"Actors Stepped in Dog Droppings"... CNK 40 Billion Won in Chinese Capital for "The Assassin(s)"?

People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo mentioned a media report that 40 billion won in Chinese capital was injected into the production process of the film "The Assassin(s)," which deals with the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-su, and stated that he would thoroughly investigate related suspicions during the upcoming parliamentary audit.

Citing a media report that CLSA Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of China's CITIC Group, invested 40 billion won in Hive Media Corp, the film's production company, through a YouTube broadcast, Lawmaker Joo emphasized the possibility of Chinese capital intervening behind the scenes.

Lawmaker Joo argued, "When you talk about the CITIC Group, they are all places that receive instructions and command from the Chinese Communist Party," adding, "While disguised as investment, we must also keep in mind the possibility that it is Chinese capital pulling strings from behind."

He then condemned the film, saying, "They captured First Lady Yuk Young-su in the movie in the most unfilial way," and "Is it not unfilial and perverted in itself to dare conceive a frame suggesting the father killed the mother?"

The film "The Assassin(s)" is motivated by the 1974 shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-su and traces the suspicions and background surrounding the incident.

Although the film does not explicitly point to the mastermind behind the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-su, it became embroiled in controversy over historical distortion as scenes were included where certain characters in the play raise the possibility that the administration of then-President Park Chung-hee or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency planned the incident.

Regarding this, Dongyang University Professor Chin Tong-gyu criticized on social media, "I admire the director's ability to recruit top-tier actors representing South Korea one after another with a shoddy conspiracy theory scenario of a tadpole-IQ level," adding, "Should this simply be understood as an incident where the actors stepped in dog droppings?"

Movie YouTuber "G-Movie," which has 4.17 million subscribers, was found to have deleted videos related to the film.

However, the side of G-Movie did not release a separate official stance regarding the deletion of the videos.

As the controversy continued, the production company drew a line, stating, "There is absolutely no fact that Chinese capital has flowed into our company and the production and investment process of the film."

Releasing an official statement, the production company denied the related suspicions, stating that "The Assassin(s)" is a work independently planned and produced led by domestic production staff and creators based on domestic capital.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.