As the tvN drama 'The Tyrant's Chef' faces controversy over historical distortion, the original author, Park Guk-jae, has stepped forward to refute the claims.
On the 19th, Park expressed his stance on his social media regarding the recent controversy surrounding certain scenes in the drama.
Previously, actor Lee Chae-min, who plays the role of Yeonhui-gun in 'The Tyrant's Chef', was seen sitting next to a Ming Dynasty envoy and bowing to greet him. Some viewers criticized this, stating, "According to the 'Annals of Sejong', the king should sit on the throne, and the envoy should be seated below to the east," arguing that it deviated from historical facts.
However, Park cited the 'Gukjo Oryeui', the official etiquette book of Joseon written in 1474, stating, "In the section on the empty rites, it mentions 'the way to entertain envoys in the court', where the envoy's seat is located against the eastern wall, and the throne is against the western wall. This indicates a seating arrangement where the king and the envoy face each other at the same height."
Regarding the scene where Yeonhui-gun bows to the envoy, he explained, "Further examination of records shows that the king first bows (Yip) to the envoy, and the envoy responds with a bow (Dap Yip). The reason is simple: the Ming envoy is a representative of the emperor, thus holding a higher ceremonial rank than the Joseon king."
He added, "This has nothing to do with national power or sovereignty. It can be viewed as a diplomatic custom or protocol that was common in international events at the time. The 'Gukjo Oryeui' was compiled just 30 years before the period depicted in the drama. It is highly likely that it was practiced as written back then. Therefore, the portrayal of the envoy's meeting is based on official documents and has been properly researched."
Meanwhile, the drama 'The Tyrant's Chef', based on a web novel of the same name, is a fantasy romantic comedy centered around the meeting of a chef who time slips to the past and a tyrant. The eighth episode recently recorded a viewership rating of 15.4% (Nielsen Korea, nationwide), gaining immense popularity.
[Lee Da-kyum, Star Today Reporter]
