'Assassins' back in the hot seat at National Assembly audit

"Assassins" has returned to the center of the National Assembly's annual audit.

The National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held a national audit Monday targeting the Korea Creative Content Agency, the Korean Film Council and the Korea Media Rating Board, among others, with ruling and opposition lawmakers clashing sharply over the film's age rating, its use of public funds and the content agency's valuation report. The People Power Party raised concerns about historical distortion and the protection of minors, while the Democratic Party of Korea took issue with political interference in creative work. It was the second round of parliamentary scrutiny of the film, following an audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday.

"Assassins" follows fictional characters investigating the forces behind the 1974 Liberation Day assassination attempt on first lady Yuk Young-soo. Since its Sept. 23 opening, the film has been dogged by controversy over alleged historical distortion — yet by the day of the audit, it had drawn more than 3 million viewers.

The film's age rating came under fire at Monday's audit.

People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Yong-geun pressed Korea Media Rating Board Chairman Kim Byung-jae, asking whether fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students could absorb the film's level of violence and profanity without being affected. He also questioned whether the board's standards for protecting minors were entirely out of step with those applied in schools.

PPP lawmaker Jeong Yeon-wook challenged a passage in the board's review opinion stating that the film was "acceptable without undermining the knowledge, experience and educational foundations of viewers aged 12 and above." He cited the fact that textbooks had not addressed the incident for more than 50 years.

PPP lawmaker Kim Seok-ki said the essence of the incident was that Moon Se-gwang, acting on orders from the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, failed to assassinate former President Park Chung-hee and instead killed first lady Yuk, and argued the film would have a serious emotional impact on 12-year-olds. He also said the film would imprint on young students and youth the image of the former president as someone who would kill even his own family for power, adding that he read the film as carrying "an intent to influence the elections ahead."

Kim said he had seen the film twice and had also attended a group screening with 40 viewers of various ages. He said most of those who accompanied him could not tell where historical fact ended and cinematic imagination began, and he repeatedly called for the filmmakers to be summoned to the audit to give an explanation.

The rating board had previously determined that scenes of torture and assault, as well as profanity in the film, were expressed lightly and concisely within their historical context. Chairman Kim said the board would continue to classify ratings as carefully as possible to protect minors, within the bounds of preserving the independence and autonomy of its members.

The demand to subpoena the filmmakers was rejected. Culture committee Chairwoman Lee Jae-jeong of the Democratic Party made clear that summoning creators to the National Assembly on the basis of a film's content was something she could not permit, even with agreement from negotiators on both sides of the committee. She said it was the posture the Assembly was obligated to uphold under the values enshrined in the Constitution.

The Korea Creative Content Agency's content valuation report on the film also came under scrutiny. The valuation system assesses the commercial viability of content, delivers reports to investment institutions and facilitates investment.

Lawmaker Yoon said the report had described the shooting of first lady Yuk and Moon Se-gwang's confession and execution as "vaguely known facts." He said it was "problematic to premise historical facts as vaguely known." He also took issue with the report's SWOT analysis, which noted difficulty in gauging the director's cinematic achievement in the political espionage thriller genre, yet still awarded the director an A rating for capability.

Lawmaker Kim Seok-ki raised the question of fairness, asking whether a film based on unverified allegations about other former or current presidents and their families would also receive an A rating if it showed strong box-office potential.

Korea Creative Content Agency chief Kim Yun-ji said director assessments are based on the quality of a director's previous work, and that a director of Heo Jin-ho's caliber would typically receive a strong rating. On the film's content, she said, "A film is a space where imagination unfolds, so it can contain many kinds of stories." Democratic Party lawmaker Jo Gye-won noted that the valuation system is designed to assess a work's economic value and commercial viability — not its historical perspective or political leanings — and Kim agreed.

Lawmakers also clashed over the scale of public investment in the film. PPP lawmaker Jo Eun-hee claimed 4.08 billion won ($3.05 million) in public funds had gone into the film and called for the submission of documents on the investment and evaluation process. Democratic Party lawmaker Jo Gye-won pushed back, saying the 34 billion won figure being cited was not the amount invested in this single film but the total scale of fund contributions.

