Korean Directors Rally Behind ‘The Assassin(s)’ as Political Firestorm Turns on Its Makers

The Directors Guild of Korea (DGK) has come out in support of the team behind “The Assassin(s),” Hur Jin-ho‘s thriller about the 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, as political anger over the Korean box office leader spills onto its cast and crew.

Conservative politicians and online critics have accused the film of distorting history, and it now faces a police complaint and a fight in the National Assembly.

“What we are facing now is not criticism or condemnation of a film, but attacks on individuals that have crossed the line,” the DGK said in a statement.

The guild said the hostility had moved past questioning the film’s content and its makers’ choices, and “is targeting the daily lives and livelihoods of those who took part, and has gone as far as demanding that such a film never be made again.”

The statement, which named neither Hur nor anyone else, accepted that every film attracts harsh reviews along with praise, and asked who could draw an exact line between fair and excessive criticism.

“Creators can be criticized for their work, but that criticism must not lead to the collapse of the creator’s personal life and livelihood,” the guild said.

The DGK added that its idea of a healthy creative environment includes standing beside filmmakers who want to begin again, because “the chance for that person to start their next story should not disappear simply because a film went through controversy and criticism.”

“The Assassin(s)” opened Sept. 23. Yoo Hae-jin stars as a police inspector who witnesses the Aug. 15, 1974 shooting at the National Theater, where Yuk, the wife of then-President Park Chung-hee, was killed during Liberation Day celebrations, and goes on to lead the investigation. Park Hae-il plays the head of a newspaper’s social affairs desk, and Lee Min-ho a rookie reporter. The official inquiry pinned the killing on Mun Se-gwang alone, saying he acted under instructions from Pyongyang and Chongryon, the pro-North Korean residents’ association in Japan. Hur’s film declines to name a culprit, and its detractors argue the open ending points the finger at Park Chung-hee or his government.

Controversy has not dented the box office. “The Assassin(s)” passed 1 million admissions in four days and led the Korean chart again over the Oct. 2–4 weekend, selling 412,012 tickets from 1,129 screens for a weekend gross of KRW4.07 billion ($3 million). Its running total stands at 2.23 million admissions and KRW21.9 billion ($16.3 million).

The backlash has spread well beyond the film. Rating sites filled up with one-star scores, and the social media accounts of cast members drew abusive comments. Kim Go-eun and Lee Young-ae, who had shared handwritten recommendations, and critic Lee Dong-jin, who had reviewed the film on video, were also targeted. One YouTube film reviewer with 4.17 million subscribers pulled a video about the title.

Lee Jong-bae, a former People Power Party (PPP) Seoul city councilor, has asked Seoul police to investigate Hur, Hive Media Corp. CEO Kim Won-kuk and writers Kwon Ki-jun and Lee Ji-min for defamation. His complaint argues that the plural title invites audiences to suspect a second culprit besides Mun. PPP lawmakers also tried to summon Hur to testify at the annual parliamentary audit, a move blocked by the Democratic Party on creative freedom grounds.

Park Chan-wook, appearing at a Sept. 26 audience Q&A, praised the film as smartly conceived.

In a Sept. 28 statement, the producers had said: “Nowhere in the film is any specific individual defined as being behind the incident, and the film’s hypotheses and dramatic settings are not presented as historical fact.”

The film will open the 37th Singapore International Film Festival on Oct. 21, with Hur due to attend alongside cast members Shim Eun-kyung and Park Sung-hoon. The festival runs through Nov. 1.

“Cinema must carry on as a place where different ideas and voices meet, even when it stirs up debate,” the DGK said. “If that freedom disappears, it becomes hard for new films and new stories to be born.”