"'The Grand Prince's Wife,' discussed in National Assembly… "50,000 people agree with petition to abolish"

[Dispatch=Lee Myeong-ju] Will "The Grand Lady of the 21st Century" ultimately be scrapped? A related civic petition has met the requirements for referral to a standing committee of the National Assembly.

According to the National Assembly e-Petition website, a civic petition demanding the suspension of broadcasting and content scrapping of MBC-TV's "The Grand Lady of the 21st Century" was referred to the committee on the 26th.

This came just four days after the petition was first posted. The petitioner pointed out, "Historical inaccuracies and productions with clear intentions of Northeast Project have been continuously exposed, drawing public outrage."

They continued, "While set against a fictional Korea, Chinese-style costumes, etiquette, and vocabulary were borrowed. Explicit historical distortion was committed," requesting complete scrapping.

They also requested systemic improvements to prevent recurrence. "We strongly petition for the establishment of institutional measures for permanent withdrawal of culturally invasive media content in the future," they added.

The civic petition is the National Assembly's petition system. If 50,000 people agree within 30 days of disclosure, it is referred to the relevant standing committee. After this, it undergoes committee review and passage in the general assembly.

"The Grand Lady of the 21st Century" aired its final episode on the 16th. Criticism poured in that it depicted the Republic of Korea as if it were a tributary of China, providing grounds for the Northeast Project.

The production team acknowledged the historical distortion controversy. "Careful deliberation was necessary in the process of establishing the world view, but efforts to examine this closely were insufficient," they admitted.

Some scenes were also revised and deleted. In particular, following public backlash over the scene where Ian (played by Byeon Woo-seok) ascends to the throne, the problematic ending was deleted.

Lead actors also apologized. IU and Byeon Woo-seok said, "There was insufficient consideration of what historical context and meaning were contained in the work and how it could be received."