Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation Also Demands 'Halt Screenings' as Controversy Over 'The Assassin(s)' Escalates

The controversy surrounding the film 'The Assassin(s)', which is based on the 1974 shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo, has spread from political circles to a related foundation.

The Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation demanded an official apology from the production company and an immediate halt to screenings, claiming that the film distorts historical facts.

In a statement issued today (September 28), the foundation asserted that the allegations raised in the film do not align with the investigation and court records of that time.

The first point the foundation refuted was the number of gunshots fired at the scene.

While a total of six gunshots were heard during the incident, allegations have circulated that the truth was covered up, citing issues surrounding the bullet casings recovered from the scene.

Citing investigation records preserved at the Diplomatic Archives, the foundation stated that Mun Se-gwang had loaded five bullets into his handgun.

The foundation explained that the first shot struck Mun's own thigh, the second hit the upper-left corner of the podium, the third misfired, and the fourth struck First Lady Yuk Young-soo.

The fifth bullet was fired as Mun stumbled, hitting the South Korean national flag, while the remaining shot was fired by a presidential security officer, which struck and killed a female high school student, Jang Bong-hwa.

Based on this, the foundation argued that suspicions claiming the truth was concealed because the number of gunshots and casings did not match are inconsistent with official investigative records.

It also refuted the film's premise implying that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) may have orchestrated the incident.

The foundation pointed out that the investigation and trial records document how Mun was recruited in Osaka, Japan, in 1972 after meeting an official from Chongryon (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) before carrying out the August 15 shooting.

It added that allegations claiming the KCIA or then-President Park Chung-hee orchestrated the First Lady's assassination for political motives risk severely distorting historical facts.

'The Assassin(s)' follows the story of detectives and reporters tracing the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo.

While the film does not explicitly conclude that former President Park was behind the incident, it hints through its characters at the possibility that power agencies of the era were involved.

As the controversy over historical distortion grew, the production team explained that the work is not a documentary recreating historical facts as they were, but rather a film that added cinematic imagination to surviving records and unresolved questions.

Released on September 23, 'The Assassin(s)' drew about 1.4 million moviegoers during the Chuseok holiday and surpassed 1.56 million cumulative viewers through September 27.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Kim Minji | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.