Allegations of review bombing surrounding the film "The Assassin(s)," which has been embroiled in controversy over historical distortion, have turned out to be true. On September 29, the portal site Naver announced measures regarding the "handling of duplicate counts for movie reviews and recommendation metrics" via an official notice.

Naver stated, "Recently, an issue occurred where certain audience reviews were registered multiple times, and sympathy and unsympathy counts were tabulated redundantly. Immediately upon identifying the issue, we implemented emergency measures, and we have now corrected the system so that this no longer occurs."

The platform added, "Duplicate reviews registered for the affected films will be deleted, and redundant sympathy and unsympathy figures will be excluded to reflect normal tallies," adding, "We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused while using the service. We will exercise greater caution to ensure that the same issue does not happen again."

Previously on Naver, more than 50,000 one-star ratings were posted targeting "The Assassin(s)" in just a few days. The top-ranked comment garnered over 1.37 million sympathy votes, raising suspicions of automated macro manipulation.

Following the film's premiere, the backlash has also escalated into attacks against the cast. On September 30, an online user posted across social media and online communities listing actor Yoo Hai-jin's filmography, claiming that he frequently appeared in works dealing with North Korean themes, anti-Japanese sentiments, and criticism of military regimes. People Power Party lawmaker Joo Jin-woo personally left a comment on the post describing him as having "the look of a North Korean." Furthermore, some commenters exerted pressure on the actors' advertising sponsors, with users sharing that they filed complaints regarding Yoo Hai-jin's participation in the film to a food company where he serves as a commercial model.

Released on September 23, "The Assassin(s)" portrays a story investigating the suspicions and forces behind the August 15, 1974 assassination attempt on the First Lady, drawing criticism for allegedly distorting historical facts. As of September 29, the film has recorded an accumulated audience of approximately 1.7 million moviegoers. 

(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)