Park Ji-won defends filmmakers in Facebook post, invokes Kim Dae-jung's words on creative freedom

Members of civic groups hold a rally in front of a multiplex in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, on Tuesday, calling for the suspension of screenings of "The Assassin." Various civic organizations in Gumi — the hometown of former President Park Chung-hee — have recently demanded that local movie theaters pull the film, alleging it distorts history. [Yonhap]
Members of civic groups hold a rally in front of a multiplex in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, on Tuesday, calling for the suspension of screenings of "The Assassin." Various civic organizations in Gumi — the hometown of former President Park Chung-hee — have recently demanded that local movie theaters pull the film, alleging it distorts history. [Yonhap]

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ji-won has urged the public to see "The Assassin," a film at the center of a historical distortion controversy.

Park wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that people should "go watch 'The Assassin'" and that he was also running a "watch it one more time campaign."

He then called on followers to recommend candidates for what he dubbed the "Byongo cultural five traitors" — a pointed reference to those demanding the film be pulled from theaters. The label draws on the infamous "Eulsa five traitors," the officials who signed away Korea's sovereignty to Japan in 1905, and applies the same framework to this year, which falls in the traditional sexagenary cycle year of byongo.

"Please leave recommendations in the comments to select the 'Byongo cultural five traitors' who are obstructing the development of our culture, film and the arts," he added.

Park, who served as minister of culture and tourism under President Kim Dae-jung, also recalled an exchange from the 1998 summit between Kim and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

When Zhu asked Kim the secret behind South Korea's thriving film industry, Kim replied that democracy allows culture and the arts — including film — to flourish, and that the key is to provide support without interference or censorship. Intervene and censor, Kim said, and creative energy retreats.

Chinese director Zhang Yimou, jury president of the 31st Busan International Film Festival, speaks at a press conference for competition jury members held at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Busan, on Wednesday, the festival's second day. [Yonhap]
Chinese director Zhang Yimou, jury president of the 31st Busan International Film Festival, speaks at a press conference for competition jury members held at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Busan, on Wednesday, the festival's second day. [Yonhap]

Park pointed to remarks by Zhang Yimou, the Chinese director serving as jury president of the competition section at the Busan International Film Festival, saying that "27 years after DJ spoke those words, a Chinese filmmaker visiting the Busan International Film Festival is telling us the same thing."

At a jury press conference held Wednesday at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Zhang addressed the controversy surrounding "The Assassin." "I haven't seen the film, but I have heard about the issue," he said. "Creative work does not always have to be based on truth and fact. Even what we call historical truth can itself be subject to debate over whether it is really true."

Zhang said that making a film from history means using art to tell a story to people living today. "Every audience member feels something different after watching a film, and they may not agree with one another — but that in itself is the charm of cinema," he said.


jshan@heraldcorp.com