Controversy over "The Assassins," Star-Rating Attacks Amid Speculation About "Chinese Capital"... Backlash Reaches the Actors [★FOCUS]

*This content was translated by AI.

Controversy surrounding the film "The Assassins" continues. The movie, which opened on the 23rd, the day before the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday, and has held the top spot at the box office for five consecutive days, securing a lead in the Chuseok film race, has been engulfed in political controversy. Claims ranging from historical distortion to the assertion that the film was made with Chinese capital have spread.

In addition, the backlash has extended to the lead actors who appeared in the film and to other actors who attended the premiere and left reviews. The political sphere is also in an uproar as inaccurate information claiming that "the film implies that Park Jeong-hui (President) was behind the assassination attempt on Lady Yoo Young-soo" has circulated.

"The Assassins" is a work depicting the pursuit of suspicions and the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the First Lady that occurred on August 15, 1974. When controversy arose over claims that the film distorted history, the production team issued an official statement on the 28th.

The production team stated, "'The Assassins' is a feature film reconstructed with cinematic imagination based on various records written about the historical event that occurred in 1974 and related matters. The production team extensively investigated published records, materials, books, documentaries, etc., and completed a single story by combining fictional characters and situations while using actual events and figures as motifs." They added, "It is not a film produced to newly establish a specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort existing facts. Nowhere in the film is a specific individual designated as the mastermind of the event, nor are the hypotheses and dramatic settings within the film presented as historical facts." They continued, "As it is a work based on a historical event and real people, various interpretations and criticisms may arise. The production team respects such opinions. However, we wish to clarify that the film was not produced with specific political intentions beyond its inherent creative intent and nature." They concluded by requesting, "Please view the work solely as a product of creation."

However, the controversy continued thereafter. In particular, stories circulated through some communities and articles claiming that "The Assassins" was made with Chinese capital.

In response, HYBE Media Cop, the production company for "The Assassins," issued a statement on the 29th directly clarifying that such claims were untrue. The company stated, "There is absolutely no fact of Chinese capital flowing into our company or the production and investment process of the film 'The Assassins.' 'The Assassins' is a work independently planned and produced with domestic capital under the leadership of domestic production teams and creators." They added, "We are well aware that various opinions and issues have been raised regarding the work recently. We respect criticism and diverse opinions about the work," but urged, "Since matters concerning investment and production capital are objectively verifiable facts, we hope that information contrary to the facts will not be further expanded or reproduced."

Despite the production company directly issuing a statement, the backlash also reached the actors.

Malicious comments such as "You appeared in a left-wing film" and "The country is on the verge of becoming communist" were posted on actor Lee Min-ho's personal account. In the case of Yoo Hae-jin, who does not use social media, users have been flooding with posts demanding contract cancellations by finding advertising videos featuring Yoo Hae-jin. Malicious comments are continuing not only for the cast but also for actors who attended the film's VIP premiere and left reviews.

Additionally, suspicions of macro-manipulation of ratings arose due to abnormal phenomena in the "agree" and "disagree" counts for the film's rating on "The Assassins." Amid this, Naver announced on the 29th through a notice, "We are informing you about the recent phenomenon of duplicate reflection in review counts and agree/disagree numbers, and the results of our measures. Recently, there was a phenomenon where some reviews were registered duplicately or agree/disagree counts were aggregated duplicately." They stated, "Upon confirming the issue, we immediately proceeded with emergency measures, and have now improved the system to prevent this phenomenon from occurring." They added, "Furthermore, we plan to delete duplicately registered reviews for the affected films and reflect the agree/disagree counts normally by excluding the duplicated figures." They concluded, "We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to service users. We will pay even more attention to ensure that the same problem does not occur again in the future."

Recently, some of the "agree" counts for reviews claiming that watching the film "The Assassins" was a historically distorted work showed an abnormal trend, exceeding 1.37 million people. However, following Naver's measures, this agree count was revised to approximately 50,000, down from 1.37 million by 1.32 million. Consequently, suspicions continue that more than approximately 1.3 million instances were duplicate aggregations created by macros.

Amid this, on the 30th, director Heo Jin-ho shared his feelings in an interview with a YouTube channel, stating, "The actors and staff worked really hard. I didn't expect the film to be belittled like this. The actors are also suffering. They are framing it as a historical distortion controversy."

Director Heo explained, "Stories are coming out like 'Park Chung-hee killed Yoo Young-soo, it is unfilial,' 'It followed a North Korean film,' and 'Kim Jong-il apologized.' These three are different stories." He added, "'The Assassins' did not put Park Chung-hee in the forefront. We did not make a film with such content." Director Heo Jin-ho mentioned the MBC documentary "This Interest Can Speak" as a motif for the film.

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*This content was translated by AI.