Director Bong Joon Ho 'proud' of South Koreans overcoming martial law bid

Seoul: Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho said on Thursday he was proud of how his fellow South Koreans had overcome the fallout from impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.

The martial law that triggered South Korea's biggest political crisis in decades lasted about six hours before lawmakers scaled walls of the National Assembly to vote it down, defying efforts to seal off the area by the military and police.

Bong, who was holding a press event for his new sci-fi dark comedy Mickey 17 in Seoul, said that while legal proceedings over the martial law bid needed to be completed, normal life could at least continue.

"We are now holding a film press conference and music, films and our daily lives continue without hesitation," said Bong.

"I think that's the pride of our citizens who have already overcome the martial law," said Bong, who was among a group of film industry figures that issued a statement condemning the martial law declaration at the time.

Yoon has been suspended from his post and is on trial for alleged insurrection over his martial law bid, which sought to ban political and parliamentary activity and control the media.

Mickey 17 is Bong's first film since Parasite which made history as the first film in a language other than English to win the Oscar for best picture in 2020 and was widely celebrated in South Korea.

Bong said actor Mark Ruffalo who stars in his upcoming film emailed him to check if he was okay soon after the martial law declaration. Bong said he told Ruffalo not to worry.

The director said it was somewhat surreal to find out about Yoon's late-night declaration of martial law when he had been watching a report about K-pop.

"While watching the news about how high Rose from BLACKPINK's song charted this week, it was very strange to suddenly see that martial law had broken out."

The villain in Mickey 17, a demagogic politician played by Ruffalo, was based on past dictators, not present leaders, but might seem familiar to viewers because "history always repeats itself," the Oscar winner said in Berlin earlier this month.

While there was no particular political message in his latest film, an adaptation of a novel by Edward Ashton, Bong said he hoped it would bring empathy and consolation to viewers.