Drama "Five Fingers" Accused of Plagiarism

Recently started SBS drama, “Five Fingers” had already seen slight controversy with the change of line-up in the cast by replacing T-ara‘s Eunjung with Jin Se Yeon. However, the drama is facing new troubles by being accused of plagiarism. Although “Five Fingers” is being accused of plagiarizing the novel, “Murder Rhapsody,” the drama’s staff are saying, “We have never even heard of the novel.”

Kang Shin Hyo PD of “Five Fingers” spoke with Star News on September 10 and said, “This is the first time I’ve heard of ‘Murder Rhapsody.’ I don’t even know what it’s about so I think I need to read it first before any of this continues.” He continued, “Speaking for all our staff members, none of us knew about the book. We will need to go through the contents of the book first.”

The accusation first started on a blog about pop culture. The blogger made a list of all the similarities between the two works. Some of these points include the fact that both stories revolve around a family that focuses on the piano, the clash between a biological child and an illegitimate child, the fact that the main character hurts his pinky finger and gives up on his pianist dream, the husband dying because of a fire, and more.

The author of “Murder Rhapsody,” Kim Joo Yeon also spoke with Star News and said, “Not only are the basic settings the same but even the character descriptions are the same so I think there is definitely a problem. The production company is currently looking at this problem.”

Kim Joo Yeon continued, “It’s hard to make clear judgments on plagiarism cases and a lot of times, these cases don’t even receive a proper legal hearing. Therefore, I will be discussing this very carefully with my lawyer and take the appropriate legal actions.”

“Five Fingers” is about a genius pianist who struggles to fulfill his dream and find his love, while overcoming family hardships. “Murder Rhapsody” is a novel revolving around three different stories, one of which, includes a genius musician and his adoptive mother, who is a failed pianist.