'Pupa-IQ conspiracy theory': Jin Jungkwon slams film 'The Assassins'

Jin Jungkwon, a professor at Dongyang University, said he would "just understand this as a case where the actors stepped in something." The remark was widely interpreted as a dig at "The Assassins," a film that has been embroiled in controversy over alleged historical distortion.

Jin made the comment Tuesday on his Facebook page, writing, "Well, something happened."

He added that the director deserved praise for his ability to recruit a lineup of top-tier actors representing South Korea — all for "a shoddy conspiracy-theory script of pupa-level IQ."

"The Assassins," which is based on the 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, has been caught up in accusations that it distorts historical fact.

The Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation also weighed in, expressing "deep regret and condemnation" over what it called a 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 issue a formal apology for distorting historical facts and halt screenings of the film.

In response, the filmmakers issued a statement Monday saying the film "was not made to newly establish a specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort existing facts," Yonhap reported.

In the statement, the production team said "The Assassins" is "a dramatic feature film reconstructed with cinematic imagination, inspired by the historical event of 1974 and based on various records related to that incident." They said they had "broadly researched publicly available records, materials, books and documentaries, and completed a single story by combining fictional characters and situations with real events and figures as inspiration."

"As a work based on historical events and real figures, various interpretations and criticisms are possible, and the production team respects such views," the statement read. "We wish to make clear that the film was not made with any specific political intent beyond the work's own creative purpose and character."

"The Assassins" is based on the actual 1974 incident in which Mun Se-gwang, a second-generation Korean Japanese, opened fire in an attempt to assassinate President Park Chung-hee on Aug. 15 of that year, fatally shooting first lady Yuk Young-soo.

While the film does not explicitly identify who was behind the attack, some scenes depict characters raising the hypothesis that Park's own side or the Central Intelligence Agency may have planned the incident — prompting criticism from the People Power Party and others who called it a distortion of history, Yonhap reported.