Petitions filed against ‘Snowdrop’ starring BLACKPINK’s Jisoo & Jung Hae In; JTBC clarifies with statement

JTBC’s ‘Snowdrop’ has landed in troubled waters once again soon after the premiere on December 18. South Korean netizens have claimed that the show has distorted history and has instances where the sentiments of the people involved in the tragedies during the democracy movement in the late 1900s were hurt.

This has called for a nationwide petition with signs from over 200,000 people already registered within the first 24 hours. Multiple sponsors of 'Snowdrop' have pulled back and have apologised to the public. In view of this, the production company has responded. Check out JTBC’s statement against the backlash below.

“This is JTBC’s official position regarding the controversy over the drama ‘Snowdrop’.

After the broadcast of ‘Snowdrop’, the controversy has not subsided based on information that is different from the facts.

First of all, the motif of the main events and the background of ‘Snowdrop’ are the presidential elections during the military regime. In this background, it contains a fictional story that the established powers must join forces with the North Korean government to maintain power. ‘Snowdrop’ is a creation that shows the personal narratives of those who were used and sacrificed by powerful people.

There are no spies leading the democratization movement in ‘Snowdrop’. The setting in which the male and female protagonists participate in or lead the democratization movement did not appear in the last episodes 1 or 2, nor does it exist anywhere in the script after that.

Most of the misunderstandings regarding 'distortion of history' and 'disparagement of the democratization movement’ that many people have pointed out will be resolved in the course of the drama development in the future. It contains the intention of the producers to not repeat the abnormal times in which individual freedom and happiness were suppressed by undue power.

Unfortunately we can't reveal a lot of the plot before the episodes air, but we ask you to keep an eye on the future development.

In addition, JTBC plans to listen to various valuable opinions on our content by opening a real-time chat window on the portal site and an official viewer bulletin board.

The core values ​​that JTBC pursues are the freedom of content creation and the independence of production. Based on this, JTBC will do its best to show good works in the future.”

Join 'The celebration of K-world' with 'The HallyuTalk Awards'. Make your favourites win in the fiercest Hallyu battle here.

ALSO READ: Jung Hae In & Jisoo add glamour to ‘Snowdrop’ press con; BLACKPINK members show support