Byeon Woo-seok (left) and IU, leads of the MBC FridaySaturday drama ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’, for which a National Assembly public-consent petition was established amid historical distortion·Northeast Project controversies. The photo is from the production presentation. Yonhap News
A National Assembly public-consent petition over allegations of historical distortion in the MBC FridaySaturday drama ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ has met the requirements. Established four days after registration, it will be referred to the competent committee under the National Assembly Act for review.
As of the 26th, the National Assembly public-consent petition titled “Petition requesting suspension of the broadcast of a drama embroiled in historical distortion and Northeast Project controversies and disposal of its content on media platforms” has reached 50,000 supporters. By meeting the threshold of 50,000 within 30 days of registration, it will now proceed as an agenda item at the National Assembly level.
The petitioner argued, “Although set in a fictional Republic of Korea, it indiscriminately borrows Chinese-style attire, etiquette, and vocabulary, which constitutes clear cultural encroachment and historical distortion,” and demanded the work be scrapped.
The petitioner also stated, “This gravely tramples on public sentiment and spreads a distorted version of the Republic of Korea cultural identity worldwide,” adding, “Beyond simple post-release edits by the production team, we demand the drama be halted immediately and be completely removed from VOD·OTT platforms, and we strongly petition for institutional measures to permanently eliminate such culturally invasive media in the future.”
Accordingly, agendas such as discontinuing the broadcast of ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ will, after referral to the competent committee of the National Assembly, be handled based on the review result, which may include submission to a plenary session or transfer to the government.
The public-consent petition calling for the suspension of ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ has reached 50,000 consents and is now subject to referral to the competent committee of the National Assembly. Screenshot from the National Assembly public-consent petition website
A comparable case is ‘Joseon Exorcist’, which began airing in 2021 and likewise ceased broadcasting amid similar controversies over historical distortion and the Northeast Project. At the time, a presidential office public petition titled “We request the immediate suspension of broadcasting of the historically distorting, Northeast Project drama ‘Joseon Exorcist’” drew about 70,000 consents in a single day, causing a stir.
‘Joseon Exorcist’ saw major companies suspend advertising, and after only two episodes, SBS decided to cancel its scheduling and terminate the contract to purchase broadcast rights.
Because the current petition on ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ explicitly specifies “complete removal from VOD·OTT,” the National Assembly review may also address issues such as obligations for post-release corrections by broadcasters and global OTT services, responsibility for rectifications in overseas distribution versions, and mandating pre-production historical verification consulting.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has launched an investigation into a complaint that requested oversight of production funding support for ‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ by the Korea Creative Content Agency.
‘21st-Century Grand Prince Consort’ was selected as a final entry in the 2025 “OTT-specialized content production support (IP acquisition type)” program run by the agency, in the drama feature category. The program covers seven projects totaling 7.5 billion KRW, and in the drama category, four out of 89 submissions were selected.
The agency will conduct a results evaluation for the program during May and may reclaim the grant if a project is deemed ineligible.
