'Moving? I was truly disappointed': Lee Young-ae, Kim Go-eun draw backlash for praising 'The Assassin(s)'

As controversy over alleged historical distortion in the film "The Assassin(s)" intensifies, actors who praised the movie have found themselves targeted by a wave of malicious online comments.

Actor Lee Young-ae attended a VIP preview of "The Assassin(s)" on Wednesday and left a handwritten review saying she found the film "thrillingly moving."

Actor Kim Go-eun, who also attended the preview, wrote that she "felt a deep sense of gratitude for the present" and urged audiences to "please watch it together and feel it." Actor Kim Min left a review describing "a cold yet burning tension," adding that she "really enjoyed it."

Since then, hostile comments have flooded recent posts on the SNS accounts of Lee and Kim Go-eun.

The comments included remarks such as "How could you leave a review like that for a film that defames the deceased?", "Why are you suddenly doing this?", "I'm disappointed — I don't even want to look at you," and "Go study some history."

A review video by critic Lee Dong-jin, who gave the film high praise, was also inundated with thousands of comments, sparking heated exchanges.

"The Assassin(s)" is based on the shooting of Yuk Young-soo during a Liberation Day ceremony on Aug. 15, 1974. In the film, detectives and journalists grow suspicious when what they witnessed or reported contradicts the official account released by the special investigation headquarters, and they set out to uncover the truth.

The special investigation headquarters at the time concluded that Moon Se-gwang, acting on orders from North Korea and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, attempted to assassinate then-President Park Chung-hee but failed, and that Yuk was struck by a stray bullet and killed in the process.

The film, however, uses its journalist and detective characters to hint at the possible involvement of accomplices and government agencies — a narrative approach that sparked the historical distortion controversy.

In response, the production team issued an official statement Monday saying the film "was not made to newly establish a specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort existing facts."

The clarification has done little to quell the backlash, however.

Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul city council member from the People Power Party, filed a complaint Tuesday with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against director Heo Jin-ho and the production team on charges of defamation through false statements of fact. Lee argued that the film's plural title — "The Assassin(s)" rather than a singular form — implies the existence of additional perpetrators beyond Moon Se-gwang.