SBS’s “Joseon Exorcist” has aired its first episode last night to great reception ratings wise, however, the first episode has also come under fire for the Chinese props used in it.
On March 22, one scene in SBS’s “Joseon Exorcist” shows the main cast around a table with a western exorcist. On the table, viewers noticed Chinese mooncakes and the Chinese pidan (century eggs). What appears to also be a Chinese style liquor bottle with the Chinese character for liquor written on it also appeared.
This resulted in immense backlash from viewers who said this portrayal counts as distortion of Korean history.
As a result, SBS issued an explanation for the situation, they stated that the location for the filming was set up as in the vicinity of Uiju County (Ming Dynasty’s border) in order to emphasize the situation where the 3rd prince had to travel long distance to the Chinese borders in place of the crown prince in order to bring back the Western exorcist. They added that subtitles were added on the screen for this as well.
The production team explained that the location is close to the border with the Ming Dynasty and they have prepared props using their imagination that such region would be frequently visited by Chinese people.
SBS added,
“This was just a setup to explain the location of these characters who were in a remote far area from Hanyang (Seoul) in the story, and there were no special intentions behind this at all.
We are sorry for causing discomfort for the viewers through a scene that could be misunderstood during this sensitive time. We will pay closer attention to the production in future broadcasts.”
“Joseon Exorcist” premiered its first episode on March 22 at 10 p.m. KST.
