Director Byun Sung Hyun, who used to be embroiled in “Ilbe” controversy in the past, is under fire again with his new production “Kill Boksoon”.
Released through Netflix on the 31st of last month (KST), “Kill Boksoon” centers around professional killer Gil Bok Soon (Jeon Do Yeon) who decides to quit doing contract murdering to break down the wall between her daughter and herself. This movie starred Jeon Do Yeon, Seol Kyung Gu, Koo Kyo Hwan, and ESom.
According to the online content service ranking site FlixPatrol on April 2nd, “Kill Boksoon” started off well by scoring 498 points, ranking 3rd in the Movie category.
However, several scenes in “Kill Boksoon” have recently been involved in a controversy related to the controversial Korean online community Ilbe, known for its extreme right-wing political views, misogyny, racism, and hate speech towards minority groups.
The “Ilbe” scenes pointed out by netizens appear in the movie opening. The envelope containing the murder contract has a red seal and the words “Suncheon-Jeolla” written on it. However, all other envelopes show the locations and countries, such as “Vladivostok-Russia” and “Seoul-Korea”, and are sealed with a blue seal.
Some netizens questioned whether it implied the fact that Ilbe users slandered Jeolla-do residents as pro-North Koreans and insulted them in the past.
Earlier in 2017, director Byun Sung Hyun had previously been embroiled in an ‘Ilbe’ controversy due to his inappropriate remarks when his movie “The Merciless” was released. The director was criticized for posting his Twitter account tweets, such as “Eat hongeo (skate) before a date, you’ll get high off the scent”, “Moon Jae In and Ahn Cheol Soo’s elementary school fight”, and “This is all because of Moon Jae In.” He even retweeted a sexist post that said, “No woman with a big butt has a good personality.”
There are also other controversial parts as it accused some great figures in Korea of being murderers. In the movie, Gil Bok Soon’s middle school daughter discusses who should be on a 100,000 won bill, saying “Gwanggaeto the Great, Eulji Mundeok, Kim Gu, and Ahn Jung Geun”, adding “They all killed people”.
Some netizens who saw this information on online communities showed various reactions, such as “What the hell is this?”, “It’s really hateful”, “I feel sorry for the actors”, “I won’t watch this movie”, etc. However, others expressed different opinions, saying “We need to listen to the director’s position also”, “There’s nothing wrong about using Suncheon-Jeolla”, etc.
Source: Wikitree
