Former Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) President Choi Seung-ho: "It Is Not Respectful to Imagine Park Chung Hee Was Behind It"

[Financial News]  Choi Seung-ho, a NEWSTAPA PD and former MBC president, criticized the way the film 'Assassin(s)' addresses the possibility of behind-the-scenes involvement in the shooting of Yuk Young-soo, calling it "an overly far-fetched idea."

Choi wrote on Facebook on September 30, "I believe that imagining President Park Chung Hee or the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), which was under his command, as the planners behind the tragic shooting of Yuk Young-soo would further deepen the left-right divide in our society."
He added, "It is not an act of basic human decency to suspect that the Park Chung Hee regime was responsible for killing the first lady."
He also recalled his own experience of the incident. "I was only a first-year middle school student at the time, but I remember the extent of the grief Yuk Young-soo's death caused among the public," Choi said. "I also remember President Park placing his hand on his wife's hearse with a dazed expression on his face."
Choi continued, "President Park appeared to deteriorate rapidly after the incident, and he, too, met a tragic end."
Regarding assessments of the former president, he argued, "Park Chung Hee had many faults, but no one can deny that he was a giant who enabled South Korea to achieve the economic leap it has made today. Could today's South Korea be explained without him?"
Choi said, "If we hold in high regard the legacies that Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun left in modern history, balance requires us to assess President Park Chung Hee's achievements just as highly. Alongside criticism of his faults, later generations should be made fully aware of his accomplishments. Only then can South Korea build a shared history."
Choi also expressed concern about the deepening conflict between progressives and conservatives. He said, "I am deeply worried that the divide between progressives and conservatives is becoming increasingly extreme following Yoon Suk Yeol's emergency martial law," adding, "If 'Assassin(s)' is creating controversy, shouldn't the elders of the progressive camp draw the line by saying, 'This is an overly far-fetched idea'?"

The film 'Assassin(s)' is based on the shooting of Yuk Young-soo on August 15, 1974, and reconstructs the suspicions surrounding the incident.
Since its release, debate has continued over where to draw the line between historical fact and cinematic fiction, particularly regarding its depiction of possible accomplices and possible behind-the-scenes involvement by the regime in power at the time.
In response to the controversy, the production company said, "This film was not made to establish a new, specific historical conclusion or to deny or distort established facts."
The production company explained that the film is a fictional feature that adds cinematic imagination to the actual events and related records, adding, "Nowhere in the film is a specific individual identified as being behind the incident."
Choi joined MBC in 1986 and directed programs including 'PD Note.' After being dismissed in 2012, he worked at NEWSTAPA. He was appointed president of MBC in December 2017 and served until 2020. He later returned to NEWSTAPA and currently works as a PD.
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter