Ruling and opposition parties collide at Ministry of Culture national audit
The ruling and opposition parties clashed Wednesday at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee national audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism over whether to summon witnesses connected to the film "The Assassin," which conservative circles have accused of distorting history.
The People Power Party argued that director Heo Jin-ho and other members of the production team should be called as witnesses, while the Democratic Party pushed back, saying such a move would suppress creative freedom.
PPP lawmaker Kim Seung-su said there was strong public interest in "the circumstances behind the film's production and the intent behind what they see as malicious editing of its content," adding that "Director Heo and the screenplay writer must be called as witnesses — not a single witness or reference person has been adopted so far."
Fellow PPP lawmaker Kim Seok-ki said the controversy over the film's alleged historical distortions "has the whole country in an uproar," and asked whether the filmmakers should not be summoned to explain "why they tried to instill such a distorted view of history."
Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Jong-myeon rebuffed that framing, saying the film's direction actually appeared intended to rule out the theory that former President Park Chung-hee was behind the shooting death of first lady Yuk Young-soo. "Viewers are entitled to draw their own conclusions," he said. "Is it even appropriate to haul a creative artist before the National Assembly for interrogation?"
Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee also raised her voice against the proposal. "The national audit chamber is not a place to censor ideas, nor is it a place to suppress freedom of artistic creation," she said, adding that after watching the film closely she found the historical-distortion claims "utterly groundless" and opposed adopting any witnesses.
Committee Chair Lee Jae-jeong of the Democratic Party said it was "not appropriate to discuss the film's content on the floor of a national audit," but drew a firm line: "Even if the negotiators from both parties agree, the chair cannot permit creative artists to be summoned to the Assembly to scrutinize the content of their work."
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