A youth organization in South Korea will file a court injunction to stop the airing of the Korean drama “Snowdrop” starring Jung Hae-in and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo.
The group called The Declaration of Global Citizen in Korea will file the court injunction on Dec. 22 with the Seoul Western District Court to ban the airing of JTBC’s “Snowdrop,” accusing the drama of beautifying state violence.
"An injunction is a court order requiring a person to do or cease doing a specific action," according to Cornell's Legal Information Institute.
“Snowdrop” has enraged Koreans who accused the drama of distorting history about the democratization movement and beautifying the former Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP), which was linked to torture and killings in the past. The ANSP is now the current National Intelligence Service (NIS).
More than 305,000 Koreans have signed a petition filed with the website of the office of President Moon Jae-in to stop the airing of “Snowdrop,” which aired its first two episodes on Dec. 18 and 19 on JTBC and Disney Plus.
The Declaration of Global Citizen in Korea, founded in 2020, said it has supported democratic protests around the world including in Hong Kong, Thailand, Belarus and Myanmar, and has issued a strong message against state violent crimes.
“In many parts of the world, where democratic protests are struggling, Korea is regarded as a country with a history of overthrowing military dictatorships with the power of citizens in the past,” it said.
It added, “In such a country, we cannot help but be astonished to learn that the drama ‘Snowdrop,’ which seems to glorify state violence today, is being aired and even exported overseas through OTT service.” (OTT platform Disney Plus is airing the drama).
The group said in “Snowdrop,” the actor who plays the role of an official of the ANSP, which tortured and killed many pro-democracy figures without any reason, is portrayed as an honest and passionate public servant and the ANSP is beautified.
They said that by inserting a scene in the drama where a spy (played by Jung Hae-in) is active inside South Korea and is misunderstood as a pro-democracy activist, the drama is showing an attitude of “eradication of spies” when the ANSP suppressed democrats uprising in the past. Many pro-democracy activists in South Korea were tortured and accused of being spies in the past.
“This is a clear insult to those who have been fighting military dictatorship, and it is a very dangerous act that can give a signal to the current military dictatorship countries that their state violence may also be glorified over time,” the group said.
They added, “In particular, the fact that it is transmitted through a channel with great ripple effect, such as JTBC, instills a distorted view of history in viewers who watch content without any background knowledge about democratization in Korea and it can instill false values that blindly justify the act of glorifying state violence in order to side with the star who appears.”