The impact is significant.
2 hours ago
The Assassin(s) might just be the most talked-about movie in South Korea right now, owing to a massive controversy over its plot.
The movie is based on the real-life assassination incident of former first lady Yuk Young Soo, the wife of then-President Park Chung Hee. However, the way it revisits that fateful day of August 15, 1974, has sparked accusations of historical distortion.
Park Chung Hee
Park Chung Hee led an authoritarian military regime after seizing power in the May 16 coup of 1961. He served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 to 1979, when he was assassinated. He is also the father of former President Park Geun Hye, who was impeached in 2017 after the Constitutional Court upheld bribery charges against her.
How A Puppy Brought Down The First Female President Of South Korea
Park’s wife, First Lady Yuk Young Soo was fatally shot during an assassination attempt against her husband at the National Theater in Seoul. The shooter was identified as Mun Se Gwang, a pro-North Korean ethnic Korean individual from Japan. The government findings claimed that the attack was carried out by North Korea, and Mun was sentenced to death and hanged in December 1974.
This is where the plot of The Assassin(s) has stirred up a controversy. The movie reportedly suggests that the assassination was actually a conspiracy at the highest levels of government. The protagonists even come to suspect that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (the predecessor of today’s NIS) was behind the shooting. The plot also supposedly floats the suspicion that President Park was also involved in engineering the attack to reverse the mounting political tensions under his regime.
The movie has hence invited radicalized opinions across political spectrums. Multiple A-list stars have publicly praised the film, and it is on track to surpass 2 million viewers in less than two weeks of its release. On the other hand, a massive backlash has piled up against the movie and every entity associated with it, including brands and celebrities who showed support for it. Actresses such as Kim Go Eun and Lee Young Ae have been targeted with huge amount of online vitriol for praising the film. More recently, BTS member V was targeted by supposed right-wing political supporters after being spotted at the theater to watch the film.
Lee Young Ae Kim Go Eun
BTS의 “뷔” 라는 사람이 역사왜곡 영화를 관람하셨군요.
영화 시청은 할 수있지만, 이 영화에 대해서 어떻게 생각하는지 궁금하네요.
1) 역사왜곡에 동의하시는 매국노이신지?
2) 끔찍한 영화에 분노하시는 애국시민이신지?
개념이 있다면 이런 영화를 팬들이 보게 놔두진 않겠죠??…
— JUN | 준 🇰🇷 (@ehehzlzl) October 2, 2026
As the public pressure and backlash against the movie sustains, major Korean filmmaking organizations have voiced their deep concern over the safety threats and personal attacks being made against the cast and crew of The Assassin(s). On Friday, October 2, KST, the Producers Guilt of Korea and the Cinematographers Guild of Korea issued separate statements condemning such threats and urged protestors to refrain from crossing the line.
The Assassin(s) was released in theaters across Korea on September 23, KST and has already recording over 1.82 million viewers, breaking the record set by Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub. However, distributer Hive Media Corp. announced on Friday that the cast and crew of the movie would cancel all scheduled appearances at the Busan International Film Festival next week, citing sfety concerns.