Lee Min Ho’s scheduled appearance at the Busan International Film Festival has been canceled due to what the festival described as “unavoidable circumstances.”
BIFF announced the cancellation through its official social media channels on October 1st.
The festival said the “Actor’s House: Lee Min Ho” event, originally scheduled for October 7 at 6:50 PM, would no longer take place. Tickets will be automatically refunded, with no separate request or cancellation fee required. BIFF also said individual notifications would be sent to ticket holders and asked for their understanding.
Lee Min Ho’s agency, MYM Entertainment, also confirmed that the actor would not be attending the event.
“We are informing you that actor Lee Min Ho will unfortunately be unable to participate in the Actor’s House event at the Busan International Film Festival as scheduled,” the agency said. “We apologize to the audience who were looking forward to meeting him.”
The sudden cancellation has sparked speculation that Lee Min Ho’s absence could be connected to the ongoing controversy surrounding his latest film, The Assassin(s). However, neither BIFF nor the actor’s agency has said that the controversy was the reason for the cancellation.
Directed by Hur Jin Ho, The Assassin(s) stars Yoo Hae Jin, Park Hae Il and Lee Min Ho. The film tells a fictionalized story inspired by the assassination attempt against former First Lady Yuk Young Soo on August 15, 1974. It surpassed 1 million moviegoers within four days of its release on September 23rd.
The film has since faced criticism over its portrayal of the historical event. According to the official investigation at the time, Moon Se Kwang, who was associated with the pro-North Korean General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, carried out the assassination attempt. He was later executed.
However, The Assassin(s) introduces the possibility of additional people being involved and suggests that members of then-President Park Chung Hee’s administration may have had a role in the incident. This has led to criticism from some viewers who believe the film blurs the line between historical fact and fiction.
The film’s production team has defended its approach, explaining that The Assassin(s) is a fictional work inspired by the 1974 incident and reconstructed through cinematic imagination based on records from the time. The team has also denied making the film with political intentions.
The controversy has continued to grow, with some calling for boycotts of advertisements featuring the film’s cast and the debate spilling over into South Korean politics.
>> Kim Go Eun, Lee Young Ae and More Face Backlash Over ‘The Assassin(s)’ Film; Chinese Capital Denied
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