(Continuing from interview ①) Writer Jeong Seo-kyung and director Kim Hee-won of Northern Star opened up about the controversy over the anti-China line.
On the 2nd at a café in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, an interview was held with Jeong Seo-kyung, writer of the Disney+ original series Northern Star, and director Kim Hee-won.
Northern Star is a drama about Moon-ju (Jeon Ji-hyun), who has built an international reputation as a United Nations (UN) ambassador and pursues those behind the shooting of a presidential candidate, and the stateless special agent Sanho (Gang Dong-won), who must protect her, as they confront a huge truth threatening the Korean Peninsula.
However, a scene in which Seo Moon-ju (played by Jeon Ji-hyun) says, "Why does China prefer war?" drew strong backlash from internet users in China and became a topic of controversy.
Regarding this, Jeong Seo-kyung said, "From the beginning of the worldbuilding we show Korea, but I wondered what if it didn't look like our Korea. The unification issue also happens in this world, doesn't it? I wanted to show a fictional world. Countries, too, have the same names but refer to fictional forces. I thought it would be fine to name every country, but it would lose reality, so sometimes the same names ended up being used. I hope people view it as a story based on fictional facts," she explained.
Director Kim Hee-won also said, "We explained our intentions to the actors in the same way. In fact, the actors themselves—take Jeon Ji-hyun, for example—are the type to carefully consider global viewers. We told them in advance, 'You don't need to worry. It's a fictional story. There is no intent.'" He added, "The actors performed faithfully to that, so we feel sorry. If there are viewers who are upset, we apologize," bowing his head.
He continued, "Ideally, the work's setting would be completely fictional, but that would make it too fantastic and look like a space war, so we had no choice. I'm glad we have this opportunity to speak. Since our broadcast hasn't finished, if you watch the drama to the end, I'm sure you'll understand the context and that there was no intent to belittle. (We wanted to explain, but) neither of us has an SNS account. Creating one suddenly might make things more suspicious," he appealed.
He also relayed actress Jeon Ji-hyun's reaction after the controversy. Writer Jeong said, "I spoke with her, and I was impressed by her composure. Our production team felt very sorry. If this could have caused such misunderstanding, we should have been more careful. But she comforted us instead. Watching the character Moon-ju go through hardships and continue to move forward, I realized she resembles that character," she admired.
Director Kim said, "Because Jeon Ji-hyun has so many global fans, she was worried they might be disappointed. The actress only did her best to perform. Even though she must have been upset, she told us she hoped people would watch it to the end and like it. We were the ones who were grateful. I always say she has a 'big vessel,' and indeed her vessel is large," he admired.
(Continued in interview ③)<
[Photo] Provided by The Walt Disney Company Korea
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