tvN 'Bon Appétit, Your Majesty' Historical Distortion Controversy?!...Original Author Responds

In the tvN drama 〈Bon Appétit, Your Majesty〉, a controversy over historical distortion arose from a scene where the Joseon king and a Ming Dynasty envoy are seated at equal positions, prompting the original author to respond based on official documents from the Joseon Dynasty.

Park Guk-jae, the author of the original web novel 〈Bon Appétit, Your Majesty〉, stated on the 19th through his social media that the depiction of the envoy's seating arrangement is properly verified based on the official etiquette book of the Joseon Dynasty, 'Gukjo Oryeui'.

Park explained about the seating arrangement at the banquet, saying, "The envoy's seat is located against the eastern wall, while the throne is positioned against the western wall," and added, "It is a seating arrangement where the king and the envoy face each other at the same height." He further noted, "If you think about it, the envoy's seat is actually the higher seat."

He continued, "Since the Ming envoy is a representative of the emperor, he holds a higher ceremonial rank than the Joseon king," emphasizing that "it has nothing to do with national power or sovereignty." He described it as "something like diplomatic customs or protocols that apply to international events at the time."

The controversial scene emerged during a cooking competition between the Joseon royal kitchen's cook and the Ming envoy's accompanying cook. It depicted Yeonhui-gun Lee Heon (played by Lee Chae-min) sitting side by side with the Ming envoy Woo Gon (played by Kim Hyung-mook), eating and judging food, which raised concerns online that the king and envoy sitting at the same height was a historical distortion.

〈Bon Appétit, Your Majesty〉 is based on the web novel 'Surviving as the Chef of Yeonsangun', telling the story of a modern chef who accidentally falls into the Joseon Dynasty.