”Are the king and the envoys of the same class?”... ”The Tyrant's Chef” - Author refutes controversy over historical distortion

When criticism was raised that the depiction of the Joseon king and Ming dynasty envoy sitting side by side in the tvN drama 'The Tyrant's Chef' was a "historical distortion," the original author quickly refuted it, saying, "I have thoroughly researched the story based on official documents."

Park Guk-jae, the author of the original web novel 'The Tyrant's Chef' based on, recently shared an excerpt from the Joseon dynasty's official state etiquette book, "Gogjo Wu," on his social media account.

Park explained, "Looking at the official etiquette section, banquets are held in the Taepyeongwan, where the envoys stay, and the envoys' seats are located in the east, while the king sits in the west."

He continued, "Originally, the envoys' seats were actually the higher seats," adding, "In Confucian etiquette, directions indicate hierarchy, and the east is higher than the west."

He continued, "Since Ming envoys were representatives of the emperor, they were ceremonially ranked higher than the Joseon king." He added, "This has nothing to do with national power or sovereignty. Please think of it as a diplomatic custom or protocol used at international events at the time."

Earlier in "The Tyrant's Chef," a scene was shown in which chefs from the Joseon palace kitchen and chefs accompanying Ming envoys compete in a cooking competition.

During this scene, Yeong-hee Gun Lee Heon (played by Lee Chae-min) is seen sitting next to Ming envoy Woo-gon (played by Kim Hyun-muk), eating and being judged.

In response, some online communities have argued that having the king and envoys sit at the same height is a historical distortion.

Writer Park dismissed this claim, saying, "The Five Etiquette Rules of the State are an official state book of etiquette compiled just 30 years before the time of the story," and "It is highly likely that the rules were followed exactly as they were written at the time."