Following the release of the first seven episodes of the South Korean drama series, “Snowdrop”, the Star Original series has been causing significant problems in South Korea due to its alleged inaccuracies.

The series is set in 1987 and tells the story of a North Korean spy who jumps into a women’s university dormitory in Seoul and meets Young-ro, played by Jisoo, who is a member of the popular K-Pop girl group, “Blackpink, a female university student who falls in love with him, takes care of him despite the strict surveillance and dangerous situation, as she thinks he is just an activist.

Many people in South Korea have become upset that the series is distorting history.  As in 1987, South Korea was going through major political changes as there was a student uprising for free and fair elections.  As the outgoing military regime was using “protection against North Korea” as an excuse for brutality.  And many viewers believe this show is trivialising the issue.

Many of the shows biggest sponsors, Ssarijai, Heungil Furniture, Teazen and Puradak Chicken, have withdrawn their support over the show.  They have stated that they weren’t aware of the “Snowdrops” political content and have been making apologies to their customers.

There are also over 30 petitions to cancel and remove the show from Disney+/JTBC channel.  One petition gained over 325,000 signatures.

This past Wednesday, the Seoul Western District Court threw out a lawsuit by a civic association against the show’s producers.  With the court stating:

“Even if ‘Snowdrop’ is based on a distorted historical viewpoint as claimed by the complaint, it is difficult to believe that viewers will blindly accept it”

JTBC released a statement last year regarding the backlash to the show, stating:

“Most of the misunderstandings regarding concerns of ‘history distortion’ and ‘disparaging the democratization movement’ criticized by many people will be settled through the progress of the drama’s plot. The drama includes the production team’s intent of hoping for no repetition of an abnormal era in which individual freedom and happiness are oppressed by unjust power.  Although we, unfortunately, cannot reveal much of the plot ahead of each episode, we ask that you watch over the future progress of the plot.”

Currently, only about half of the episodes in this 16 episode series have been released, and there are concerns that the series might be cancelled due to the backlash.  Filming on the entire series has already been completed.

“Snowdrop” is available on Disney+ in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.   It hasn’t yet been confirmed if or when “Snowdrop” will be released in other areas such as the Americas or Europe.

Source – Variety & Korean Herald

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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