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Why a film about a dictator has South Korea at war with itself

Like many films released during Chuseok, South Korea’s national mid-autumn harvest festival, The Assassin(s) shot right to the top, selling more than a million tickets…

By Samantha Johnson / October 3, 2026

Like many films released during Chuseok, South Korea’s national mid-autumn harvest festival, The Assassin(s) shot right to the top, selling more than a million tickets in its first four days.

But the box-office success of the film about the 1974 assassination attempt on former president and military leader Park Chung-hee was quickly overshadowed by calls to halt screenings, as well as a police complaint against the film’s director and producers.

Park loyalists and conservative politicians are claiming the film, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Hur Jin-ho, distorts history and defames Park and his administration.

Park, who came to power after a 1961 military coup, remains one of the most divisive figures in South Korean history. His authoritarian rule coincided with one of the world’s fastest periods of industrialisation, but his government was also marked by political repression and restrictions on civil liberties.

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