The controversy involving the Korean drama “Snowdrop,” starring Jung Hae-in and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo, continues.
A total of 34 professors and scholars of Korea signed a letter to raise concerns about the historical references in “Snowdrop.”
The letter is addressed to Luke Kang, president of The Walt Disney Co. Asia-Pacific region. Disney Plus, the streaming platform of the company, launched in Korea on Nov. 12 and one of the shows it currently airs is “Snowdrop.”
“Snowdrop” premiered on JTBC and Disney Plus last Dec. 18. Koreans have accused “Snowdrop” of distorting history, disparaging the pro-democracy movement in South Korea and beautifying the former Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP), a government agency that was linked to torture and killing of activists in the past. The ANSP is now the National Intelligence Service.
These accusations were first hurled against “Snowdrop” in March 2021 and again surfaced a day after the drama aired its first episode last December.
A national petition was filed on Dec. 19, a day after the first episode aired, on the website of the office of Korean President Moon Jae-in. The petition aims to stop the airing of “Snowdrop,” which has been accused of undermining the value of the pro-democracy movement in South Korea.
As of Jan. 12, the petition has garnered 362,505 signatures or supporters, and is now the No. 1 petition on the website based on the number of signatures. Under the rules, if a petition reaches 200,000 signatures, the Office of the President and government agencies are required to provide an answer. The “Snowdrop” petition will end on Jan. 19.
Disney Plus has been silent on the issue while JTBC issued statements to refute the allegations against the drama.
The drama is set in 1987, an important year for the pro-democracy movement in South Korea.
In their letter, the scholars of Korea told Kang that they are not asking Disney Plus to stop streaming “Snowdrop.”
“Rather, we write to request that your company seek experts - there are many, well-qualified modern Korean history experts in Korea and all over the world - to carefully examine the historical references made in the show, and consider for yourselves the way those historical references are used,” they said.
They added, “We make this request because we do not believe that Disney Plus as a global platform is aware of the historical and socio-political context in which this show exists, and we believe that platforms should make an informed decision when globally broadcasting a show set in recent, still-relevant Korean history (1987).”
“We do not make this request lightly, as we deeply respect any media work’s right to freedom of expression and the use of artistic license. We do not assume there is one single ‘correct’ way to present history. We respect the Korean drama production’s right to create and broadcast fictional stories in Korea, where there are esteemed Korean historians, politicians, and other figures of intellectual authority who can offer their expertise and critique for Korean viewers,” according to the letter.
The scholars said, “However, this is not the case once the show leaves Korean shores and is broadcast to an international audience, an audience that is generally unfamiliar with modern Korean history. Moreover, while we understand the defense that fiction has a right to explore creative narratives, that defense can also feel hollow when a show uses numerous, specific details that reference actual people and incidents from recent history. The historical details contained in the show, in tandem with its place on your far-reaching platform, have raised enough concerns that we write this letter to you asking for thoughtful consideration when distributing the show globally.”
One issue raised by the scholars is that some characters in “Snowdrop” have names or whose character descriptions were similar to real-life persons.
The said in March 2021, Jisoo’s original character name was Young-cho , who “was named after a prominent female student democracy activist, Cheon Yeong-cho.”
Last March, JTBC decided to change the name of Jisoo’s character after it drew criticisms, saying, “However since some pointed out that it reminds them of her, we will revise the name of the female lead.”
“As you may be aware, the show already courted significant controversy in March 2021 when its female lead was named after a prominent female student democracy activist, Cheon Yeong-cho (천영초) Ms. Cheon suffered severe brain damage in an accident some years ago, and is unable to argue on her own behalf, but the use of her (quite unique and unusual) name was highly inappropriate: the show centered a love story between the female lead ‘Yeong-cho’ and a North Korean spy, whereas the real-life Yeong-cho’s actual husband, Jeong Mun-hwa, was arrested and tortured on suspicion of being a communist and a supporter of the North Korean regime,” according to the scholars.
They explained that “in other words, the drama originally used the name of a victim of anti-communist propaganda in a narrative that actually echoes the propaganda - a narrative that affirms, ‘yes, there are North Korean spies among the students, and the students are too naive to realize this.’ The drama production subsequently decided to change the name Yeong-cho to Yeong-ro. However, this appears to be the only significant change the show decided to make after the controversy in March.”
“Even with the name change, the fact remains that people were arrested, tortured, and even killed as suspected communists or spies. The possibility of North Korean spies allowed for terrible human rights abuses, and this red scare was the very excuse used to persuade the general public to accept extreme extrajudicial activity by the government,” according to the letter.
It added, “Lives were lost and families were ruined by the government’s framing of innocent victims as spies or communists. To this day, there are new truths being discovered about victims framed as North Korean spies or communists, as well as court cases seeking to restore the honor of those victims. The main character Soo-ho, the North Korean spy, is shown to have entered Korea under the guise of a student who studied abroad in Germany; in reality, many Korean students who studied in Germany were accused of being North Korean spies, kidnapped to South Korea, and imprisoned. To feature an actual North Korean spy entering Korea by way of Germany and being pursued by South Korean agents in 1987, this drama reframes those tragic circumstances of history toward a justification of authoritarian wrongdoing.”
