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The problem with 'Snowdrop': Why South Koreans want Blackpink Jisoo's K-drama canceled

Many claim that Jisoo's 'Snowdrop' is glorifying the NSA that had been a terror during South Korea's pro-democratic uprising

K-drama lovers and Blinks (Blackpink’s fandom) were all excited for the premiere of the latest K-drama ‘Snowdrop’. A romantic melodrama, it is set during South Korea’s 80s June uprising and civil unrest and stars Blackpink’s Jisoo and Jung Hae-in of ‘D.P.’ fame. After several obstacles like cancellation petitions, delay due to the pandemic and no promotions, it was finally smooth sailing as the drama was acquired by Disney+ and premiered on December 18. However, after the broadcast of the first two episodes, people are again clamoring to get it canceled for allegedly distorting history.

When ‘Snowdrop’s plot was first made public in March 2021, South Korean citizens signed several petitions to get it canceled and sent it to the Blue House (South Korea’s presidential office). They claimed that the drama was distorting history, romanticizing the civil unrest and glamorizing the life of activist Young-cho who would be played by Blackpink’s Jisoo. Production apologized for the misunderstanding, changed the female lead’s name to Young-ro and stated that the plot would be doing justice to the revolution that led to the democracy that South Korea is now.

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'Snowdrop' slammed for glorifying NSA

However, after the premiere of the first episode of ‘Snowdrop’, more than 200,000 South Korean citizens have signed a petition to cancel the drama starring Jung Hae-in and Blackpink’s Jisoo. In the premiere, Jisoo’s Young-ro ignorantly saves Jung Hae-in’s Su-ho who is supposedly a North Korean spy. It also shows the allegedly violent NSA (National Security Planning)  team following proper legal procedures which many South Koreans felt was false. The scene where the NSA team chases the male lead also featured a symbolic song of the uprising which the petition claimed was inappropriate.

It also claimed that since Su-ho was supposedly from North Korea, then being mistaken as an activist fighting for South Korea was insensitive. In reality, there were many innocent people who had been tortured by the NSA for being mistaken as a spy since, at that time, many justified the violence with the implication that North Korea was involved in the uprising. Su-ho's character would further justify the NSA's actions who allegedly tortured activists with false accusations that they were actually North Korean spies.

On top of it, a lot of brands that had sponsored the drama, dropped out as they confessed that they had not received the script. A lot of South Korean and non-Korean fans also spoke up about the alleged distortion of facts on social media for those wondering why viewers couldn’t separate reality from fiction.

According to them ‘Snowdrop’ was glorifying the NSA who in reality had been a terror during the uprising. They shared their parents’ experiences and how they had been tortured or known people who had been tortured by the NSA on false accusations. Many viewers also spoke up that additionally with the casting of Blackpink’s Jisoo, who is a famous K-pop idol, the drama would be spreading false information to her huge international fanbase that would be tuning in to see the drama.

'Very unfortunate'

Some viewers felt that the show should be given a chance as only two episodes have aired up till its point. One viewer tweeted, “There are very good points that should be respected but also a lot of lies that are being used to get the drama cancelled and to get clout. very unfortunate to see but I will not speak on it further.” Some also translated Korean posts that did not have a problem with the distortion of history since it is fiction, “Knetz defending snowdrop after watching today's episode and prasing jisoo acting.” 

However, a lot of viewers made informative threads as to why for this particular drama, it was important not to whitewash one of the bloodiest revolts in South Korean history. One user shared, “It’s fiction to you because you don’t recognize anything in this show The politics and history are unfamiliar to you, you don’t have the knowledge to recognize the glaring red flags You don’t know your own ignorance.” Another shared, “A fiction that has a female lead who has globally big fanbase and a lot literal children following her a** and learning being educated from the fictions she's acting in, same goes to every other actor there, however it's very obvious she's attracting most of intl audience.”

Many compared the NSA to the KGB and the current civil unrest in the Philippines, “As someone from philippines where the dark martial law era is being glorified & its murders & atrocities being forgotten as it gets labelled the golden age, i agree that snowdrop should be cancelled. im sad coz i saw jisoo's acting & its great but no to historical revisionism.” Another viewer shared, “The story that there were spies from North Korea behind South Korea's democratization movement is their fiction to beautify South Korea's dictatorship. Many of the many people who were tortured for being spies are still surviving.”