in Busan in May 2010, at locations including Novotel, the Busan Environment Corporation's Suyeong and Haeundae facilities, Centum City, and Shinsegae Department Store.[8](https://cyland.accessict.co.kr/artyboard/pds/board/TP1F_VJNA/313931313436313638.pdf)
Several fellow filmmakers appeared in comic cameos: director [Lee Joon](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-joon)-ik, Hwang Byeong-guk as a court-appointed lawyer, Lee Choon-yun of Cine 2000 as the police agency chief, and director Lee Kyoung-mi as a forensic examiner.[9](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201011012117573)
## Box office
**A career turning point.** The film opened in what distributors called the off-season, yet it topped the Korean box office for two consecutive weeks and passed 2.5 million admissions in 32 days.[10](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1000819230) • [11](https://v.daum.net/v/20101129085310616) For Ryoo Seung-wan, whose previous best was the 2.4 million admissions of *Arahan* (2004), the result placed him among Korea's commercially reliable directors; a distributor official called weekday audiences of 80,000 in the slow season unusual.[12](https://www.donga.com/news/List/article/all/20101106/32389883/5) By the end of the year the Korean Film Council's tally recorded 2,722,996 admissions and 20,996,302,500 won in revenue, ranking 8th among Korean films released in 2010.[3](https://stockant.tistory.com/973)
## Reception and awards
At the 32nd Blue Dragon Film Awards in November 2011, Park Hoon-jung won Best Screenplay, and the film also took Best Picture and Best Director.[13](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2011/11/25/2011112515402400041) • [2](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/) It was nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the Grand Bell Awards and the Baek Sang Art Awards, and Ryoo Seung-beom won Best Actor at the 2011 Buil Film Awards for his role as the prosecutor.[14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843120/awards/) The film was invited to the 61st [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) in the In Competition section.[2](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 60% Tomatometer from three reviews; critics noted its kinetic energy and film-noir take on institutional corruption, while some found the plot overly convoluted.[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unjust_the)
## Legacy
In 2020 the magazine Cine 21 placed *The Unjust* in its list of the ten Korean films of the 2010s, citing its influence on Korean commercial cinema in that decade.[16](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=94653) The Korean Film Archive's cinematheque program also selected it among the Korean films of 2010 that critics and programmers singled out.[17](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00436) The film marked a shift in Ryoo Seung-wan's career away from the action films that had defined him, drawing praise that "Ryoo Seung-wan has changed," and it began a run of collaborations between the director and Hwang Jung-min that later included *The Battleship Island* (2017).[5](https://www.dongascience.com/news/17261) • [18](https://web.donga.com/pdf/pdf_viewer.php?vcid=2016061610W1001) Producer Han Jae-deok, who ran the production, went on to found Sanai Pictures in 2012.[19](https://www.mjff.or.kr/db/9912_db/FILE_DOWN/12_mjff_catalog.pdf?0617001=)
## References
1. [부당거래 production note, KoreaFilm.co.kr](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/baddeal/baddeal_2-1.htm)
2. [The Unjust, CJ ENM Movies](https://www.cjenm.com/en/featured-contents/the-unjust/)
3. [2010년 영화 박스오피스 (영화진흥위원회 자료), stockant.tistory.com](https://stockant.tistory.com/973)
4. ["부당거래, 씁쓸함과 통렬함의 차이는 어디에서 오는가", 민중의소리, 2010-12-09](https://vop.co.kr/A00000343700.html)
5. ["대한민국 부정부패 스캔들 '부당거래'", 동아사이언스, 2017-03-25](https://www.dongascience.com/news/17261)
6. ["[신작 영화 리뷰] 부당거래", 매일신문, 2010-10-28](https://www.imaeil.com/page/view/2010102808191679543)
7. [About us, 외유내강 (Film R&K)](https://filmrnk.com/about/)
8. [영화도시 부산 On location 자료 (부당거래 촬영지)](https://cyland.accessict.co.kr/artyboard/pds/board/TP1F_VJNA/313931313436313638.pdf)
9. ["이준익·황병국·이경미 감독, '부당거래' 카메오", 스포츠경향, 2010-11-01](https://sports.khan.co.kr/article/201011012117573)
10. ["'부당거래' 2주 연속 1위", SBS 뉴스, 2010-11-11](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1000819230)
11. ["'부당거래' 32일만에 250만 돌파", 뉴스엔/다음, 2010-11-29](https://v.daum.net/v/20101129085310616)
12. ["류승완 "나도 이젠 흥행감독!"", 동아일보, 2010-11-06](https://www.donga.com/news/List/article/all/20101106/32389883/5)
13. ["'부당거래', 청룡영화상 각본상 수상", 스타뉴스, 2011-11-25](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2011/11/25/2011112515402400041)
14. [The Unjust (2010) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843120/awards/)
15. [The Unjust, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/unjust_the)
16. ["씨네21이 선정한 2010년대 한국영화 베스트10", 씨네21, 2020-03-12](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=94653)
17. [시네마테크KOFA가 주목한 2010년 한국영화, 한국영상자료원](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/cinematheque/programs/PI_00436)
18. [동아일보 기사 (황정민·류승완 세 번째 합작 보도), 2016-06-16](https://web.donga.com/pdf/pdf_viewer.php?vcid=2016061610W1001)
19. [무주산골영화제 2024 프로그램북 (한재덕 프로필)](https://www.mjff.or.kr/db/9912_db/FILE_DOWN/12_mjff_catalog.pdf?0617001=)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2010–2014 films › Titles M to W*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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