KOCCA Reviews Recovery of '21st Century Grand Princess' Funding Amid Controversy

The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is investigating whether to reclaim government production funds from the MBC drama 21st Century Grand Princess. The series, which concluded amid intense public backlash over historical inaccuracies, is being evaluated for potential violations of regulatory standards under the OTT-specialized content production support project.

Key Facts

• 21st Century Grand Princess, a drama set in a fictional 21st-century constitutional monarchy starring IU and Byeon Woo-seok, ended its broadcast on May 16.
• The series was one of four works selected for the 2025 OTT-specialized content production support project, which offered a total budget of 7.5 billion won ($5.7M USD) with a maximum of 2 billion won ($1.5M USD) per work.
• Viewers cited specific historical distortions, including characters wearing Chinese-style imperial coronets, depictions of Chinese tea ceremonies, and subjects shouting "Cheon-se" (a term for vassal states) instead of "Man-se."
• Lead actors IU and Byeon Woo-seok apologized on social media on May 18, followed by Director Park Joon-hwa and writer Ryu Ji-won on May 19.
• While the cast and crew expressed regret, MBC has remained silent.
• KOCCA has received numerous formal complaints demanding the recovery of taxpayer-funded grants due to cultural inaccuracies.

Key Terms

• KOCCA: The Korea Creative Content Agency, a government body overseeing and funding cultural content development.
• Cheon-se: A historical term wishing "one thousand years" of life, typically used for royalty in vassal states, as opposed to "Man-se" (ten thousand years) used for emperors.
• OTT-specialized content production support project: A government initiative helping domestic creators acquire intellectual property for streaming platform content.

Key Quote

"We are currently reviewing whether there is a violation of regulations. Evaluations are scheduled to be conducted through this month and the beginning to mid-part of next month." — Official from the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)

Next

• KOCCA will conduct a final project evaluation from late May through mid-June.
• A final decision on reclaiming support funds will depend on whether the production violated cultural and regulatory guidelines.
• Public attention remains focused on whether MBC will issue an official stance.