'Agent Kim Reactivated' breaks ratings record amid renewed allegations against webtoon creator

The SBS drama series "Agent Kim Reactivated" has emerged as this year's biggest hit, surpassing an 18 percent viewership rating within three episodes, but its success has renewed scrutiny over past allegations linking the source webtoon's creator to Ilbe, a South Korean online community known for far-right and offensive content.

On Thursday, the YouTube channel "Yeouido Yeongmundae" raised allegations that had previously surfaced against Park Tae-jun, the supervising producer of the original webtoon on which the drama is based.

The controversy centers on a scene from Park's popular 2024 webtoon "Lookism," in which a character uses a stopwatch showing "5 minutes and 23 seconds" while a store sign reading "Rock Owling" appears in the background.

Online commentators at the time argued that "5 minutes and 23 seconds" evokes May 23, the date former President Roh Moo-hyun died, while "Rock Owling" references the owl rock where Roh fell to his death.

Film YouTuber "Geoui Eopda" cited the scene, saying, "This is how various age groups and Ilbe-style thinking are embedded in the work. He probably drew this while sniggering about how funny it was."

This is not the first time Park has faced such allegations. In 2015, a scene in "Lookism" depicting a gangster eating was accused of mocking Roh's appearance during his lifetime. In 2021, Park drew criticism for using the expression "hwohwohwo" in his webtoon "Yongmang Ilgi" — a phrase used in some online communities to mock then-President Moon Jae-in.

Park denied all the allegations at the time, saying, "This is absurd. No matter how uneducated or lacking I may be, I am not the kind of person who would do such a thing with a photo of the deceased, nor do I have the nerve."

The SBS drama series "Agent Kim Reactivated" has no direct connection to the controversy. However, some have noted that the show cannot be entirely free from the debate, as it shares the same fictional universe as Park's other works — a connected body of stories known as the "Park Tae-jun Universe."

The Naver webtoon "Agent Kim Reactivated," serialized since 2021, is the fifth work in the so-called Park Tae-jun Universe and was produced by The Greem Entertainment. The story was written by Toy, the artwork by Jeong Jong-taek, and the direction and storyboarding by Gyaooh, with Park serving as overall supervising producer.

The drama adaptation follows a former special agent who fights to rescue his kidnapped daughter. It recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 18.8 percent within three episodes — the highest of any SBS drama series to air this year.