The "Michigan Korean Film Main Investment Fund No. 2," which invested in the film, received 34 billion won of its 56.7 billion won total from the Film Account of the Content Industry Promotion Fund. Lawmaker Jo said the investment was made "through normal procedures, with a private fund manager judging its commercial viability." Korean Film Council Chairman Han Sang-jun said the actual amount invested specifically in "Assassins" could not be determined.

Concerns were also raised at the audit that political pressure was unsettling the film industry. Lawmaker Jo said filmmakers have the freedom to create and that audiences may interpret works differently, adding, "No one has the right to intervene artificially and block that judgment."

Jo said a protest had been held outside actor Yoo Hae-jin's home and that stage greeting events scheduled at 12 theaters nationwide during the film's second week had been canceled entirely, and asked whether it was acceptable for politics to be involved to such a degree. She also criticized PPP lawmaker Ju Jin-woo for disclosing confidential contract information related to the lead actors' incentives, saying it amounted to an intrusion into private contractual matters.

Democratic Party lawmaker Im O-gyeong said, "I don't think raising questions about history constitutes historical distortion," adding that prohibiting such questions could instead block opportunities to uncover the truth. She drew a line, however, saying it was a separate matter whether a support agency should conduct no review at all when a publicly funded work distorts history.

Democratic Party lawmaker No Jong-myeon argued that the film's portrayal of the former president was not entirely negative, citing a scene in which Park crumples a newspaper in anger over the Central Intelligence Agency's excessive actions in the Kim Dae-jung kidnapping case. He also said there should be limits to singling out a specific film to challenge its rating.

Korean Film Council Chairman Han said, "I think audiences should be the ones to fundamentally evaluate the film." He said the historical distortion debate risked having a chilling effect on creative freedom, and expressed concern that the recovering film industry could be set back.

The controversy spilled over into theaters as well. Promotional merchandise tied to the film drew criticism for commercializing a historical tragedy.

Megabox had distributed an "original ticket" to opening-day audiences — designed by overlaying a transparent sheet printed with bullet-hole marks onto an image of the ceremony podium — before apologizing Sunday and announcing it would destroy all remaining tickets. CJ CGV held a "clue-tracking screening" Thursday at its Yongsan iPark Mall, Yeongdeungpo Times Square and Wangsimni locations in Seoul, handing out a "profiling folder set" containing two replica bullets to attendees. As the backlash grew, distributor Hive MEDIAcorp ended the event early.

Lawmaker Jo Eun-hee brought up the case of Starbucks Korea's "Tank Day" promotion, noting that a marketing event held on May 18 — the anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement — had resulted in the dismissal of the company's chief executive, the suspension of five employees and a personal apology from the group's chairman. She then asked whether the current situation warranted no apology simply because neither the president nor the Democratic Party was expressing outrage.

Ko Jae-su, CJ CGV's head of business, who appeared as a witness, said film marketing and planning are handled entirely by the distributor. Even so, he bowed and offered "a sincere apology to those who were hurt" by the controversy surrounding the film's marketing, planning and operations. CJ CGV had previously said the event was planned and produced by the distributor, with the company only handling its execution.

Behind the debate over "Assassins," the audit also laid bare a structural crisis in the film industry. Citing data from the Korean Film Council's integrated ticketing network, a lawmaker said 81.2 percent of the roughly 97 million movie tickets sold from January through September this year were sold below the standard price — 15,000 won ($11) on weekends and 14,000 won on weekdays. Only 12.7 percent of tickets were sold at full price. The 6.0 percent sold above full price were mostly tickets for premium formats such as IMAX and 4D.

The gap between the nominal ticket price and actual revenue has also widened. The weekend admission price rose from 11,000 won in 2019 to the current 15,000 won, yet the average revenue per viewer fell from 10,285 won in 2022 to 9,869 won last year.

The fund underpinning the film industry is also running dry. According to an analysis of Korean Film Council data released at the audit, the Film Development Fund's available reserves shrank more than 90 percent — from 105.9 billion won in 2020 to 9.7 billion won last year. The theater admission surcharge, the fund's primary self-generated revenue source, fell more than half, from 54.5 billion won in 2019 to 22.4 billion won last year. A government assessment also found the fund's revenue structure to be "inadequate."

"Plugging the shortfall with sports funds cannot be a fundamental solution," the lawmaker said, urging a comprehensive overhaul of the fund's structure.