Blackpink’s Jisoo scored her first K-drama lead role in Snowdrop alongside One Spring Night’s Jung Hae-in – but why is the 2021 JTBC series already causing controversy?

Oct 27 , 2020

Blackpink’s Jisoo has scored her first lead role in a K-drama – the historical romance Snowdrop set to air early next year. Photo: @sooyaaa__/Instagram

Prompting comparisons to hit Netflix series Crash Landing on You before it’s even aired, and by the same team behind Sky Castle, the historical romance drama is based on the real life memoir of an escaped North Korean political prisoner

Blackpink fans are in for a treat: member Jisoo will be starring in her first-ever lead K-drama role.

Slated to air during the first half of 2021, Snowdrop is a historical romance drama that features a stellar cast and crew. It’s written and directed by the same team that created one of Korean cable television’s highest rated K-dramas, Sky Castle. Jung Hae-in will star alongside Jisoo, while the supporting cast is rounded out with Kim Hye-yoon and Yoon Se-ah, also of Sky Castle fame.

Set in 1987, the throwback series will blend all the emotion of a touching university love story with the thrill of mystery and action. Jung Hae-in, who previously made headlines with his roles in Netflix hits Something in the Rain and One Spring Night, will play Im Soo-ho, an elite university student who suddenly appears in the middle of a female dormitory covered in blood. He was raised in Germany and is said to hide a secret, despite his perfect demeanour. Jisoo, meanwhile, will play Eun Young-cho, the bright and bubbly student who discovers Im and treats his wounds. She then hides his presence from the dormitory mistress and staff.

However, the drama has already caused controversy. According to a synopsis released by broadcasting station JTBC, Snowdrop is based on the real life memoirs of a man who escaped from a North Korean political prison camp. In 1987, amid tear gas explosions, the man, like the character Im, escapes to a female college dormitory while injured and is treated by a female student. The man turns out to be an armed spy, and is later forced to choose between his mission and the woman who saved him, who he also comes to fall in love with.

Members of the South Korean general public worry that Snowdrop’s plot might glamorise protests and the complicated political situation with North Korea. The drama has been compared to the hit series Crash Landing On You that also faced criticism for romanticising North Korea.

And, although unconfirmed, Snow Drop’s 1987 backdrop hints at the June Struggle that saw the ruling government instituting democratic reforms due to mass protests. This eventually led to a change from a military dictatorship to the present government of South Korea. Many university students were involved, including those from Yonsei University (where Angelina Jolie’s son Maddox Jolie-Pitt was accepted to study) and Seoul National University.

JTBC has not addressed the issue, however, and appears to be continuing with their plans for the series, so Jisoo fans can rest assured that they’ll be able to watch her debut as a leading actress with no problems – for now.

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