▲ The movie 'Silmido'
The introductory subtitle in the movie 'Silmido' that depicted the North Korean infiltration unit members as criminals, such as death row or life-imprisoned inmates, has been revised 23 years after its release.
According to the Ministry of National Defense on September 23, CJ ENM, the film's distributor, accepted a request from the bereaved families' association of the Silmido victims and has been broadcasting the modified introductory subtitle before the movie starts since September 4.
The newly applied subtitle states, "Depicting the Silmido unit operatives in the film as special criminals, death row inmates, or life prisoners differs from historical facts, and the truth-finding investigation has clearly confirmed that most of them were ordinary civilians."
It also adds, "We offer our deepest condolences to the Silmido unit operatives and their bereaved families who have suffered due to the movie 'Silmido'."
The movie 'Silmido', released in 2003, previously included a notice stating it was a fictional setup, but it has been criticized for failing to specify the unit members' actual backgrounds, leaving them with the unfair stigma of being former criminals.
The Ministry of National Defense stated, "We expect this measure to accurately convey to the public that the Silmido unit operatives were ordinary civilians rather than death row or life-imprisoned inmates, and to contribute to restoring the honor of the victims and their bereaved families."
Following the January 1968 infiltration of Seoul by North Korean armed guerrillas including Kim Shin-jo, the Silmido unit was established in April of that year under the leadership of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and the Air Force to infiltrate North Korea.
Suffering from harsh training and unfair treatment, the unit members staged a breakout and headed toward Seoul, reaching Daebang-dong where they engaged in a standoff and gunfight with military and police forces, resulting in 20 deaths.
The four surviving members were sentenced to death, and the Air Force carried out their executions the following year without notifying their families and buried the bodies secretly without returning them to the families.
In 2006, the Ministry of National Defense's Committee for Investigation of Truth and Reconciliation recommended issuing an apology for human rights violations in the Silmido incident and excavating the remains, and the Ministry of National Defense apologized under the name of the Minister at an opening ritual for the excavation of Silmido operatives' remains in October 2024.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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