South Korean actor Kim Ji Won ’s latest K-drama , Doctor X: Mafia in White , has been pulling in record ratings, but its latest episode has also landed it in hot water. The medical drama is facing backlash for bringing the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising into its storyline, with a petition filed before South Korea’s National Assembly seeking to halt its broadcast and review how the episode was produced.
Kim Ji Won absolutely anchors the premiere as a surgeon who refuses to play along with toxic hospital politics. Despite the controversy, viewers have continued to tune in. An excerpt from Hindustan Times review read, “Doctor X: Mafia in White opens with serious momentum. There is a specific kind of satisfaction in watching a brilliant outsider slowly dismantle a corrupt system, and this series taps right into that exact energy. they easily give you enough reasons to stay tuned and see just how far this medical rebellion will go.” While the first two episodes are still setting the board.
Doctor X opened with nationwide ratings of 11.4% and 14.9% for its first two episodes, recording the highest miniseries premiere ratings in South Korea for 2026 at the time. The sixth episode pushed the numbers higher still, reaching a peak rating of 21.3%.
The controversy centres on the sixth episode, which aired on October 24. It features Kim Ji-won’s character, Gye Soo Jeung, attempting to remove a bullet that has been lodged in a patient’s brain for 46 years. The injury is connected to the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju in May 1980.
For Kim Ji-won, the show marks her return to television two years after the phenomenal success of Queen of Tears . Doctor X: Mafia in White follows Gye Soo Jeung, a talented and unconventional surgeon who takes on corruption within hospital administration. The series is a Korean adaptation of the Japanese medical drama franchise Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon.
Along with calling for the production process to be examined, the petitioner has demanded that the series be taken off air. The petition was submitted through the National Assembly’s online petition platform and gathered the 100 signatures required to proceed to the review stage for public disclosure.