Here is the full text of the letter of the scholars of Korea addressed to Luke Kang, president of The Walt Disney Co. Asia-Pacific region:
Dear President Luke Kang,
We are writing to you as scholars of Korea, regarding the Korean drama, Snowdrop (설강화), that has been made available on your streaming service, Disney Plus.
We are not writing to request that you stop streaming the show. Rather, we write to request that your company seek experts - there are many, well-qualified modern Korean history experts in Korea and all over the world - to carefully examine the historical references made in the show, and consider for yourselves the way those historical references are used. We make this request because we do not believe that Disney Plus as a global platform is aware of the historical and socio-political context in which this show exists, and we believe that platforms should make an informed decision when globally broadcasting a show set in recent, still-relevant Korean history (1987).
We do not make this request lightly, as we deeply respect any media work’s right to freedom of expression and the use of artistic license. We do not assume there is one single “correct” way to present history. We respect the Korean drama production’s right to create and broadcast fictional stories in Korea, where there are esteemed Korean historians, politicians, and other figures of intellectual authority who can offer their expertise and critique for Korean viewers. However, this is not the case once the show leaves Korean shores and is broadcast to an international audience, an audience that is generally unfamiliar with modern Korean history. Moreover, while we understand the defense that fiction has a right to explore creative narratives, that defense can also feel hollow when a show uses numerous, specific details that reference actual people and incidents from recent history. The historical details contained in the show, in tandem with its place on your far-reaching platform, have raised enough concerns that we write this letter to you asking for thoughtful consideration when distributing the show globally.
We will not detail in this letter every single one of the concerns, but below are listed two major examples. Most of the articles and sources cited in this letter are in the Korean language, and there is not an abundance of English-language publications on the democratization movement of the 1980s. This is also why we ask that you bring in historians of Modern Korea to consider this issue in depth.
Point of Concern 1.
As you may be aware, the show already courted significant controversy in March 2021 when its female lead was named after a prominent female student democracy activist, Cheon Yeong-cho (천영초). Ms. Cheon suffered severe brain damage in an accident some years ago, and is unable to argue on her own behalf, but the use of her (quite unique and unusual) name was highly inappropriate: the show centered a love story between the female lead ‘Yeong-cho’ and a North Korean spy, whereas the real-life Yeong-cho’s actual husband, Jeong Mun-hwa, was arrested and tortured on suspicion of being a communist and a supporter of the North Korean regime. In other words, the drama originally used the name of a victim of anti-communist propaganda in a narrative that actually echoes the propaganda - a narrative that affirms, ‘yes, there are North Korean spies among the students, and the students are too naive to realize this.’ The drama production subsequently decided to change the name Yeong-cho to Yeong-ro. However, this appears to be the only significant change the show decided to make after the controversy in March.
Even with the name change, the fact remains that people were arrested, tortured, and even killed as suspected communists or spies. The possibility of North Korean spies allowed for terrible human rights abuses, and this red scare was the very excuse used to persuade the general public to accept extreme extrajudicial activity by the government. Lives were lost and families were ruined by the government’s framing of innocent victims as spies or communists. To this day, there are new truths being discovered about victims framed as North Korean spies or communists, as well as court cases seeking to restore the honor of those victims. The main character Soo-ho, the North Korean spy, is shown to have entered Korea under the guise of a student who studied abroad in Germany; in reality, many Korean students who studied in Germany were accused of being North Korean spies, kidnapped to South Korea, and imprisoned. To feature an actual North Korean spy entering Korea by way of Germany and being pursued by South Korean agents in 1987, this drama reframes those tragic circumstances of history toward a justification of authoritarian wrongdoing.
Point of Concern 2.
There are other historical references made in this show via its characters that deserve close scrutiny. In particular, we urge the company to examine the character of the female lead’s father, Eun Chang-su (은창수) In the show and in the official character profile provided on the drama website, Eun is defined as a reluctant participant in the authoritarian regime, a conflicted man who - deep down - has good principles. There are two reasons to ask if this is an appropriate portrayal: Firstly, whatever Eun Chang-su’s motivations and principles may be in the show, the fact remains that the real-life government agency for which the character serves as director (the ANSP: Agency for National Security Planning, known in Korean as 국가안전기획부/안기부) was historically notorious for extrajudicial power and infamous acts of torture and murder. It is worth asking why the director of such an agency is being portrayed sympathetically, however fictional he may be.
