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A petition calling for the cancellation of a drama, presumed to be Perfect Crown, over the raging controversy of historical distortion has been referred to the National Assembly as an agenda item.
On May 26, a public consent petition titled "Petition Requesting the Suspension of Broadcast and Removal of Content from Media Platforms for a Drama Controversial for Historical Distortion and Northeast Project Issues" on the National Assembly's electronic petition website surpassed 50,000 signatures. As a result, the petition will now be formally reviewed as an agenda item in the National Assembly.
The petition was posted on May 22 and was set to be referred to a standing committee if it obtained 50,000 signatures within 30 days.
The petitioner wrote, "Although the drama OOOO OOOO currently being broadcast is set in a fictional version of the Republic of Korea, it indiscriminately borrows Chinese-style clothing, norms, and vocabulary, thereby clearly committing cultural appropriation and historical distortion. This seriously violates public sentiment and spreads a distorted version of South Korea's cultural identity to the world. Going beyond simple post-production corrections by the production team, we strongly petition for the immediate suspension of the drama's broadcast and its complete removal from VOD and OTT platforms, as well as the establishment of institutional measures to permanently eliminate this kind of culturally invasive media content in the future.'"
The petitioner pointed to several issues with the drama, stating, "The slogan 'Cheonse (千歲)', which degrades the Republic of Korea to the status of a subordinate state, was used as an official royal court term. Despite being set in a Korean royal family, the drama openly depicts an unmistakably Chinese-style tea ceremony rather than traditional Korean tea culture," — all of which reportedly instills viewers with a misguided perception of Korean culture.
In the petition, the drama's title was written as "OOOO OOOO". However, based on the number of characters in the title and the description of the controversy, the drama has been presumed to be Perfect Crown.
Perfect Crown is also currently under investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism after a complaint was filed requesting regulatory review over production funding support from the Korea Creative Content Agency.
The drama was one of the final selections in KOCCA's 2025 "OTT-Specialized Content Production Support" program under the long-form drama category. The project was carried out with a total budget of 7.5 billion won across seven productions.
The Korea Creative Content Agency plans to conduct a final evaluation of the project within May and could reclaim the funding if the drama is deemed ineligible for support.
Amid the raging controversy, the production team, lead actors IU and Byeon Woo Seok, director Park Joon Hwa, and writer Yoo Ji Won issued apologies.
Perfect Crown's production team also stated that they would revise the problematic audio and subtitles as quickly as possible for future rebroadcasts, as well as VOD and OTT services.
Perfect Crown follows Seong Hee Joo (IU), a chaebol heiress who has everything except a royal status, and Prince Yi An (Byeon Woo Seok), the king's son who, despite being a royal, cannot have anything, as they set out on a journey to carve their destinies, defying the social statuses that confine them.
Perfect Crown is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
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