During the opening ceremony of the 29th 'Busan International Film Festival' held on October 2 KST, the late actor Lee Sun Kyun (also Lee Sun Gyun) was recognized with the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for "contributing to the globalization of Korean cinema".
Many of the actors and actresses who attended the opening ceremony were moved to tears when a past interview done by Lee Sun Kyun was aired, and the festival also announced that six of Lee Sun Kyun's representative works would be shown during the festivities to continue paying tribute.
However, some netizens are now criticizing South Korea's film industry for "excessively deifying" Lee Sun Kyun.
While many admit that the actor faced severe, repressive treatment by the police during his illegal drug investigation from October through December of 2023, some netizens are of the opinion that there is reason to believe Lee Sun Kyun was not so "clean" during the investigation.
They pointed to the phone call recording previously released by the press to suggest that Lee Sun Kyun may have "cheated" on his wife with the adult establishment employee whom he kept in contact with, and who was also responsible for blackmailing Lee and receiving 300 million KRW.
In particular, these netizens expressed discomfort and frustration over the industry treating Lee Sun Kyun solely as an "innocent victim" who was "hunted by a witch" for money and services, noting the covert, unequal gender dynamics at work.
Some commented,
"Just because he chose that route to escape the consequences, it doesn't change the fact that he was a top actor in the film industry who regularly visited an adult establishment and bought sexual services. It's a known fact that people in the film industry have ties to the prostitution sector. He might be a victim of repressive police investigation, but he's also a collaborator of a large network that the film industry wants to hide."
"If all of his friends in the film industry want to bawl over him so much, then people will keep drawing attention back to what he's suspected of doing. So just stop deifying him like he's some god. The real victim in all of this is his wife and children."
"Isn't the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' a little excessive? I'm seriously getting creeped out by this country's film industry pretending like this guy didn't solicit prostitution and treating him like an angel."
"His friends in the film industry can cry over him privately all they want. Publicly deifying him to this extent? It smells fishy, like they want to pretend that shady things didn't happen when they definitely did."
"This just makes me believe that all the power wielders behind the scenes in the film industry are all one in the same, they cheat on their wives and are regular customers at private adult establishments and they can have all the drugs they want."
"Honestly, the film industry should be ashamed. They're literally forcing the public to pay tribute to this dirty guy and enforcing their biased values on everyone."
At the same time, many were disappointed that the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the 29th 'Busan International Film Festival' was not awarded to the late actor Byun Hee Bong, who passed away at the age of 81 last month on September 18 after battling pancreatic cancer.
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