MOVIES - Oct. 3, 1988

The protests in South Korea over direct American distribution of the film “Fatal Attraction” in the Olympic country continue today, with Seoul theaters showing the film being guarded by riot police and facing large losses from organized boycotts of the film and large-scale protests by film workers. The protests, led by the Korean film industry, revolve around new government regulations allowing direct distribution of foreign films by their countries of origin, allowing large American studios to bypass Korean distributors. Some film industry officials welcome the new law, however. A Seoul theater manager defended direct film distribution by Americans. “Limited competition with good foreign movies will help boost the quality of our pictures,” he said.