Hong Joon-pyo, the mayor of Daegu, commented on the current political situation, including the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, by saying, “It feels like watching the movie Asura.” On January 8th, through his Facebook account, Mayor Hong interpreted the current political landscape in five ways, expressing his views. He critiqued, “A country where it’s acceptable for a judge to issue warrants and legislate, an ineffective anti-corruption watchdog can enforce invalid warrants without issue, and a parliament can unlawfully impeach the executive branch.”
He further added, “A country where one can skip their own trial at will but forcibly order the arrest for another’s illegal investigation, and a country in turmoil due to one person’s misdeeds. It feels like watching the movie Asura.”
In the past, people from the ruling party have often likened Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, to the movie “Asura.” In February of last year, Seung-hwan Lee, a former member of the People Power Party’s branch in Seoul’s Jungnang district, said on Facebook, “Leader Lee has scrapped the mixed-member proportional representation system he once promised as part of his presidential campaign and lifelong wish. He plans to create a sleazy proportional party called the Democratic Reform Progressive Election Alliance and line up by proportional rank,” claiming that “half of it is a satellite party, half is a minority party platform, and half embodies Leader Lee’s Asura-like traits.”
Mayor Hong has made similar comments for a long time. In September 2021, he mentioned, “He’s trying to escape an astronomical corruption scandal with an incomprehensible method. The connection to the construction corruption scandal is precisely the Seongnam development scandal initiated by Mayor Lee Jae-myung,” adding, “It’s downright brazen. It feels exactly like watching the movie ‘Asura.'”
The movie “Asura,” released in 2016, is set in the fictional city of ‘Annam’ and revolves around the mayor, who commits various crimes in collusion with gangsters, and a police officer dealing with the aftermath. Whenever related issues, such as the series of extreme choices by people around Leader Lee or suspicions about his connections with an entrepreneur with a criminal background, arise, figures like Mayor Hong have frequently referenced ‘Asura.’