Vietnam asks Netflix to stop showing 'Little Women' for distorting history

The agency had submitted a request to Netflix to remove "Little Women" from its film movie library Monday and that the deadline for this request is Wednesday, said Le Quang Tu Do, director of the Department of Radio, Television, and Electronic Information.

Netflix has asked for more time to take down the movie and said it would be done this week.

Do claims that the film violates media and cinema laws due to the actors' inaccurate statements about the Vietnam War in episodes 3 and 8.

Netflix is not susceptible to an administrative penalty since it doesn't have a legal standing representative in Vietnam.

The K-drama Netflix series, an adaptation from the classic novel "Little Women" but with a new refreshing and sinister spin to suit Korean taste, premiered in September.

The film, directed by Jung Seo Kyung and produced by Kim Hee Won, follows the impoverished three sisters, Oh In-Joo (Kim Go Eun), Oh In Kyung (Nam Ji Hyun), and Oh In Hye (Park Park. Ji Hoo).

In-Joo's life is shaken up when her friendly yet mysterious colleague Jin Hwa-Young (Choo Ja-Hyun) dies, leaving her two billion won and a trail that leads to a more sizable slush fund of a whopping 70 billion won.

While they wish to purchase an apartment, they also worry that the money has been stolen and will have an impact on the future. At the same time, they must contend with the forces seeking to reclaim the money.

Last July, Netflix withdrew six episodes of its spy drama "Pine Gap" after regulators found it contained "illegal images" of the infamous "nine-dash line".

The nine-dash line represents China’s fraudulent East Sea claims in flagrant violation of Vietnamese sovereignty over its waters.

It claims 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, which has been met with strong opposition from the international community.

In July 2020, the movie "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" was also found using China's "nine-dash line", which violates Vietnam's sovereignty.

After the Department of Radio, Television, and Electronic Information demanded that erroneous information concerning Vietnam's sovereignty be reviewed and removed, Netflix edited the sequence with the image of the "nine-dash line".

A similar infringement occurred in August 2020 when Vietnam's ancient Hoi An Town was dubbed a Chinese landmark in Netflix's American political drama TV series "Madam Secretary".