2.04 million see 'The Assassin,' but film draws legal complaints, political pressure and rating manipulation claims

Box office leader faces legal complaints, National Assembly pressure

Bullet-hole merchandise pulled; Naver rating system targeted

Busan International Film Festival appearances canceled

A poster for "The Assassin" hangs at a movie theater in Seoul. [Yonhap]

A 1974 assassination attempt that shook South Korea more than half a century ago is now roiling the country's cinemas and political arena alike. Director Heo Jin-ho's feature film "The Assassin," which surpassed 2.04 million admissions in its first 11 days, has sparked a firestorm over alleged historical distortion — one that has spilled from partisan political clashes and criminal complaints into an international film festival boycott campaign and a dispute over online rating manipulation.

The film centers on three characters tracing the Aug. 15, 1974 shooting: detective Cheol-gu (played by Yoo Hae-jin), who investigates the attack's true origins; Jae-hwan (Park Hae-il), a Dong-A Ilbo city desk editor fighting military-era press censorship; and Yeong-il (Lee Min-ho), a rookie reporter working the streets. The narrative weaves together the shooting and the Dong-A Ilbo blank-advertisement protest. The film draws on real events and figures while filling gaps in the historical record with cinematic imagination — a blend of fact and fiction that has become the flashpoint of the controversy.

Bullet mystery and 'KCIA farce' theory resurface after 52 years

At the heart of the dispute is a set of long-standing questions about what happened to the bullets fired that day.

The special investigation unit at the time officially reported six shots in total: five from Mun Se-gwang's .38-caliber five-shot revolver and one return shot from a presidential security officer. The film digs into unresolved questions that investigative television programs had previously raised — among them, that the bullet that passed through the first lady was never definitively identified in forensic records; that security personnel quickly collected shell casings from the scene before a formal site inspection; and that Mun, who was severely nearsighted, managed to breach the security cordon.

The most contentious element is the hypothesis the protagonists reach. Characters in the film conclude that senior figures within the Korean Central Intelligence Agency — seeking to reverse the diplomatic chill with Japan caused by the 1973 kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung and to resolve a commission scandal tied to subway Line 1 financing — conspired with Japanese organized crime and right-wing figures to stage a fabricated "assassination spectacle."

Actor Yoo Hae-jin in "The Assassin" [Hive MEDIAcorp]

The film does include a counterargument — a character named Chairman Han (Jung Woo-sung) dismisses the theory as paranoid delusion, saying the president's own life was at stake. But critics contend that the film's overall mise-en-scène, its plural title "Assassins," and the intercutting of archival footage from the actual Aug. 15 shooting in the final sequence together leave the impression that the regime's inner circle was behind the attack.

PPP lawmakers send letter to Singapore festival; 30.6 billion won in public funding challenged

The film's release drew an angry response from conservative groups, the Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation and organizations representing the family of the late first lady Yuk Young-soo.

The foundation condemned the film as historical distortion that defames the dead, arguing that the bullet trajectory and the recruitment operation by Chongryon — the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan — had been clearly established in investigation and trial records, making the KCIA-involvement theory baseless. Former Seoul city council member Lee Jong-bae filed a criminal complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against the production company's chief, director Heo and the screenwriters on charges of defaming the deceased.

The pressure quickly spread overseas. After "The Assassin" was officially selected as the opening film of the 37th Singapore International Film Festival, opening in November, the People Power Party decided to send a formal letter in the name of all its National Assembly members to the festival's organizing committee demanding the selection be withdrawn.

Rep. Joo Jin-woo, who led the letter effort, said the film "inverts the victim's family into suspects in the killing and imposes the horrifying frame that the father was involved in the mother's death," adding that "the authority of an international film festival must not be lent to a morally depraved distortion of history that insults the victim and her family." Chief Spokesperson Choi Bo-yun and Floor Spokesperson Choi Eun-seok confirmed the letter would be delivered the following week after gathering members' input.

Lawmakers also targeted the film's financing. Rep. Joo said a total of 30.6 billion won ($22.5 million) in public funds had been channeled into production company Hive MEDIAcorp — including 14 billion won from Korea Development Bank through an investment fund and 400 million won in direct project investment, plus 14.25 billion won from Industrial Bank of Korea through a participating fund and 2 billion won in direct investment — and called for the immediate recovery of those funds and a criminal investigation.

