Filmmakers behind 'The Assassin' deny political intent amid historical distortion controversy

The production team behind "The Assassin," a film based on the shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, pushed back Monday against accusations of historical distortion, saying the movie was not made "to newly establish a specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort established facts."

In a statement released Monday, the filmmakers said the movie is "a dramatic feature film that takes a historical incident from 1974 as its motif and reconstructs it by adding cinematic imagination based on various records related to the incident at the time."

"We conducted extensive research into publicly available records, materials, books and documentaries, and completed a single story by combining fictional characters and situations with real events and figures as a motif," the statement said. "Nowhere in the film do we identify any specific individual as the mastermind behind the incident, nor do we present the hypotheses and dramatic settings in the film as historical fact."

The team acknowledged that works based on historical events and real figures are open to diverse interpretations and criticism, saying it respects such views. But it added: "We wish to make clear that the film was not made with any specific political intent beyond the work's own creative purpose and nature."

The filmmakers asked audiences to "view the work solely as a product of creative expression."

"The Assassin," which opened Wednesday, is based on the real-life incident in which Mun Se-gwang, a second-generation Korean Japanese, fired a gun in an attempt to assassinate President Park Chung-hee on Aug. 15, 1974, fatally shooting first lady Yuk. The film draws on unresolved questions left in the historical record to follow characters pursuing the truth behind the shooting.

Actor Yoo Hae-jin plays a detective, Park Hae-il plays a newspaper city desk editor, and Lee Min-ho plays a rookie reporter. The film was directed by Heo Jin-ho, known for "Christmas in August" (1998). It was produced by Hive MEDIAcorp, the studio behind "The Man Standing Next" (2020) and "Seoul Spring" (2023).

While the film stops short of explicitly naming a mastermind, it includes scenes in which some characters raise the hypothesis that President Park's inner circle or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency may have planned the attack. The People Power Party and others have criticized the film for distorting history. PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok wrote on SNS Monday: "The film 'The Assassin' opened during the chuseok holiday. I'm told it features the truly absurd story that President Park Chung-hee was behind the shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo. Is freedom of expression the exclusive property of the left?"

Online reactions have been sharply divided: verified moviegoer ratings on Naver stand at 8.4 out of 10, while general user ratings sit at just 2.4.

The Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation also issued a statement Monday, saying it "expresses deep regret and strongly condemns the distortion of a historical tragedy that inflicted irreparable pain on former President Park Chung-hee and his family." The foundation demanded that the production company "officially apologize for distorting historical facts and halt the screening of the film."