'Taksi Unjeonsa' German Actor: "Martial Law, I Thought It Was a Past Event"

Posting Photos of the 'Taeksi Unjeonsa' Set to Indirectly Criticize

A foreign actor who appeared in the movie 'Taxi Driver,' which dealt with the emergency martial law during the May 18 Democratic Uprising, has criticized the martial law incident.

German actor Thomas Kretschmann wrote on his Instagram account on the 8th, "Taxi Driver is a movie about the past. At least that's what I thought." On the same day, he also posted a photo of the set where Taxi Driver was filmed.

Thomas Kretschmann, who played the role of a German reporter in the movie 'A Taxi Driver'. Provided by Showbox.

Kretschmann played the role of German journalist J?rgen Hinzpeter in Taxi Driver. Hinzpeter, a Japan correspondent for Germany's first public broadcaster (ARD-NDR), witnessed the May 18 incident in Gwangju during the nationwide expansion of emergency martial law on May 17, 1980, and played an important role in informing the world about the atrocities at the time. In the movie, he succeeds in reaching Gwangju with the help of Man-seop, a taxi driver played by actor Song Kang-ho.

Journalist Hinzpeter passed away in Germany in January 2016 due to a chronic heart condition. During his illness, he reportedly repeatedly said, "(When I die) please bury me in Gwangju." Following his last wishes, part of his remains was kept in a jar and interred at the May 18 Cemetery.

The taxi driver set posted by Kretschmann. Instagram capture

Earlier, President Yoon declared martial law around 10:25 p.m. on the 3rd. Subsequently, the ruling and opposition parties gathered at the National Assembly around 1 a.m. and passed a resolution demanding the lifting of martial law with 190 votes in favor out of 190 members present. President Yoon announced the lifting of martial law through a live broadcast at 4:27 a.m. the next day, about six hours after the declaration.

Meanwhile, on the 7th, a vote on the impeachment motion against President Yoon was held in the National Assembly, but it was dismissed due to the absence of 105 out of 108 members of the People Power Party, failing to meet the required quorum of 200 votes.

According to current parliamentary law, based on the principle of ne bis in idem (not to repeat a matter that has already been concluded), a bill that has been dismissed once cannot be reintroduced. The Democratic Party of Korea plans to continue submitting impeachment motions by convening a separate temporary session until the impeachment motion is passed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.