"Perfect Crown" remains hotly debated over historical distortion even after its finale, and the possibility of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) reclaiming grants has been raised.
On the 21st, the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) said, "Perfect Crown was a final selection in KOCCA's '2025 OTT specialized content production support' long-form drama institutional sector. At present, both the first- and second-round grants have been fully paid," it said.
However, the final procedures related to grant payments remain. If a project is judged ineligible in the final evaluation, the agreement is terminated and the full grant must be returned within 30 days of notification.
Regarding this, KOCCA said, "Nothing has been decided yet. The final evaluation has not been completed. The evaluation results are expected to be released from late May to early-to-mid June," it said.
According to KOCCA's announcement for the '2025 OTT specialized content production support' program on its website, KOCCA decided to support 7 drama and non-drama works that can be serviced on domestic and overseas OTT platforms with a total of 7.5 billion won. Among them, Perfect Crown and the tvN drama The Second Signal were selected in the long-form drama institutional sector and received production funding.
Although the specific support amounts were not disclosed, selected long-form dramas could receive up to 2 billion won. Perfect Crown received the full grant in two installments to cover production costs and concluded its broadcast when it ended on the 16th.
However, Perfect Crown has faced fierce criticism after its finale over allegations of historical distortion. In episode 11, aired on the 15th as the finale approached, the male lead, Grand Prince Ian (played by Byeon Woo-seok), attended his coronation wearing a gu-ryu mianliu crown and received chants of "cheon-se cheon-se cheon-cheon-se" from attendees, which sparked controversy. The gu-ryu mianliu crown and "cheon-se" are symbols of vassal-state rulers, whereas an imperial state uses the shiyi mianliu crown and "manse." Critics say the scene provided a pretext for China's Northeast Project historical distortion claiming that Joseon was once a vassal state of China.
In response, Perfect Crown posted an apology on its official website and edited broadcasts and OTT VOD services to mute the "cheon-se cheon-se cheon-cheon-se" portion and remove the subtitles. In addition, the director apologized in an interview, the writer apologized on the official website, and the lead actors Byeon Woo-seok and IU also apologized. However, public criticism remains intense.
[Photo] Provided by MBC.
[OSEN]