Political Backlash Over Assassins Film Reaches Daejeon City Hall
The controversial South Korean film Assassins, which centers on the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo, has embroiled Daejeon City in an intense political fight over history and free expression. Following its screening as the closing film at the 8th Daejeon Special Visual Arts Film Festival, members of the People Power Party flooded the local government with demands for official documents regarding its production support.
The Bottom Line
- The Controversy: The film Assassins has sparked fierce debate over historical distortion versus freedom of expression.
- Daejeon’s Involvement: Daejeon City officials granted shooting permissions in July 2025 for locations including Soje-dong and the former South Chungcheong Provincial Office, acting on a sparse production application describing the project merely as a 1970s period piece.
- Festival Fallout: Lawmakers are scrutinizing the city’s administrative and financial links to the project following its selection as the closing film at the 8th Daejeon Special Visual Arts Film Festival last month.
Daejeon City Defends Location Approvals Amid National Scrutiny
Daejeon City officials explained that when the production company submitted its cooperative request in July 2025, the application contained only a brief one-line description characterizing the project as a film capturing South Korea’s 1970s era. City representatives noted that major commercial productions like Squid Game 2 also kept their plots strictly confidential during local shoots, making it standard practice to approve filming requests aimed at boosting local economic activity without knowing granular plot details.
A city official noted that if administrators had known the film would ignite such intense political division and social fallout, they would have thoroughly reviewed the project through standard reporting channels. The official added that civil servants naturally seek to support location shoots to draw tourists, leaving local authorities in a difficult and unexpected position now that the project has become a political flashpoint.
Scrutiny Over the Daejeon Special Visual Arts Film Festival Closing Selection
National Assembly members have launched aggressive demands for data concerning how Assassins secured its slot as the closing film at the 8th Daejeon Special Visual Arts Film Festival, which ran from September 17 to 19. Investigators are questioning whether Daejeon City provided administrative backing or purchased paid admission tickets for the screening.
Daejeon City countered that the Daejeon Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency oversaw the festival selection process through an external agency around May, choosing the movie because a significant portion of principal photography took place within Daejeon. City administrators confirmed that festival screenings relied on a public lottery system using invitation tickets distributed to interested citizens, with no admission tickets purchased by the city.
Partisan Clashes Erupt Over Historical Portrayals
The political dimensions of the controversy intensified when Jang Dong-hyeok criticized the double standards surrounding public figures on social media, writing that criticizing former President Roh Moo-hyun leads to immediate lawsuits while insulting former President Park Chung-hee is defended under the banner of free expression. While some members of the People Power Party argue that the cinematic treatment crosses the line into historical distortion, the film continues to draw severe legislative scrutiny ahead of the upcoming national audit.
The controversy surrounds a production permitted during a period when the local administration operated under the leadership of a mayor affiliated with the People Power Party, leaving current municipal workers to navigate the fallout of a project approved under standard economic development protocols.
