\n<\/p>\n
Set in South Korea in 1974, The Assassin(s) follows a detective investigating a shooting during a presidential event, after discovering that evidence at the crime scene contradicts the official account.<\/p>\n
The film draws on the real assassination attempt against then-president Park Chung-hee on Aug 15, 1974, during a Liberation Day ceremony in Seoul.<\/p>\n
Park survived the attack, but his wife, Yuk Young-soo, was fatally shot.<\/p>\n
The gunman, Mun Se-gwang, was held responsible for the attack, and South Korean authorities at the time concluded that he had acted under instructions linked to North Korea.<\/p>\n
However, the film raises questions about the possible involvement of the former president and South Korean intelligence officials in the incident. The fictional interpretation has angered conservative groups and politicians as they argue that the film unfairly implicates Park in his wife’s death and misrepresents an established historical account.<\/p>\n
The controversy reached Singapore when the PPP sent an open letter to SGIFF executive director Jeremy Chua on Tuesday (Oct 6), urging the festival to reconsider its opening film selection.<\/p>\n
According to South Korean media platform Asia Business Daily, the letter was issued in the names of the party’s 109 National Assembly members.<\/p>\n
“We express deep regret over the choice of The Assassin(s) as the opening film, and urge you to reconsider this decision immediately,” the party wrote.<\/p>\n
“While we respect artistic freedom and the independence of film festivals, creative freedom does not mean freedom from responsibility regarding historical facts.”<\/p>\n
The party argued that selecting a film to open an international festival carries particular significance because it reflects the festival’s values and editorial judgment.<\/p>\n
The objections have extended beyond the film’s Singapore screening.<\/p>\n
According to South Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily, critics have circulated instructions on social media encouraging people to petition SGIFF, Singapore’s embassy in South Korea and the Singapore Tourism Board’s Seoul office to withdraw the film.<\/p>\n
Conservative groups have also argued that the film’s depiction is hurtful to Yuk’s surviving family, including her daughter, former South Korean president Park Geun-hye.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
WHY IS THE FILM CONTROVERSIAL? Set in South Korea in 1974, The Assassin(s) follows a detective investigating a shooting during a presidential event, after discovering…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--V5QXDZcu--\/c_crop,h_675,w_1200,x_0,y_22\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/10\/08\/the_assassins_korean_film_lee_min_ho_controversy.jpg?itok=7xOZ8FWc","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4160,349,9535,1901,1900,3446,8848,482,23305],"class_list":["post-91265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-assassins","tag-calls","tag-controversy","tag-festival","tag-film","tag-opening","tag-sgiff","tag-stands","tag-withdrawal","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}