The producers of the film "The Assassins" said the movie is "not a work that seeks to establish a particular historical conclusion or to deny or distort established facts," responding to criticism that it distorts history in its treatment of the shooting that killed first lady Yuk Young-soo.
In a statement released on the 28th, the production team said "The Assassins" is "a dramatic film that reconstructs, with cinematic imagination, events based on various records compiled in connection with the 1974 incident." The producers said they had reviewed publicly available materials, books and documentaries, and built the story around real events and figures while adding fictional characters and situations.
"The film does not designate any specific individual as being behind the incident, nor does it present the hypotheses and setups in the drama as historical fact," the statement said. "Because it deals with a historical event and real people, there can be various interpretations and criticisms, and we respect that." The producers denied that the film was made for any particular political purpose, adding, "We ask that it be seen as a work of creation."
Released on the 23rd of this month, "The Assassins" draws on the actual 1974 incident in which Yuk Young-soo died after Mun Se-gwang, a second-generation Korean resident of Japan, fired a gun at President Park Chung-hee during a National Liberation Day ceremony on Aug. 15. The film follows characters who pursue the truth behind the shooting, drawing on questions that surrounded the case at the time. Yoo Hae-jin plays a detective, Park Hae-il a newspaper city desk editor and Lee Min-ho a rookie reporter. Hur Jin-ho directed the film, which was produced by Hive Media Corp, the company behind "The Man Standing Next" and "12.12: The Day."
At the center of the controversy are scenes in which some characters raise the possibility that President Park Chung-hee's side or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency planned the incident.
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, posted on social media the same day to the effect that the film casts the late president as the figure behind the incident. Rep. Yoo Young-ha of the same party, known as a close associate of former President Park Geun-hye, also criticized the film as "political propaganda," saying it twists historical fact to portray the late president as if he were behind the shooting.
The Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation also said in a statement the same day that the film distorts a historical tragedy, expressing regret and demanding an official apology from the production company and a halt to screenings.
Audience reactions are also split. The film scored 8.4 out of 10 among verified moviegoers on NAVER, while the general user rating stood at 2.4. One user who gave the film a score of 1 wrote that it was "unpleasant to watch because it contains political distortion."