Secondly, this character shares a striking number of biographical similarities with real-life military officer Park Jun-byeong (박준병), who commanded the 20th Infantry Division into Gwangju in May, 1980, and led them to commit one of the worst massacres of civilians in modern Korean history. (See table below for comparison.) Park was a military officer who was at the forefront of brutal civilian murders, and never apologized for the atrocities committed under his command. The National Fact-Finding Committee for the Punishment of the Perpetrators of the Gwangju Massacre (광주 학살 책임자 처벌을 위한 범국민 진상조사위원회) has described Park Jun-byeong as “a man who was directly responsible for the civilian massacre at Gwangju.” This detail is not part of Eun Chang-soo’s character in the show.
| Eun Chang-su 은창수 | Park Jun-byeong 박준병 |
| Fought in the Korean War as an underage ‘student soldier’ (학도병) | Fought in the Korean War as an underage ‘student soldier’ (학도병) |
| Attended the Korean Military Academy (육군사관학교) | Attended the Korean Military Academy (육군사관학교) |
| Additionally attended the fictional ‘Hanguk University’ and studied literature | Additionally attended Seoul National University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and earned a literature degree |
| Character profile quote: ‘He likes poetry, is gentle and sensitive, and knowing his own personality, judged himself to be better suited to being a military academy professor than a field officer.’ | Taught as an instructor at the military academy after graduation, as well as a professor later in his career. In a Joseon Ilbo interview, he said he chose to attend Daejeon Middle School, rather than a teacher’s school, in order to become a college professor. |
| Character profile quote: ‘His superior officer refused to be part of Park Chung-hee’s coup d’etat of 1961 to the very end, and when he was arrested, Eun Chang-su also served time in prison with him.’ | According to the Joseon Ilbo interview, Park Jun-byeong’s superior officer, Commander Lee Han-lim of the First Army, refused to be part of Park Chung-hee’s coup d’etat on the basis of maintaining the military’s neutrality. After the coup, Commander Lee was brought to Seoul with Park Jun-byeong for their lack of participation, and Park spent a month in jail. |
| Character profile quote: ‘Perhaps it was because of this ? Despite being a member of the ‘Dongsimhoe’, the private clique within the Korean Military Academy, when Chun Doo-hwan’s Dec 12 coup occurred in 1979, Eun Chang-su did not go along with it at all. He could not accept that a military officer, who should maintain political neutrality, mobilize his division for such abnormal purposes.’ | In the Joseon Ilbo interview, Park recalled that he became a member of the ‘Hanahoe,’ Chun Doo-hwan’s private crony clique in 1970-1971. Park said that on the night of Chun’s Dec 12 coup, he received Chun’s request to deploy his troops, the 20th Division, to take over the Ministry of National Defense and the Army Headquarters. Park refused, remembering the dilemma of his former superior, Commander Lee Han-lim. |
Disney Plus clearly has ambitious and exciting plans for South Korean content on its platform, based on this interview you gave to the Hollywood Reporter, and is making headway into numerous Asian markets as we write this. We hope that, with this immense access and reach, the company also takes note of the responsibility it has as a platform, and reflects on the kind of media content it makes available around the world.
We, as academics of Korea, stand behind this letter and the points argued within.
(Signees listed on following page.)
Bae, Keung Yoon, Assistant Professor of Korean Studies, School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology
Brazinsky, Gregg, Professor, History and International Affairs, The George Washington University
Bu, Chan Yong, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Creutzenberg, Jan, Assistant Professor, Department of German Language & Literature, Ewha Womans University
Diederich, Inga Kim, Assistant Professor of East Asian History, Department of History, Colby College
Han, Sujin Elisa, Ph.D Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Hillmer, James D., Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Asian Languages & Cultures, University of California-Los Angeles
Johnsen, Nikolai, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, SOAS, University of London
Jung, Youngoh, Ph.D Candidate, Department of History, University of California, San Diego
Kang, Sara, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
Kim, Gene, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Kim, Heejoo, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Kim, Iljung, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Ethnomusicology, University of British Columbia
Kim, Juwon, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
Kim, Sung Eun, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles
Kim, Yusung, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Kwon, Donna Lee, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, University of Kentucky
Lee, Anna Jungeun, Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan
Lee, Hyejoo, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Southern California
Lee, Minna, Ph.D. Student, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Mueller, Ruth, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, Fine Arts Division, Green River College
Oh, David C., Associate Professor, Communication Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Park, Rachel, Ph.D. Student, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
Park, Sandra H., Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, University of Chicago
Reizman, Laura H., Postdoctoral Fellow, Program in East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University
Saeji, CedarBough, Assistant Professor of Korean Studies, Pusan National University
Shin, Cynthia, Ph.D Student, Department of Comparative Literature, Indiana University Bloomington
Suk, Jihoon, PhD Student, Department of Korean Modern History, Yonsei University
Tran, Tommy, Lecturer, Department of History / CRES, University of California, Merced
Waddell, Ethan, PhD Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
Yang, Chamee, Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Information, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Yang, Sungik, PhD Candidate, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Yi, Jongsik Christian, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University
Yoon, Mi Hyun, PhD Candidate, Graduate Program in American Studies, Rutgers University - Newark