'Perfect Crown' hit with intense backlash after seemingly portraying fictional Korea as a 'tributary state' of China

MBC's trending historical fantasy drama 'Perfect Crown' is being hit with possibly its biggest controversy yet, ahead of its finale. 

[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD] 

On the May 15 broadcast of 'Perfect Crown', prince Yi Ahn (played by Byeon Woo Seok) ascended to the throne with the help of Sung Hee Joo (IU). 

As many of you know, 'Perfect Crown' is set in a fantasized Korea which operates as a constitutional monarchy. In the drama's timeline, Korea was never annexed by Japan, and the Yi Dynasty continued to reign after the transition into the 20th century. The country formally adopted the constitutional monarchy system after the end of the second World War with the Yi family maintaining royal status. 

While many had previously raised questions and peculiarities with the drama's treatment of the constitutional monarchy system throughout its plot development, the moment of Yi Ahn's ascension to the throne shown on May 15 has triggered the most intense criticism yet. 

During this scene, Yi Ahn appeared dressed in a hat known as the 'Guryumyeongwan'. Characterized by its 9 beaded strings attached to the front and back, this was the hat traditionally worn by the king during the Joseon dynasty to designate his status as the lord of a tributary kingdom. Historically until Joseon's late years, the kingdom of Korea paid tribute to China to varying degrees, and therefore the king followed customs such as wearing the 'Guryumeyongwan' while conducting his royal duties. In actual history, King Gojong attempted to fully renounce this tributary status in 1897 by formally declaring Joseon the independent 'Daehan Empire' and designating himself the emperor.

Thus, if Yi Ahn were ascending to the throne of an independent empire unbound to a higher sovereign, he would have worn the 'Sipyiryumyeongwan', characterized by 12 beaded strings attached to the front and back and symbolizing the most sovereign ruler of an empire. 

Furthermore, once Yi Ahn sat on his throne, the members of his parliament shouted "Cheon-se" (literally "may the kingdom prosper for a thousand years") instead of "Man-se" (literally "may the kingdom prosper for ten thousand years"), also reminding viewers of the Joseon period custom when the use of "Man-se" was permitted only when referring to the emperor of China. When addressing the king of Joseon, people were only permitted to use "Cheon-se".

Based on the above, many Korean viewers angrily accused 'Perfect Crown' of imagining contemporary Korea as still bound to China through a tributary system. Some also claimed that such a fictional portrayal supported China's Northeast Project, which sought to reframe China-Korea relations in history as one of a dominant protector (China) and vassal state (Joseon).

Meanwhile, 'Perfect Crown' also previously faced criticism during its plot development for "stripping the king's mother of her due power". Many viewers found it very "un-Korean" that the king's mother, who has historically exercised immense power throughout Korea's actual pre-modern history, wielded less power than the crown prince in the storyline, particularly pointing to Yi Ahn's ability to challenge the king'd mother, Yoon Yi Rang (played by Gong Seung Yeon) as "unconvincing". Some claimed that this hierarchical structure of allotting more power to the prince than the king's mother was modeled after Japan's monarchy rather than Korea's, accusing the drama of demonstrating "pro-Japanese" inclinations. 

'Perfect Crown' is set to air its final episode on May 16 KST.