Only five South Korean an films have made the 10 million viewer milestone: "The Host," "The King and the Clown," "Taegukgi," "Silmido" and, most recently, "Haeundae."

"Haeundae" was a summer blockbuster in South Korea and quickly claimed a spot among the top five box office draws, but lost momentum in theaters just as quickly when a high-quality pirated copy was posted on a handful of Internet upload sites. In a matter of couple of days more than 100,000 downloads had been tracked. From there who knows how many copies have been made and distributed on disc.

The government and investors in the film have vowed to seriously go after those behind this piracy. This particular case is particularly severe, as international distribution and release was in progress — which means this could severely hurt the industry, along with its investors. "Haeundae" made its mark as the fifth most-watched Korean film of all time, but if this piracy incident hadn't happened, it might have had a chance at fourth place or even higher.

Haeundae is a resort area much like Waikiki, at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula in Busan. Busan — with a population of about 5 million and the second-largest city in South Korea — is known for its seafood and for one of the most popular film festivals in Asia: The Pusan International Film Festival (Busan was formerly spelled with a "P" and the film festival kept the original spelling).

The movie "Haeundae," similar to the American natural-disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow," is about a tsunami hitting the coastline after undersea earthquakes.

Here is the synopsis: Haeundae native Man-sik (Sul Kyung-gu) lost a co-worker during a tsunami while they were deep-sea fishing. Four years later, he is leading a simple life running a small sushi restaurant and preparing to propose to his longtime girlfriend (Ha Ji-won). Meanwhile, geologist Kim Hwi (Park Joong-hoon) discovers the East Sea (Sea of Japan) is showing activity similar to that in the Indian Ocean before the 2004 tsunami. The Disaster Prevention Agency dismisses his warnings. When the geologist discovers that a super-tsunami starting in Tsushima, Japan, is headed straight for the Korean peninsula, he quickly heads down to Haeundae. When Kim finally gets a call about that deadly wave headed toward Haeundae — where tourists and residents are enjoying a peaceful summer day — there's only 10 minutes to spare.

This film's piracy problem will surely spur filmmakers to develop more ways to protect their content. Piracy is rampant not only with films but also TV dramas. Piracy simply cripples the very people who made the hallyu (Korean culture wave) happen at all levels of the industry. Networks, investors, film distributors, actors, actresses, staff, video stores and broadcasters all get hurt. Just because you are paying some Internet site a monthly fee or a pay-per-view fee doesn't mean the Internet site is legitimately acquiring content. So how do you know whether a site is legitimate or not? I would have to say use your common sense and if you are getting to see something very current, that in itself would raise red flags. What I do know is that program owners are collaborating and cracking down on sites that upload and individuals who download with heavy fines.

You can watch "Haeundae" legally in Hawai'i when it opens Oct. 2 at the Consolidated Theatres at Ward and in Kapolei. It will show with English subtitles.

THIS WEEK'S K-DRAMA SYNOPSES

'BRILLIANT LEGACY'

Episodes 27 and 28 (last episode)

Tonight at 7:45 p.m.: Eun-sung is reunited with her father. Hwan takes Eun-sung and her father to see Grandma. Hwan realizes Eun-ho is Eun-sung's lost brother, but Eun-ho is nowhere to be found. Sung-hee tries to make a run for it with Seung-mi, but is caught in time.

Tomorrow at 7:45 p.m.: Devastated, Sung-hee tries to take her own life, but Seung-mi stops her. Grandma asks Eun-sung's father to take charge of the employee housing project. Eun-sung's father urges Eun-sung to go back to the United States with Eun-ho to finish her education.

'DARE TO LOVE'

Episodes 29 and 30

Sunday at 6:45 p.m.: Poong-ran finishes writing her soap. Sae-dol is about to get fired and is very nervous. Soon-shin's mom tells him something puzzling about Gum-ran's parents. Denny auditions at another talent agency. Sul-ran tells her dad that her divorce has been finalized.

Sunday at 7:45 p.m.: Gum-ran impresses Soon-shin again when they go to pick out their jewelry. Poong-ran realizes what a hard time Sae-dol was having and tries to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Sae-dol is laid off. Denny gets his first appearance on a live radio show. But Bong-sun gets bad news. Sul-ran is upset that she can't get in touch with Tae-woo.

'MY DAD LOVES TROUBLE'

Episodes 3 and 4 (last episode)

Monday at 7:45 p.m.: Jae-soo returns home and finds out that Nam-shik has been living with his family. Nam-shik carries Gyeong-sook, who has been hurt by a nail, and runs to the hospital. But Jae-soo, her father, doesn't care and leaves the family behind once again. Jae-soo's wife gets angry at her husband and starts to develop feelings other than gratefulness for Nam-shik.

Tuesday at 7:45 p.m.: Jae-soo finally realizes that he needs his family and returns home but his wife is pregnant with Nam-shik's baby and the family is already more attached to Nam-shik than to him. He tries to fix the situation but it's too late. Then the police find out that Nam-shik was born in North Korea, and arrest him. The family, including Jae-soo, try to find a way to save Nam-shik.

'SWALLOW THE SUN'

Episodes 4 and 5

Wednesday at 7:45 p.m.: Jung-woo is shocked when Min-ho talks about killing someone who is in the way of his business. Sang-mi asks Soo-hyun how she met Tae-hyuk. Soo-hyun says she met him at the graduation concert but that he's not her type. Meanwhile, Jung-woo tells Tae-hyuk that Soo-hyun's reason for working is to save up to study abroad. Next day, Soo-hyun arrives on Jeju Island and is shocked to see Jung-woo waiting for her.

Thursday at 7:45 p.m.: Ki-sang introduces Jung-woo to a woman lying sick in bed and says she's his mother. Jung-woo asks why she abandoned him. Ki-sang says he'll tell him about it later. President Yu tells Jackson Lee the importance of taking over the casino to win against Min-ho. Jackson gets attacked by a group of men on the road.