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Over 3,000 in film industry call for President Yoon's impeachment

Published: 08 Dec. 2024, 17:03

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Directors Bong Joon-ho, left, and Park Chan-wook [JOONGANG ILBO]

Over 3,000 people in the film industry, including the directors of "Parasite" (2019) and "Decision to Leave" (2022), called for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, according to the Association for Film Industry Crisis and Recovery on Sunday.

The petition was open for 30 hours from Thursday to Friday and gathered signatures from 3,007 individuals and 81 organizations.

Actors Gang Dong-won and Son Ye-jin were not included in the list as previously reported by this paper, confused with non-actors who had the same names. The Association re-sent the list with the names and their titles to avoid further confusion among the press.

A total of 239 actors did, however, participate in the petition in addition to directors, students, critics, marketing agents, producers, film staff and theatergoers.

“The emergency martial law declaration on Tuesday is something that is beyond common sense. Even when applying moviemaking’s imagination, this would still be considered a delusion, but it nonetheless happened in our reality,” the Association for Film Industry Crisis and Recovery’s petition reads.

“For Koreans in the film industry, Yoon Suk Yeol is no longer the president of Korea but simply a criminal.”

The impeachment vote, which took place Saturday evening, did not pass as the motion was dismissed because not enough members — namely from Yoon's own party — participated in the vote.

Yoon declared emergency martial law Tuesday night, but retracted it six hours later following a unanimous vote at the National Assembly as well as fierce public outcry. The state of martial law, intended to be used during emergencies when the government cannot function, puts the military in temporary control and limits democratic freedoms.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]