Newly Premiered jTBC Period Romance Drama Snowdrop Brings in 2.985%, 3.845% Ratings for First Two Episodes as Controversy Rages Over Distortion of History

I get the request from the production of jTBC drama Snowdrop to have viewers wait and watch the actual drama before demanding it be cancelled and accusing it of distorting important South Korea history. That’s a reasonable request. But now the viewers have watched the first two episodes and the renewed calls to cancel this drama because it is in fact highly problematic with the set up alone is hard to just brush under the rug. The pre-airing accusation was that male lead Jung Hae In was a college student dreamboat but secretly a real North Korean spy in South Korea. The SK military government in the 1980’s used the excuse that student activists fighting for democratization were NK spies in order to arrest, torture, imprison, and even murder innocent young adults. The distortion of history allegations also include using Jisoo‘s female lead an idealistic college student in a romance with a NK spy, and that Jang Seung Jo‘s government agent character is given rationale to explain his working for the government to arrest college students as a whitewashing of the government misconduct during that era. The ratings came out late for this drama as Neilson was reportedly doing maintenance work so couldn’t release ratings and the timing is a bit suss but the ratings are out now and it’s 2.985%, 3.845% AGB nationwide. Nothing to write home about for how high profile and big budget this drama is and one wonders if some viewers tuned in just to find fault with it.