Also known as 'The Fifth Republic' Final episode date 11 September 2005 Number of episodes 41 | Written by Yoo Jung-soo First episode date 23 April 2005 Number of seasons 1 | |
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Genre Period dramaDocudramaBiopic Directed by Im Tae-wooKim Sang-rae Starring Lee Deok-hwaSeo In-seokHong Hak-pyoLee Jin-wooCha Kwang-sooLee Jae-yong Network Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Cast Lee Deok‑hwa, Kim Nam‑gil, Seo In‑seok, Lee Jin‑Woo, Mi‑kyeong Yang Similar 3rd Republic, Rustic Period, Shin Don, Age of Heroes, Yeon Gaesomun | ||
5th Republic (Hangul: 제5공화국; Hanja: 第5共和國; RR: Je-o Gonghwaguk) is a 2005 South Korean television series that aired on MBC from April 23 to September 1, 2005 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:40 for 41 episodes. It depicted the Fifth Republic of South Korea, during which Chun Doo-hwan was president from 1981 to 1988, from his rise to power through a military coup to his downfall after a series of democratic movements, such as the Gwangju uprising and the June Democratic Uprising. It was a politically and socially turbulent era in the country's history, which generated controversy for the drama series.
17 former politicians and key aides of Chun's (including Chang Se-dong, his former chief-of-staff; Hur Hwa-pyong, lawmaker; Jeong Ho-yong, former Army Chief of Staff; and Lee Hak-bong, former vice director of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency) attempted to halt the drama in pre-production, and failing that, sent a statement to the producers with claims of historical distortion and threatened legal action unless the script was changed. The production refused, with producer-director Im Tae-woo saying that they tried their best to maintain objectivity by basing their script on historical records and information that they collected for three years, such as Supreme Court rulings, and other hearing documents and news reports at that time.