A still from "The Assassin" [provided by Hive MEDIAcorp]

Korea Development Bank pushed back, saying the investment "was executed through independent investment review by the Korea Fund of Funds and private fund managers" and that "the bank, as a limited partner, has no authority to influence or intervene in investment decisions for individual films or production companies." The Democratic Party of Korea also fired back, accusing the People Power Party of "weaponizing a feature film for political combat by peddling conspiracy theories and ideological smears."

Megabox pulls bullet-hole tickets; Naver rating system targeted in 'second Druking' claims

The political pressure and public outrage reached the cinema floor itself. Multiplex chain Megabox issued an official statement Sunday apologizing for the controversy over a promotional "original ticket" it had distributed to moviegoers of "The Assassin."

The ticket featured a transparent overlay printed with bullet-hole marks that could be placed over the ticket body, which evoked the National Theater ceremony hall from the 1974 event. When the overlay was aligned, bullet holes appeared superimposed over the podium, audience seating and the South Korean flag — prompting criticism that the design turned a national tragedy, in which the first lady was fatally shot, into entertainment merchandise. Rep. Joo and other lawmakers demanded the entire stock be destroyed and the Megabox chief issue a public apology, calling the item "morally depraved merchandise."

Megabox said it "failed to fully appreciate the gravity and weight of a historical tragedy and horrific event" and offered "a sincere apology to those who felt discomfort and to those who suffered pain at the time." The company explained that staff responsible for the item had not seen the film before its release and produced the merchandise using only a limited set of images provided by the distributor and production company due to a tight production schedule. Megabox said it would immediately destroy all remaining unsold tickets rather than distribute them further, and pledged to establish an internal review process to assess the social and ethical implications of any future merchandise tied to historical events or real individuals.

The "original ticket" for "The Assassin" distributed by Megabox. [Megabox Instagram]

The film's online rating page became another battleground. Naver detected abnormal macro-generated traffic on the ratings board for "The Assassin," temporarily switched the default sorting from "recommended" to "most recent" as an emergency measure, and referred the matter to police for investigation.

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won wrote on Facebook that "the fact that the recommendation system of South Korea's largest portal was breached by a single macro script is an admission that a second Druking incident is being left unchecked," and said she would scrutinize Naver's public opinion management and rating systems at the upcoming national audit. Naver said the change was "a routine anti-abuse measure to prevent abnormal rating distortion caused by a system attack."

Pressure is also building outside the Assembly. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok plans to visit the birthplace of Yuk Young-soo in Okcheon-gun, North Chungcheong Province, on Monday to hold a press conference and continue the offensive.

Director denies 'Park behind shooting' reading as admissions top 2.04 million amid growing turmoil

The central question in the debate is how far the film goes in presenting its version of the 1974 events as historical fact.

Director Heo spoke on YouTube after the controversy erupted, saying he "had no idea it would be disparaged to this extent" and that he was "heartbroken that the actors and crew who worked so hard are now suffering serious distress because of the 'historical distortion' label being applied to them."

Heo flatly denied the claim, raised in some quarters, that the film suggests former President Park Chung-hee ordered the shooting. "I did not make a film saying that former President Park ordered the killing of Yuk Young-soo. That would be logically contradictory and implausible," he said. "I simply developed a cinematic hypothesis based on records related to shell casings and the trajectory of gunfire at the scene — records that had previously been covered in terrestrial documentary programs. There is no specific political purpose."

According to the Korean Box Office Information System, "The Assassin" drew 155,086 admissions on Saturday, its 11th day in release, bringing its cumulative total to 2,045,499. It is the ninth South Korean film released in 2026 to surpass 2 million admissions.

Off screen, however, the atmosphere has grown increasingly hostile. Citing concerns over physical confrontations and safety, director Heo and the lead cast canceled their red carpet appearance and outdoor fan greeting at the opening ceremony of the 31st Busan International Film Festival, and a series of theater fan events in Seoul were also called off.

shee@heraldcorp.com