The KBS new drama "You're the Best Lee Soon Shin" has received over 20% viewing rate and kicked off to a great start. Before the cast and crew could be happy about the results, they were face with a strong opposition regarding the use of the name "Lee Soon Shin".
** "Stop Insulting the Great General Lee Soon Shin
Viewers began to express their discomfort regarding certain parts of the drama. One scene that became an issue in the first episode is where Lee Soon Shin (IU) goes to a job interview. At the interview, an interviewer says, "Is that your real name? Why don't you just go defend Dokdo Island or something?" Another scene that became an issue is the scene where Shin Joon Ho (Jo Jung Suk) says, "Hey! Ten cents!", in the second episode.
Even though the production crew did not intend to offend anybody, especially the General Lee Soon Shin, a lot of people found the use of the name very inappropriate. General Lee Soon Shin is Korea's savior. Which is the reason why people continued to post things like, "Apologize right now" and "Stop the insults toward General Lee Soon Shin" on the drama's bulletin board.
The Organization for the Korean Youth called DN applied for a ban against the use of General Lee Soon Shin's name in the KBS drama "You're the Best Lee Soon Shin" on March 11 and shocked the public. They stated that KBS does not have the right to ruin the image of the Great General Lee Soon Shin as well as claiming that the younger generation will recognize the name Lee Soon Shin as the teen singer IU. It seems as though KBS will not be able to escape this easily.
Regarding the opposition, the production crew of the KBS drama stated that they are not planning on changing the name of the name character because they are not disrespecting history nor insulting General Lee Soon Shin. They stand firm on not changing the name of the character Lee Soon Shin especially because nobody opposed to the use of the name when they first proposed their project. They then suggested that these opposition was created by the anti-fans of IU.
** The Opposition is because of IU?
Unlike the production crew hoped for, the opposition that demands the name change does not seem to have been created by the anti-fans of IU from seeing that the issue has become more serious after they have made the statement. The public became furious seeing that the production crew failed to see the real issue at hand.
Honestly, it is reasonable for the production crew of the drama to find the name change unnecessary. However, the way they handled the situation is most definitely inappropriate. It is very disappointing to see that they are blaming the cause of the issue on IU's anti-fans. Even though they feel that they're innocent, the right thing to do here is to think about why these oppositions have appeared and try to understand them.
It is not too late to fix this fight between KBS and the viewers. We hope to see the production crew of "You're the Best Lee Soon Shin" to find new ways to satisfy the viewer's demands regarding the use of the general's name.
