Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Netflix 'The Glory' director responds to allegations of school violence
Director Ahn Gil-ho of Netflix's recent hit series “The Glory” / Courtesy of Netflix
By Lee Gyu-lee
By Lee Gyu-lee
The director of Netflix's hit series, “The Glory,” about a woman taking revenge against her classmates who tormented and tortured her in high school, has admitted to recent accusations of school violence, apologizing to a victim, who was a student at the time, for assaulting him.
The accusation surfaced when an online user wrote a post last Friday, saying the director, Ahn Gil-ho, had assaulted him and another student.
“Director Ahn had a girlfriend when he was studying abroad in the Philippines in 1996. When he heard his girlfriend was made fun of at her school because of him, he got emotional and inflicted enduring pain on others,” the law firm that represents Ahn said in the statement on behalf of the director, Sunday.
“He deeply asks for forgiveness from the bottom of his heart from those who were hurt by this incident. He wants to express that if given the chance, he would like to apologize in person or via a call.”
The user said he was in middle school at the time, attending the same school as Ahn's girlfriend in the Philippines. When Ahn, who went to a different school, found out people at his girlfriend's school teased her, he physically assaulted the user and one other student.
“There were about 15 people there, including Ahn. When he asked us who made fun of his girlfriend and we didn't answer, he made threats like 'I'll bring a knife' and 'I'll stab you,' and he beat us up. The assault lasted for about two hours,” he wrote.
“I didn't want to bring up this bullying issue if Ahn was living rightfully. But for a bully to make a series like 'The Glory,' which is meant to teach lessons about bullying, it felt outrageous and unforgivable. So I've decided to share.”
A poster for the series “The Glory” / Courtesy of Netflix
The director denied assaulting any other students soon after the post was uploaded.
“That never happened,” he said to a local news agency, Yonhap. “I do not recall beating someone up in a group.”
Yonhap additionally reported that his former girlfriend at the time also acknowledged the assault. “Unlike many think, my friends' teasing me wasn't serious. They were just playing around like friends do. If I knew he would assault them like that for teasing me, I wouldn't have told him about it,” she said.
After the reports of Ahn's denial of the accusation, another online post was shared by a user claiming to be Ahn's former classmate.
“About 10 people, including the former girlfriend and the original poster, are preparing to refute his claim,” it wrote. “We will expose the truth until Ahn admits the truth and apologizes. It will be in detail.”
“The Glory” just released the second part of the series, last Friday, debuting at third on Netflix's global streaming chart amid the accusations.