K-drama ‘Mr. Sunshine’ writer is accused of distorting history
Kim Eun-sook slammed for being an apologist for pro-Japanese collaborators before Japan’s colonial rule of Korea and for writings based on historical inaccuracies
The popular romance drama Mr. Sunshine has been dragged into a dispute over whether it has distorted history.
The show, written by star writer Kim Eun-sook, has been accused of being an apologist for pro-Japanese collaborators before Japan’s colonial rule of Korea as well as being based on historical inaccuracies.
The 24-part drama, set in Korea in the late 1800s and early 1990s before the Japanese occupation, tells of a wartime romance between Korean-born US Marine Eugene Choi (played by veteran actor Lee Byung-hun) and Ko Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri), a daughter of a family opposing Japanese imperialism.
The first controversy has been raised by Yonsei University professor Oh Young-seob, who said some of the basic historical facts portrayed in the series which cost 40 billion won (US$35.3 million) to make were wrong.
He said the drama incorrectly showed Americans staying in Korea before the 1871 US expedition to Korea, and a scene in which female lead Ko, a member of the righteous army, assassinating an American is also based on incorrect information, because at that point the independence movement fighters did not harbour hostility toward Americans.
It left some regrets that the drama, which airs globally through Netflix, spent so much on high-end cinematography but lacked research and consultation on the historical setting.
Bigger disputes followed when the character Koo Dong-mae, played by Yoo Yeon-seok, a boy from a lower-class butcher family, went to Japan and returned to Korea as a member of the notorious Black Dragon Society.