'Assassin(s) promotion for free admission' battle...與 “No distortion” National power “Inappropriate”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ahn Jung-hoon = On the 6th, the ruling and opposition parties fought at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit over the fact that the Gyeonggi Northern Gyeonggi Veterans' Support Center under the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs promoted the movie 'Assassin(s)' as a free weekly movie for discharged veterans.

The main opposition party, the People Power Party, pointed out that it was inappropriate to use budget to promote free viewing of a movie with controversy over distortion of facts, but the ruling Democratic Party of Korea countered with the logic that there was no problem as there was no particular distortion of facts.

Rep. Cho Jung-hoon of the People Power Party pointed out, “The decision to use the national budget to show this film to veterans and their families is a completely different issue from freedom of expression,” and added, “When the Ministry of Veterans Affairs selects a film, it must have veterans’ value.”

Rep. Song Eon-seok of the same party also criticized the center's original plan for quoting the synopsis of the movie to write promotional text, saying, "It was promoted in the name of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Does this make sense?"

'Assassin(s)' is a film about the attempted assassination of President Park Chung-hee and the shooting death of First Lady Yuk Young-soo that occurred in 1974.

Controversy over historical distortion arose over a scene in the play where some characters put forward a hypothesis that the 'higher ranks' of the Central Intelligence Agency may have been behind the story, based on diplomatic relations with Japan at the time.

Representative Han Min-soo of the Democratic Party said, "As the director revealed, it was created with cinematic imagination based on various records related to the incident at the time with the motif of a historical event that occurred in 1974," and added, "I hope the People Power Party members will not attack."

Rep. Lee Kang-il of the same party emphasized, “There is absolutely no claim that Moon Se-gwang (the sniper in the movie) did not kill anyone,” and added, “There is nothing that changes history or facts.”

On the first day of the National Assembly inspection, the ruling and opposition parties also engaged in a war of nerves over the police investigation of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop, a member of the Political Affairs Committee.

Rep. Kim was sued for raising suspicions regarding a business trip to Cancun, Mexico, during former Seoul mayoral candidate Jeong Won-oh's tenure as mayor of Seongdong-gu, and appeared at the police that day for investigation.

Rep. Park Seong-hoon of the People Power Party criticized, “Is there any precedent in the constitutional history of the Republic of Korea for investigating an active member as a suspect on the first day of the National Assembly audit?” and “This only appears to be a simple and base action to block and silence the opposition party.”

In response, Democratic Party lawmaker Han Min-soo referred to media reports that Rep. Kim first approached the police about his attendance schedule and asked, "The police say the National Assembly member will not be able to attend on the first day of the National Assembly inspection, but won't they change that?"