"Receiving National Funding to Distort History?"…'The Grand Concubine', Controversy Over CJ Film Commission Support

[Dispatch=Reporter Lee Myung-joo] The fallout from the '21st Century Grand Lady' controversy is spreading rapidly. The controversy has grown further as it became known that a quasi-government agency provided production support.

The Korean Content Agency (KCCA) said in a phone call with 'Dispatch' on the 21st, "It is correct that MBC-TV's '21st Century Grand Lady' is a production-supported work by the KCCA."

The '21st Century Grand Lady' team applied for the KCCA's '2025 OTT-Specialized Content Production Support (IP Acquisition Type)' project in February last year. It went through written and presentation reviews and was selected in final form in April.

The total support funds allocated to this project are 7.5 billion won. '21st Century Grand Lady' was selected in the tvN 'Second Signal' and drama feature film category and received the full amount of support funds in two installments.

What remains is the results evaluation. According to Article 55, Paragraph 3 of the KCCA's Content Support Business Management Rules, in the case of a failed results evaluation, the existing agreement between the supervising agency and the implementing agency is terminated.

The related support funds must be returned. Within 30 days of such a decision, the full amount of support funds and accrued interest must be returned. The relevant rule also specifies joint and several liability.

An official stated, "Originally, it was scheduled to proceed at the end of May," and added "(the timing of the results evaluation) has not yet been decided precisely. We are comprehensively reviewing whether there are violations of regulations."

The KCCA is aware that '21st Century Grand Lady' has become embroiled in a history distortion controversy. Scholars of history have also pointed out that it provided a pretext for China's Northeast Project.

Given significant public concerns, the agency is considering measures to prevent recurrence. An official said, "From the production support application stage onward, we will make it mandatory to submit consultation and verification plans."

They added, "We will seek ways to strengthen compliance checks on whether consultations and verifications are carried out as planned. We will make efforts to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future."

Meanwhile, '21st Century Grand Lady' sparked history distortion suspicions throughout its broadcast. A worldview seemingly referencing the Japanese imperial family and enthronement ceremonies depicted as a Chinese tributary state became subjects of controversy.