The People Power Party is stepping up criticism of "Assassins," a film based on the 1974 shooting that killed former first lady Yuk Young-soo. Rep. Yoo Young-ha of the party released a handwritten letter that late President Park Chung-hee left for his daughter, former President Park Geun-hye, shortly after Yuk's death, and demanded a public apology from the filmmakers.
At a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul's Yeouido district on the 2nd, Yoo said freedom of creation and expression "is not a license to overturn objective facts at will."
"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," he said.
Yoo argued that the film blurs 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 actual names," he said. "In the latter part of the film, actual footage and records from the time are used."
He also rejected director Hur Jin-ho's statement that the film does not suggest Park Chung-hee ordered the shooting of Yuk and that such a claim would be unreasonable. "If that is what he thought, why did the film not draw a clear line from the start?" Yoo said. "Saying 'that was not our intent' only after the controversy erupted does not absolve the producers of responsibility."
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, referred to the letter on Facebook the same day. "Will they still claim Park Chung-hee was behind it? Will they still insist on calling it 'Assassins'?" he wrote. "This has already gone beyond what can be brushed aside as cinematic imagination. They should stop screening the film themselves and apologize to the public."
Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the People Power Party said he had sent a formal letter of protest to the Singapore International Film Festival urging it not to screen "Assassins" as its opening film. Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul Metropolitan Council member from the party, filed a criminal complaint with police the previous day against the production team, accusing them of defaming the bereaved family through false statements.
The Democratic Party of Korea pushed back, saying the People Power Party's offensive risks infringing on creative freedom. In a written briefing the same day, party spokesperson Shin Hyun-young called the cancellation of a scheduled preview screening of "Assassins" in Busan "an unfortunate outcome."
"We express strong regret that the situation has escalated into threats against individuals, including the actors and the production team," she said.
Rep. Park Jie-won of the Democratic Party urged the public to "go see 'Assassins'" and said, "Let's watch a film as a film." Choi Min-hee, a member of the party's supreme council, said: "Leader Jang Dong-hyuk keeps picking fights, and now he's fighting a movie. 'Assassins' is fiction. What good comes from scratching at it until it festers? I think I'll go see 'Assassins.'"
Full text of former President Park Chung-hee's handwritten letter
Geun-hye, how could this happen. You must have been so shocked. I am sending Geun-young all the way to Tokyo to meet you, so you will hear everything that has happened. I know there is no way to hold back the grief, as if the sky has collapsed and the earth has given way, but shouldn't we now all steel ourselves and look for a way to pull our family back together, with our own strength and effort, in a home where your mother is no longer here.
Your grandmother is 80 years old, and Ji-man is only now coming of age, so from now on you must take your mother's place. And your father is still here, isn't he. Your father cannot do even a fraction of what your mother did, but I too will make any sacrifice to be a good father to the three of you.
Your mother was the finest mother in this world. Not only as a wife and a homemaker, but as a women's leader of this country, she was a great mother in the past and one we will find hard to see again. Your mother took the assassin's bullet that was meant for your father and left us. I have thought again and again how much better it would have been if I had been struck and your mother had lived.
But your mother took the bullet in my place and left, entrusting to me all responsibility for you children and for this country. Going through something this enormous, I realized anew that Geun-young is more composed and admirable than anyone. Once Geun-hye returns and Geun-young is here, let us serve your grandmother just as before, teach and guide Ji-man well, and do our best together, just as when your mother was with us.
This is the way to honor your late mother's wishes. It is the way to repay her kindness and the way to be a dutiful child. At first your father too felt as if the sky had fallen and truly could not steady his heart. But I decided that I must be the first to find courage, and I have resolved from now on to bear and endure everything, so you too must be strong and endure as long as you can endure.
My admirable Geun-hye, I know of course that you will do everything well, but when I think that in just 10 more hours Geun-hye will be home, every moment feels like three years, and when I think of standing alone at the entrance to meet you, everything goes dark before my eyes.
