 The event described in the beginning of Gwoemul is based on an  actual event. In February 2000 at a US military facility located in  the center of Seoul, a US military civilian employee named Mr.  McFarland was ordered to dispose of formaldehyde by dumping it into  the sewer system that led to the Han River despite the objection of  a South Korean subordinate. The South Korean government attempted to  prosecute Mr. McFarland in a South Korean court but the US military  refused to hand over the custody of Mr. McFarland to the South  Korean legal system. Later, a South Korean judge convicted Mr.  McFarland in absentia. The Public was enraged at the South Korean  governments inability to enforce its law on its own soil. In 2005,  nearly five years after the original incident, Mr. McFarland was  finally found guilty in a South Korean court in his presence. He  never served the actual prison sentence, however. No sighting of a  mutant creature has been reported in Han River 