Backlash over historical distortion claims surrounding 'Assassins' … conservative group announces rally outside Yoo Hae-jin's home

New Liberty Solidarity, a conservative civic group, will hold a rally outside the home of Yoo Hae-jin, the lead actor in 〈Assassins〉, a film that has drawn allegations of historical distortion.

New Liberty Solidarity said Tuesday that it had notified police of plans to hold a rally every day from the third through the end of the month outside a detached house in Seoul's Seongbuk-gu district reportedly belonging to Yoo. The group listed 20 participants. The rally will begin at 4:30 p.m. each day, with two broadcast vans and portable sound equipment planned for deployment.

Kim Sang-jin, head of New Liberty Solidarity, said the rally is intended to urge the actor to appear in right-wing films to maintain political balance. "There is plenty in the film that gives us grounds to raise questions, and we are asking him to appear in films on that side as well," he said. 〈Assassins〉 is based on the Aug. 15, 1974, shooting of the late First Lady Yuk Young-soo. Controversy erupted after claims that characters in the film suggest then-President Park Chung-hee or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency may have been involved in the incident's background. The filmmakers responded that the movie "was not made to establish a new, specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort established facts."

But attacks on the film's cast and those who reviewed it continued indiscriminately. Some actors skipped promotional stage appearances, and portions of review videos were made private. After a boycott campaign and a flood of abusive comments targeted a fast-food company that had hired Yoo as a model, the company disabled its comment function. As the controversy grew, the Korean Film Producers Association issued a statement Monday saying, "We are concerned about the situation in which excessive criticism is directed at individual creators, including producers, directors, actors and staff, simply because they participated in the work."

Despite the fierce backlash, 〈Assassins〉 reclaimed the No. 1 spot at the daily box office on the first day of October. The Korean Film Council's integrated box-office tracking system said the film drew 55,018 moviegoers the previous day, maintaining its strong momentum. Its cumulative admissions have surpassed 1.82 million.