Directors Guild of Korea Defends 'The Assassins'

The Directors Guild of Korea has publicly defended the team behind the film 'The Assassins' amid a political backlash that has escalated into personal attacks and legal threats. Directed by Heo Jin-ho, the film opened on September 23 and has been a commercial success despite accusations of historical distortion surrounding the 1974 assassination attempt on Yuk Young-soo, the wife of then-President Park Chung-hee.

'The Assassins' stars Yoo Hae-jin as a police inspector who witnesses the August 15, 1974 shooting at the National Theater during Liberation Day celebrations. Park Hae-il plays the head of a newspaper’s social affairs desk, with Lee Min-ho as a rookie reporter. The official inquiry into the killing pinned sole responsibility on Mun Se-gwang, stating he acted under instructions from Pyongyang and the pro-North Korean Chongryon association in Japan. Heo Jin-ho's film declines to name a culprit, a creative choice that has led detractors to argue its open ending implicitly points the finger at Park Chung-hee or his government.

The film has performed strongly at the box office. It passed 1 million admissions in its first four days and led the Korean chart again over the October 2-4 weekend.

Despite this success, the controversy has intensified. Rating sites filled with one-star scores, and the social media accounts of cast members, including Kim Go-eun and Lee Young-ae who had shared handwritten recommendations, drew abusive comments. Critic Lee Dong-jin was targeted after reviewing the film on video, and one YouTube film reviewer with 4.17 million subscribers pulled a video about the title. In a September 28 statement, the producers asserted, Nowhere in the film is any specific individual defined as being behind the incident, and the film’s hypotheses and dramatic settings are not presented as historical fact. The film is scheduled to open the 37th Singapore International Film Festival on October 21.

Directors Guild condemns escalation beyond artistic critique

The Directors Guild of Korea (DGK) intervened on October 4, posting a statement on its official social media account. The guild argued that the hostility had moved past questioning the film’s content and now targeted the daily lives and livelihoods of those involved. "What we are facing now is not criticism or condemnation of a film, but attacks on individuals that have crossed the line," the DGK said. The guild acknowledged that every film attracts harsh reviews but questioned who could draw an exact line between fair and excessive criticism.

The statement emphasized that the evaluation of a single film was expanding into an attack aimed at breaking the creator's next work. "Creators can be criticized for their work, but that criticism must not lead to the collapse of the creator’s personal life and livelihood," the DGK stated. It warned that demands that such a film never be made again threatened the creative environment. The guild's idea of a healthy industry includes standing beside filmmakers who want to begin again, ensuring the chance for a person to start their next story does not disappear simply because a project faced controversy.

Political and legal challenges mount

The backlash has moved beyond online forums into formal political and legal arenas. Lee Jong-bae, a former People Power Party (PPP) Seoul city councilor, asked Seoul police to investigate director Heo Jin-ho, Hive Media Corp. CEO Kim Won-kuk, and writers Kwon Ki-jun and Lee Ji-min for defamation. Within the National Assembly, PPP lawmakers tried to summon Heo Jin-ho to testify at the annual parliamentary audit. That move was blocked by the opposition Democratic Party on creative freedom grounds.

The DGK concluded its statement by pledging to send support and solidarity so that filmmakers can create their stories in a freer and safer environment. It urged people to join so that support for free creation can become strength for filmmakers to make films again.