Rep. Yoo Young-ha of the People Power Party demanded that the producers of "The Assassins," a film based on the 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, publicly apologize and halt screenings, saying they must "clearly separate historical fact from creative invention." Yoo also released for the first time a handwritten 1974 letter by late President Park Chung-hee that he said was given to him by former President Park Geun-hye after the controversy over the film erupted.
In a statement on the 2nd, Yoo said that "freedom of creation and expression is not a license to overturn objective historical fact at will." He added that "when there is a real victim, when the bereaved family is still alive, and when the subject is a grave tragedy in modern Korean history, the responsibility that follows is as heavy as the freedom to create."
Yoo argued that the film blurred the line between fact and fiction by mixing cinematic hypotheses with real historical figures and events. "Mun Se-gwang's name was changed to 'Mun Tae-gwang,' yet real historical figures such as Kim Shin-jo and Kim Dae-jung appear under their real names," he said, noting that the latter part of the film even uses actual footage and records from the time.
Yoo also pushed back against director Hur Jin-ho, who had said the film contains no claim that Park Chung-hee ordered the shooting of Yuk and that such a claim would be "rationally impossible." "If that was the intent, why was that line not drawn clearly in the film from the start?" Yoo said. "Saying 'that was not what we meant' only after the controversy broke out does not absolve the producers of responsibility."
In making his case, Yoo released the handwritten letter that Park Chung-hee wrote on Aug. 17, 1974 — two days after Yuk was shot — to his daughter Park Geun-hye, who was then returning home from France. "After the controversy began, former President Park Geun-hye passed on to me the materials she had kept regarding the incident at the time," Yoo said. "This is a letter that has never once been made public."
In the letter, Park Chung-hee wrote: "Geun-hye, how could this have happened. How shocked you must have been. There may be no way to ease the grief of feeling as though the sky has collapsed and the ground has given way, but shouldn't we all now steel our hearts and find a way to rebuild, through our own strength and effort, the family your mother left behind?"
He went on: "Now you must take your mother's place. Your father, too, will make any sacrifice to be a good father to your two younger siblings."
Park Chung-hee also wrote: "Your mother was the finest mother in this world. She took in my place the bullet that was meant for me, and she is gone. I have thought again and again how much better it would have been if I had been the one shot and your mother had lived."
Explaining why he released the letter, Yoo said the point was "to look at an existing record exactly as it is." He said the letter "contains the grief of the late President Park Chung-hee just as it was," and repeated his earlier assertion that the film distorts historical fact.
Yoo called on the production team to take three steps: to clearly explain which parts of the film are historical fact based on actual records and which are invented; to take responsible measures, including halting screenings, in light of criticism that the film distorts history; and to publicly apologize for the damage to Park Chung-hee's reputation and the hurt caused to the bereaved family.
"A film may end in two hours, but the image planted in viewers during those two hours may be remembered as actual history," Yoo said. "History cannot be changed by propaganda and agitation." He added that "the director and the production team must comply with my demands, and they will be held duly accountable."
