Kim Jong-un Deputy Minister of Culture
“The welcome phone call from casting and the thrilling memories of the first filming are all regarding to disappear.”
Actor Kim Young-woong, who appeared in the Netflix drama ‘The Fool of the End’ with actor Yoo Ah-in, who is under police investigation for drug use, posted on his social network service (SNS) on the 24th of last month. ‘The Last Fool’, which was filmed in August of last year, was scheduled to be released this year. However, due to lead actor Yoo Ah-in’s drug scandal, the timing of the release is unknown. In Yoo Ah-in’s urine and hair tests conducted by the police last month, a total of four types of drug substances were detected: propofol, hemp, cocaine, and ketamine.
Not only Kim Young-woong, but also the supporting actors who appeared in the work with him screamed one following another through SNS. Yoo Ah-in is famous for being a prolific leading actor. A total of three of his next works are scheduled to be released this year. Two of them are new online video service (OTT) movies and dramas, the Netflix movie ‘Complete’, which was scheduled to be released globally next month, and the Netflix drama ‘The Fool of the End’, which was planned to be released globally in the second half of this year. In particular, the movie ‘Seungbu’, which depicts the match between two Korean Go legends, Jo Hoon-hyeon (Lee Byung-hun) and Lee Chang-ho (Yoo Ah-in), was a large-scale project with a whopping 20 billion won in production cost alone. For supporting actors who had few opportunities to appear, these works were opportunities and hopes. Actor Hyeon Bong-sik, who appeared as a supporting actor in ‘Competition’, confessed on SNS that “sadness and regret intersect”, and actor Moon Jeong-hee and others who appeared together left comments of sympathy for the article. Another new movie starring Yoo Ah-in is ‘High Five’. It was directed by Kang Hyung-cheol, who made the films ‘Speed Scandal’ and ‘Sunny’, and was scheduled to be released in June this year. If the release of the works that he starred in is canceled due to Yoo Ah-in’s drug scandal, Yoo Ah-in will have to pay a large penalty to Netflix. However, in the case of the colleagues and staff, there is no way to compensate for the damage.
Leading actors, including Yoo Ah-in, receive high performance fees that are incomparable to ordinary people’s salaries, sometimes even annual salaries, per episode. I don’t want to argue regarding their fees. This is because the perfection and added value of the work refined by their acting is acknowledged. However, I would like to point out that their performance pay includes not only their popularity and skills, but also their value as influential public figures.
We have seen numerous celebrities who have caused controversy and self-restraint due to charges of drug use, drunk driving, and sexual assault. Most of them quietly returned at some point and worked as if nothing had happened. On the other hand, the pain and missed opportunities of the supporting actors and staff, whose livelihood depended on a single work, were rarely highlighted.
“The character of actor Yoo Ah-in was created by the audience, so I want to take care of him more preciously and create good moments.”
This is what Yoo Ah-in said in an interview with the media last August. It seems that he was completely unaware of his responsibility as a public figure. But he ended up cheating his fans and colleagues. It is an era in which K-content is recognized worldwide. I hope that K-stars’ sense of responsibility and ethics will rise appropriately.
Kim Jong-un, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture, [email protected]