Bullet inconsistency?

****HUGE SPOILERS WITHIN****

I felt something was incorrect with the bullet count too, but I just rechecked everything and now I am even more impressed at the attention to detail that was put into this movie, because everything checks out perfectly. Here's the gist of the bullet theory and it's significance in the investigation:

Major Sophie Jean's evidence consisted of Sgt. Lee's Beretta (which had 5 bullets left in the magazine) and the 11 bullets extracted from the North Korean bodies. Thats 16 bullets in total. (The only bullets being considered were the ones fired from the South Koreans, namely, the 9mm Parabellum)

Now, as you know, a Beretta can only hold 15 bullets in its magazine UNLESS one manually puts an extra bullet into the chamber. And as Major Jean found out, Sgt. Lee has no habit of doing so and now the crap has hit the fan for Sgt. Lee because now the investigators are wondering where that 1 extra bullet came from. It obviously means that somebody else (that being Private Nam) was at the scene.

Major Jean soon includes Private Nam into the investigation, who claims that he remained at his post and fired 1 shot over the bridge before his gun jammed. They find out that this is not true because of the spot of the N. Korean Captain's blood that was found in Nam's pistol. Thus, he was actually there at the scene of the incident as well, accounting for that unexplained extra bullet.


As far as the "actual" exhange of the bullets, it goes something like this:

-While distracted, the NKorean captain attempts (Bullet Count)
to pull out his weapon
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
-Pvt Nam fires 1 bullet through the captains chest, (1)
severely incapacitating him.
-Pvt Jeong (the youngest NKorean) attempts to shoot back.
-Pvt Nam turns around and fires a bullet clean through Pvt (1)
Jeongs head.
-Sgt Lee snaps too and shoots Pvt Jeong's dead body a (1)*
moment later
-Lee then turns and faces Sgt. Oh and pulls the trigger but
nothing happens. The gun has jammed <-- (Very important!!
More on it later)
-Pvt Jeong, who was shot about a second or two ago,
reflexively pulls the trigger, hitting Sgt Lee in the shin.
Lee falls and hits his head.
(The only ACTUAL scene. Again, more on that later)
-Pvt Nam completely loses it and fires 6 bullets into Pvt (6)
Jeong's corpse.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
-After a moment of silence and tension, Sgt. Oh takes the (1)
gun from Sgt. Lee's hand and fires a killshot to finish off
the gasping NKorean captain.
-Before the two SKoreans leave, Sgt Oh has Sgt Lee shoot (1)
him in the arm to prevent any suspicion being casted upon
himself.

11 bullets fired and the 5 left in Lee's chamber = 16 bullets


This is, as we learn, where the twist is. Although this scene was supposed to be what ACTUALLY happened, you have to remember that it was still told from Sgt. Lee's perspective, who is far from being psychologically sound after everything he saw/did. Either his memory became disoriented when he hit his head or his mind utilized what Freud would define as a psychological defense mechanism in order to protect himself from the truth, but Lee's memory completely SWITCHED himself and Pvt Nam!!! This delusional state begins and ends between the percent signs that I have notated. Within that time period, everything that Sgt Lee does is actually Nam's doing and vice-versa.

So between the percent signs, the only incident that ACTUALLY occured in Lee's disillusioned memory is the part where Jeong reflexively fires the bullet into Lee's shin, accounting for the limping and crutches, etc etc.

The biggest and most obvious clue that the 2 SKorean soldiers were switched is that Lee's gun jams in the incident, when clearly the evidence shows that it was Nam's gun that jammed. Thus, the one "mystery bullet" (notated with an asterik) is the only one Pvt. Nam ever managed to fire, and the one that is the whole question of the investigation.

Thus, after the ever so nonchalant Major Jean so bluntly and casually tells Sgt. Lee that, according to Sgt. Oh's testimony, that it was actually Lee that killed the captain and Pvt Jeong, it is no wonder that he was driven to commit suicide. Realizing that the cold blooded murder of your best friend and brother-in-arms was done by your own hand is not a light cross to carry.

I hope this explained a lot to the viewers who were confused about everything. This movie is absolutely brilliant.