[Reporter’s Notebook] Beyond Anger... Reflections on the 'Assassins' Controversy

"When I was on the outside, I thought retaliation was wrong. But once it happened to me personally, I couldn't help getting angry." This is what a prominent opposition figure I recently spoke with said. Even those who once opposed political retaliation—whether by choice or pressure—are now swept into a cycle of reprisals. This captures a side of today’s political world.

The controversy over the film ‘Assassins’ is similar. The movie questions the incident in which Yuk Young-soo, the First Lady, was shot. The People Power Party is protesting, calling it a double standard. Today, a letter written by President Park Chung-hee was also released, in which he wrote, "If I had taken the bullet and my mother (Yuk Young-soo) had survived..."

Raising such issues has some merit. It is illogical to argue for ‘freedom of expression’ in some cases, but refuse to apply it to certain people or events. The progressive bloc has actively opposed distorted portrayals of events like the 5·18 Democratization Movement, but it is also true that they have held the other side to different standards on issues sensitive to conservatives.

The next issue is more critical. If the rationale is “the left did it, so we can too,” this simply repeats the very errors of the progressives that conservatives have long criticized. Calls for stopping the film’s screening, summoning the director to the parliamentary audit, and attacking the cast have already arisen.

Such tit-for-tat responses and the logic of retaliation may well give catharsis to supporters; however, too much is as bad as too little. Take former President Yoon Suk-yeol as an example. Though he once said, “There is no such thing as political retaliation in my dictionary,” he later retorted, “Didn't the Democratic Party government do the same?” We all know well where that kind of politics can lead: the 12·3 Emergency Martial Law.

On the other side stands former President Kim Dae-jung. Despite his supporters’ anger and his own personal grievances, he chose reconciliation and integration over retaliation. While it was an inevitable political strategy, given it was difficult to form a majority with only Honam and democratization forces, it ultimately created a new order and led to a change in government.

The ‘Assassins’ controversy could also be shifted in a similar direction. The debate should become about how to view modern history with all its ups and downs, and what common, universal standards we apply to freedom of expression, beyond political camps. It is easy to ride the wave of anger. However, the harder but more important role of politics is to move beyond that anger and create a new order.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.