A promotional trailer for the film "The Assassin(s)." [Captured from YouTube hivemedia_corp]
A promotional trailer for the film "The Assassin(s)." [Captured from YouTube hivemedia_corp]

Naver has detected abnormal traffic related to the film "The Assassin(s)" and filed a complaint with investigators.

"The Assassin(s)," which has drawn about 2 million moviegoers and been riding a wave of box-office success, has been mired in controversy after errors involving duplicate registrations of reviews and "helpful/not helpful" votes were discovered on Naver's movie platform.

Naver announced Sunday that it had identified "abnormal traffic related to recent errors in duplicate registration of reviews and helpful/not helpful votes" and said it had filed a complaint with authorities to launch an investigation.

Alongside this, Naver introduced temporary measures affecting how ratings are displayed for "The Assassin(s)" and some other films. The key changes include showing only critic scores on the rolling ratings board and a planned revision to the default sorting method for moviegoer reviews.

Under the first measure, the rolling ratings board for all films will display only critic scores. Verified moviegoer ratings and netizen scores, along with their written reviews, will continue to be available exclusively in the reviews section, as before.

On the sorting change, Naver said it is reviewing a new default arrangement to replace the current options of sorting by most-helpful or most-recent. In the meantime, "The Assassin(s)" — for which manipulation was confirmed during the period when the duplicate-vote error occurred — will temporarily default to the most-recent sorting method.

However, the most-helpful sorting option will remain available and can be accessed by clicking the corresponding tab.

"The Assassin(s)" centers on the alleged assassination attempt on first lady Yuk Young-soo on Aug. 15, 1974, tracing the suspected conspiracy behind the shooting.

The film has sparked accusations of historical distortion, fueling political conflict. The divide is also visible in audience scores: verified moviegoers gave it 8.5 out of 10, while the netizen rating stood at just 2.8, reflecting a sharp split in public perception.


ko@heraldcorp.com