The petition to stop airing, which appeared after the first broadcast of the JTBC drama 'Snowdrop', exceeded 130,000 people in just one day.
On December 19th, an article titled 'Petition to stop broadcasting drama Snowdrop' was posted on the bulletin board of the Blue House petition.
Person A, the petitioner said, "Earlier, the drama has already been controversial since the reveal of its synopsis that disparaging the pro-democracy movement once. More than 200,000 people agreed to the petition for the suspension of this drama broadcast."
They pointed out, "At that time, the production team had no intention of doing so and they claimed, ‘The setting of the democratization movement which is led or participated by the male and female leads does not appear anywhere in the script’. However, in episode 1, which was aired recently, the female lead misunderstood the male lead as a spy and saved him."
They argued, "During the pro-democracy movement, there were clearly victims, such as activists, who were tortured and killed for being spies. Despite these historical facts, creating a drama with such content clearly undermines the value of the democratization movement."
In addition, they pointed out the part where the song ‘Sola Blue Sola’ came out when the male lead (Jung Hae-in) was chased by the sub-male lead (Jang Seung-jo), who is a member of the National Security Planning.
They said, “This song was used during the student movement, which was a part of the democratization movement, and it emphasizes the pain and victory of those who carry out the democratization movement. It is unacceptable that this song was used as the background music for the person who plays the National Security Planning agent in the 1980s and the person who plays the spy.”
In particular, the petitioner was concerned that the drama “Snowdrop” could be watched through an OTT service (Disney+) in many countries around the world, and could instill a wrong view of history about Korea’s democratization movement to many foreigners.
The petitioner said, “Korea is definitely a democratic country. It was not achieved without effort, but through the pain and sacrifice of the innocent majority,” they said. “Which is why the broadcast of dramas that undermine the value of the democratization movement should be stopped. At a time when the influence of Korean culture is gradually increasing, I hope the broadcasting industry will also think twice about the seriousness of historical distortion,” they added.
The drama “Snowdrop” has been criticized from its production stage for being suspected of disparaging the democratic movement and beautifying the Agency of National Security Planning. Even from its pre-production process, petitions asking for the show’s production suspension have already appeared, and the petition has obtained consent from more than 200,000 people.
JTBC drama “Snowdrop” has aired its 1st episode on December 18th. At the time of the first broadcast, “Snowdrop” set its Naver TALK channel to private, and the viewers’ comments on the bulletin board can only be written in secret articles that only the writers and production staff can see.
Source[1]
