Netflix Responds To Accusations Alleging “Kill Boksoon” Director Byun Sung Hyun Is A Member Of “Ilbe”
Netflix responded to allegations accusing Kill Boksoon’s director of promoting the controversial online community, Ilbe. Ilbe is a probllematic far-right community that is notorious for its chauvinistic and extremist beliefs.
Recently, an uploaded post alleging the movie director, Byun Sung Hyun, of promoting Ilbe went viral. Kill Boksoon is a Netflix original movie starring Jeon Do Yeon and tells the story of a contract killer, who is also a single mother whose contract with her firm is almost up. The story followers the killer as she slays dozens of her colleagues while negotiating a new contract.
The most problematic scene, according to some netizens, is a scene in which an envelope containing a mission is delivered. In the scene, the top killers delivered an envelope that had “Seoul-Korea” and “Vladivostok-Russia” written on it, while the lower-ranked killers were given envelopes that had “Suncheon-Jeolla” written on them. Some netizens who watched the scene alleged that separating the Jeolla province was akin to the way Ilbe users’ trolled online.
To this, Netflix responded to the allegations on April 3, according to a News1 article. The news report states that Netflix denied that the scene had any other meaning other than to differentiate the killers’ status by showing the scope of their respective missions.
In Kill Boksoon, there is a mission in which the killers of the assassin firm MK ENT are separated by grade. A-grade killers, alongside Gil Bok Soon, also received global missions, so they received envelopes with the country labeled on them. C-grade killers only take part in domestic missions, and so they are given an envelope with a province written on it. This was done to show the difference in the scope of work and doesn’t hold any other political meaning.
— Netflix Korea
This isn’t the first time that the director faced Ilbe allegations. Previously he wrote, “Before going on a date, eat rays, (your partner) will be drunk on its smell.” Rays are a delicacy that is notorious for its pungent smell, and Jeolla-do is famous for the dish. Ilbe users are known to use the dish to disparage the province. The director also previously wrote, “This is Mr. Moon’s fault,” seemingly disparaging Korea’s previous president, Moon Jae In, who Ilbe users often criticize. At the time, the director apologized through his social media account but denied he was an Ilbe user.
I apologize for hurting people with my careless words. However, I am not someone who has prejudices against provinces or gender. My hometown is in Jeolla-do, and I hate the people who disparage a specific province or women.
— Byun Sung Hyun
