"Receiving state funds to distort history?"… 'Dae-gun Buin', Content Promotion Board support controversy

[Dispatch=Reporter Lee Myung-ju] "21st Century Grand Lady" received subsidies from a government institution. It was confirmed that the drama was selected as a production support recipient by the Korea Creative Content Agency and received close to 2 billion won.

The Korea Creative Content Agency is a quasi-government organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was established for the development of Korea's cultural industry. It provides production support and overseas expansion assistance across the content industry.

The issue is that a work funded by taxpayer money promoted historical distortion. In particular, in the broadcast on the 15th, the Republic of Korea was depicted as a tributary state of China.

Ian Dae-gun (played by Byun Woo-seok) wore a nine-beaded crown worn by tributary states instead of the twelve-beaded crown worn by emperors of independent nations. Courtiers shouted "cheonse" of tributary states rather than "mansei," a symbol of independent nations.

This scene raised concerns that it provides grounds for China's Northeast Project. The criticism is that expressions corresponding to Chinese tributary states were used within the drama's "Daehan Empire" worldview.

Japanese influences are scattered throughout. The drama's worldview is strikingly similar to Japan's. The setting where a dae-gun, not a daewi, exercises regency or inherits the position of prime minister is a prime example.

Some have pointed out that Japanese colonial historiography comes to mind. The setting of a world without Japanese colonial rule where kings exist and the class system remains intact is similar to the logic presented by Japanese imperialism.

The Korea Creative Content Agency is also difficult to escape criticism. It invested public funds without going through procedures for historical accuracy verification. An official stated, "At the time of selection evaluation, only the work's plan, synopsis, and some scripts were evaluated."

Of course, "21st Century Grand Lady" is an alternate history romance. It's to say that dramatic imagination is possible. In fact, the production team emphasized freedom from history, saying "dramatic license is the work's cheat code."

However, history is not a drama prop. You cannot pick and choose what you need. The flow of history must be considered. This is in line with Professor Seo Kyoung-duk's point that "neighboring countries could exploit this drama as a tool for distortion."

The Korea Creative Content Agency said it would prepare measures to prevent recurrence. An official stated, "We will make it mandatory to submit consultation and historical accuracy verification plans from the production support application stage."

The official added, "We will explore ways to strengthen compliance checks on whether consultation and verification proceed as planned. We will make efforts to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future."

Meanwhile, "21st Century Grand Lady" is awaiting final evaluation results related to the Korea Creative Content Agency's production support project. If the work fails evaluation, the full subsidy and accrued interest must be repaid.