'So Much Fun': Ryu Hye-young's Assassin(s) Post Sparks Fan Boycott Calls

Ryu Hye-young posted from the VIP premiere of Assassin(s) with a simple verdict: "So much fun." The caption landed at the worst possible moment, arriving just as the film was drawing boycott calls, a formal police complaint, and demands from a presidential foundation that screenings be halted.

On her Instagram, Ryu shared several photos from the screening event, dressed head to toe in black. In one shot she stands with hands clasped, smiling in a satin-finish black turtleneck and matching trousers, her long hair pulled back with light fringe framing her face. Another close-up shows the same outfit with a structured shoulder, a few strands falling loosely around her face and small silver accessories at each ear adding the only contrast to the all-black look. The final photo puts her on the VIP stage alongside the cast and crew, lined up in front of a large screen and applauding.

The post drew an immediate response, though not the kind a cast member hopes for. Comments including "boycott the distorters," "not watching," and "all the actors I loved are leftists" piled up beneath the photos.

What the controversy is about

Directed by Heo Jin-ho, Assassin(s) is a thriller that uses the 1974 shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo as its starting point, then traces the suspected conspiracies and figures behind the attack. The ensemble cast includes Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il, and Lee Min-ho, with Ryu playing Yun-hee, a society-desk reporter at the fictional Dongseong Daily.

Critics from certain political circles have accused the film of distorting the historical record. The Park Chung-hee Presidential Memorial Foundation went further, publicly demanding both an apology from the production company and an end to screenings. Former Seoul city councillor Lee Jong-bae of the People Power Party filed a defamation complaint against the filmmakers with police on the 29th.

The production team pushed back on the 28th, issuing a statement that the film "was not made to newly confirm a specific historical conclusion or to deny and distort existing facts," describing it instead as a dramatic work that layers cinematic imagination over documented records of the period.

The controversy has spread beyond the film itself. Burger King had cast Yoo Hae-jin as the face of its autumn menu launch on the 16th, and the comment section on its official YouTube promotional video was disabled by the 29th, apparently in response to the backlash spilling into the brand's content.

Ryu Hye-young, born in 1991, is best known internationally for her role in Reply 1988 and has since appeared in the film The Intern as team leader Min-ah. She recently appeared on the variety show I Live Alone, where she showed viewers the older apartment she renovated and decorated with minimal, personal touches. Her public endorsement of Assassin(s), however warmly meant, has put her squarely in the middle of a debate that shows no sign of cooling.