KBS2‘s new drama ‘I Stole the First Night of the Male Lead’ damaged Byeongsan Seowon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while filming.

Architect Min Seo-hong wrote on his Facebook on the 2nd, “I’m recording my experience of witnessing Byeongsan Seowon”, and described the scene of cultural heritage damage he saw when he visited Byeongsan Seowon on December 30th of last year. The photo he shared with the text shows nails hammered into the top of a pillar of Mandeoru for use as a drama prop.

Architect Min said, “As we got closer to our destination, I saw many staff members busily coming and going, and it was only after we reached the entrance that I realized Byeongsan Seowon was a filming set. “Byeongsan Seowon is Historic Site No. 260 and a precious cultural heritage site registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so I went inside with a slightly unpleasant feeling.”He continued, “I witnessed an absurd situation. Here and there inside the Seowon, there were items that looked like drama props, and some staff members were hammering nails into wooden pillars to hang lanterns. When I looked around, there were already quite a few lanterns hanging from the pillars of Mandeoru,” he explained the situation.

When I asked, “Is it okay to damage cultural assets like that?” the staff members who were working on it seemed annoyed and said, “You’ve already received permission from Andong City. If you have any questions, why don’t you just ask the city hall?” and “How many times do I have to explain that I got permission?” and they started getting angry.

Architect Min added, “I contacted the Cultural Heritage Division of Andong City Hall, and the official in charge replied that they had already issued a permit for filming. I asked them, “Do you know that the drama staff members are hammering nails into wooden pillars? Did they give permission to damage cultural assets?” and only then did the embarrassed official reply that they would immediately order the demolition.” I also filed an additional report with the National Heritage Administration (formerly the Cultural Heritage Administration).

Then on the following day, December 31, Architect Min “contacted the Cultural Heritage Division of Andong City Hall to find out if filming had taken place yesterday and what measures had been taken. The civil servant in charge replied that filming had taken place as planned and that he had contacted the management office. When I first reported it, I hoped that at least the civil servant in charge would come to the site to check the situation and take follow-up measures, but I felt that there had not been sufficient measures taken”, and he also disclosed the content of his report to the broadcasting station. The broadcasting station informed Architect Min that the National Heritage Administration was aware of the situation.

In the process, “I explained the situation to Professor Lee of Yonsei University and Professor Yoon of Hongik University and while asking for help, I learned that this kind of thing happens quite often, and in particular, I heard an even more absurd story that in modern historical sites, pillars and walls are sometimes dismantled for filming purposes. “You might think that hammering a few nails is a big deal, but even in a Hanok house, you would hesitate quite a bit to hammer a nail in, so I think we need to be even more careful when it comes to cultural properties.”.

Finally, “I question whether it is right to allow cultural properties to be used as filming locations.”It is regrettable that this kind of thing happened during the filming of a KBS drama, a public broadcasting station. It is by no means something that can be dismissed as trivial.”.

Regarding this, ‘I Took the Namju‘s First Night’ told Donga.com that they are “checking (the series of circumstances)”.

KBS2’s new drama ‘I Stole the Male Lead‘s First Night’ (written by Jeon Seon-yeong/directed by Lee Woong-hee) is a romantic fantasy that unfolds as a supporting character in a romance novel (played by Seo Hyun), who has the soul of an ordinary female college student, spends a night with the novel’s most obsessed male lead (played by Ok Taecyeon).

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com reporter jhj@donga.com