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Amid a sharp surge in exchange rates caused by the worsening international situation, such as the West Asia war, actor Zo In Sung has been caught in the crossfire. Some far-right netizens are taking issue with his past remarks and are launching politically motivated attacks through comments.
Recently, Zo In Sung's social media accounts have been flooded with malicious comments referencing political leanings, such as "Talk about the exchange rate" and "Are all celebrities left-wing?" The controversy was sparked due to Zo In Sung's appearance on MBC's "Son Suk Hee's Questions" last month, where he mentioned the difficulties caused by exchange rate fluctuations during film production.
Zo In Sung appeared alongside director Ryu Seung Wan and shared behind-the-scenes stories from the production of the film Humint. The overseas location shoot for this project coincided with the 2024 December 3 emergency martial law declaration by Yoon Suk Yeol. As the exchange rate surged rapidly at the time, it dealt a significant blow to the production budget.
Addressing this, director Ryu said, "The local staff in Latvia asked if we were okay. The exchange rate started skyrocketing," adding, "That's one of the reasons our production costs increased a lot." Zo In Sung reflected, "That was the biggest issue."
The Moving actor was simply talking about the difficulties he faced due to unexpected increases in production costs while filming the movie. However, as exchange rates recently surpassed the 1,500 won level amid global instability — including conflicts in the Middle East — some Korean netizens appear to be politicizing his remarks.
Comments such as: "Are you left-wing?" "The exchange rate is at 1,510 won. Why are you quiet now?", "You said you couldn't film because the exchange rate rose during martial law. Why aren't you saying anything now?", "It's passed 1,530 won. At this point, shouldn't you emigrate?", and "Is everything fine now? The country's in ruins."
Meanwhile, some are voicing concern over the excessive wave of malicious comments and expressing support to the actor, saying things like, "Don't pay attention to it," "Why come all the way here just to stir up political propaganda?" and "This is just stupid."
Zo In Sung's most recent post was uploaded on the 20th of last month at the time of writing, and he has shown no response to the comments in question. However, he has continued sharing glimpses of his daily life through stories — for instance, uploading photos of merchandise from the Korean baseball team Hanwha Eagles, which he is known to be a fan of — laid-back and unbothered by the malicious comments.
Following Humint, Zo In Sung is coming to the big screen again with director Na Hong Jin's Hope, which is reportedly scheduled for release this summer.
