Petition to cancel K-drama Snowdrop gains 200,000 signatures in a day

SEOUL • Snowdrop, one of the year's most anticipated K-dramas, has come under fire after its first two episodes aired over the weekend, reported entertainment portals such as Allkpop and Koreaboo.

A petition to cancel the drama, set during South Korea's 1987 Democracy Movement, started on Sunday and gained 200,000 signatures in a day.

Starring K-pop girl group Blackpink's Jisoo and actor Jung Hae-in, the series has been criticised for the historical inaccuracies in the first two episodes. Critics were especially incensed by Jung's character of a North Korean spy, as actual supporters had lost their lives when they were falsely accused of espionage.

The petition said that featuring and romanticising the male lead as a spy being mistaken for a pro-democracy figure could distort history, and that "a drama that presents such a narrative causes damage to the pro-democracy movement's historical value".

Viewers also objected to the show featuring a song which was used by the movement in a chase scene with Jung and an agent from the controversial Agency of National Security Planning.

Sponsors such as Heung Il Furniture, fashion brand Ganisong and Hans Electronics have issued apologies and will pull out from future episodes.

Earlier this year, before the show started airing, a synopsis released by broadcaster JTBC had triggered another petition signed by more than 226,000 people between March 26 and April 25. However, calls to halt production were rejected at the time.

Another period K-drama, Joseon Exorcist, was cancelled after two episodes in March after severe backlash from viewers over its historical inaccuracies, with a petition gaining 127,000 signatures in a day.