Actor Han Jung-su. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]
Actor Han Jung-su. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) provided]

Actor Han Jung-su has publicly voiced his support for the SBS drama series "Doctor X: Mafia in White," which has drawn a petition calling for its broadcast to be suspended over its depiction of the May 18 pro-democracy uprising.

On Monday, Han posted a screenshot from "Doctor X: Mafia in White" on his Instagram and wrote, "A petition to halt the broadcast? Are you out of your mind? Why don't you try making a fuss again?"

He added, "I don't usually watch dramas, but I've really been enjoying Doctor X lately. I'm grateful for it."

The show's sixth episode, which aired Saturday, depicted the story of Oh Sang-beom (played by Ha Seong-gwang), a man who suffered a gunshot wound to the head during the May 18, 1980 pro-democracy uprising and has lived with pain and hallucinations for more than 40 years. Genius surgeon Gye Su-jeong (played by Kim Ji-won) takes on his case, and the latter part of the episode features a fictional former president evoking memories of that era.

Shortly after the episode aired, a petition titled "Petition to suspend the broadcast of SBS drama Doctor X: Mafia in White" was posted on the National Assembly's public consent petition board. The petitioner argued that the sixth episode included May 18-related content unrelated to the drama's storyline, and said it was difficult to accept the use of what they called a political issue in a drama series.

The petitioner called for the production team to be summoned as National Assembly witnesses, for the broadcast to be suspended, and for a review by broadcast regulatory authorities. The petition surpassed the 100 signatures required for public disclosure within a single day, moving it into the review stage. For it to proceed to a full National Assembly review, it must gather at least 50,000 signatures within 30 days of being made public.

On the day the sixth episode aired, "Doctor X: Mafia in White" chief producer Lee Ok-gyu posted the words "No fear" alongside a drama poster on his social media account, without further explanation.

According to Nielsen Korea, the sixth episode recorded a household viewership rating of 19.5 percent nationwide, setting a new series high, while the peak per-minute rating soared to 21.3 percent.

This is not the first time Han has publicly defended a controversial work. On Oct. 1, when the film "The Assassin" — which deals with the shooting of former first lady Yuk Young-soo — became embroiled in a historical distortion controversy, he posted, "Let's just watch a movie as a movie. It's not a documentary. Why is there so much fuss?"

Han has long used social media to share his views on political and social issues, though he signaled in September that he would scale back such commentary and focus on his work.


dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com