아나탈 Profile picture
15 Dec, 152 tweets, 35 min read
“A man who only walked on one path to catch the bad guys” who works for the NSA

Fucker let me tell you what the NSA did to scores of innocent people
#snowdrop #설강화
The NSA was created in the early 80s because its predecessor, the KCIA, was tainted by the fact that its own chief had assassinated the longrunning dictator Park Chung-hee. It’s been compared to the KGB in terms of its farreaching powers of info collection and investigation.
It’s the institution that popularized the Russian word “ФРА́КЦИЯ” in Korea (meaning “faction”) because their classic tactic was to send infiltrators into student movement groups to cause friction, and plant false evidence to frame students FOR BEING SPIES.
(Those infiltrators were called “ФРА́КЦИЯ”)
The most infamous case, that led ultimately to the fall of the Chun Doohwan administration (which succeeded Park’s), was the coldblooded murder of college student Park Jong-cheol by waterboarding in 1987.
Do not fucking come at me and tell me how this isn’t disrespect or callous bullshit, to bring a “college kid is actually a NK spy” narrative - featuring an UPSTANDING NSA OFFICIAL - to a TV show. Do not fucking @ me you will regret it. My mother KNEW Park Jong-cheol.
My mother doesn’t speak of her memories of the 70s-80s too much bc it’s trauma. Full trauma. What she has told me is horror.
“People died. Your friends disappeared and showed up dead the next week. A terrifying time.”
“There was a female student who sued the police for sexual abuse during interrogation. My friends and I read about it and talked about how if what she experienced was sexual abuse, we had all experienced that. We were joking around but it was true.”
“They string you up upside down, or strip you. They pour hot water from a kettle down your nose. I couldn’t go seek help afterwards bc I was ashamed. When they caught me… I was wearing a skirt.”
The NSA and police forced Park Jong-cheol’s family to immediately cremate their son’s body after autopsy, and forced the father to spread the ashes immediately after cremation. The doctors they brought in, however, refused to falsify the autopsy report.
The NSA tried to blame Park Jong-cheol’s death on his “weak heart.” An official insisted that an officer had “slammed his hand on the table, and Park let out a surprised sound and collapsed.”
This ludicrous explanation is now an infamous moment in Korean history.
The doctor who was called to the interrogation room to try and revive Park later secretly spoke to a reporter. After, rhe doctor went into hiding, as did many others involved in bringing Park’s death to light.
That’s how frightening the NSA was. That is the terror they wrought.
It is, simply put, not possible for any person to have worked at the NSA as a “straight and narrow” individual. It was a powerful arm of the authoritarian government that committed murder, tortured innocents, planted false evidence, falsified records, and wrought havoc.
International fans need to recognize they are being used. Their blind, uncaring support for their celeb will be used by the drama production to drum up support and walk all over the people who have worked so hard to make right the wrongs of history.
I will not entertain bad faith arguments or bullshit blackpink fan defenses.
- “SNOWDROP” is not only utmost disrespect, it is historical revisionism of the worst kind
- The thoughtlessness of even its basic synopsis has made me lose all respect for the actors on the show
Some folks may have noticed the prominence of Germany and Berlin in these character descriptions (which in themselves I have a lot of issues with, even besides the history)
What you may not know is that Berlin was indeed the setting of another extremely infamous authoritarian scheme against leftwing artists, musicians, writers, etc. It was called the East Berlin Affair and you can read a description here.

akillingart.com/excerpt-1-chap…
So, once again. Using the setting of an infamous case where innocent artists and musicians were *literally* sentenced to LIFE IN PRISON on bogus charges, #SNOWDROP decides instead to show a narrative that actually agrees with the red scare tactics.
What the KCIA - the predecessor of the NSA - did in Germany was so egregious that the German government literally had to get involved bc it was unhinged behavior *on German soil* and a gross breach of international law.
TFW caring about the traumatic violence your parents + their friends experienced makes you an army
Pretty sick do I get to put a little 7 on my twitter profile now because my dad was imprisoned for a year
Just as an FYI Jisoo’s father is the ✨director✨ of an agency that tortured and murdered a lot of innocent folks but rest assured he is a soft literature boi
IRL NSA chief at this time was Jang Se-dong, a man who was so beloved by murderer-president Chun Doo-hwan (may he burn in hell) that Jang was widely considered a strong candidate for Chun’s successor. Ofc this did not pan out because the truth of Park Jong-cheol’s death came out.
But Jang is perhaps most infamously remembered for his coverup of the Susie Kim murder, in which a woman was murdered in HK by her husband. The husband claimed Susie Kim was a NK spy who was trying to kidnap him.
Because this fit with their red scare propaganda, the NSA accepted his story and Jang specifically ordered the case closed. He wanted people as terrified and paranoid about NK agents as possible. Susie Kim’s family was investigated violently, and accused of being NK spies.
Susie Kim’s family did not survive the ordeal. Her eldest sister was driven to mental illness and death, 3 of her younger sisters were divorced by their spouses, and in total 4 of their family of 8 died.

The murder would not be resolved until 2003 when her husband was sentenced.
To erase Jang and his atrocities, and replace him with a “kindly father who likes books and poetry and just ✨happens✨ to run the Korean Gestapo” ahhahhahhahhhahhahha
Account of the Susie Kim case here

latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
I’ve been a little upset all day just rereading the history of this time to make sure I get the details right in this thread and this one is hitting me fucking hard

This was evil

And this drama is papering over that evil in a completely unacceptable way
It shouldn’t exist it really fucking shouldn’t exist
It’s like if someone made a TV series about what happened at Kent State and said “ok but what if the protests actually had been stoked by Russian agents or something
If you have any *actual* questions abt
- the history of this time (I studied it extensively in grad school)
- my thoughts on creative liberty and licence
- portrayals of history, esp the 70-80s
Pls feel free to ask.
If your question is “why do u hate Jisoo” please kick rocks.
The director was full of shit and that shit will hit the fan soon my dear
Hi in democracies the president doesn’t approve K-dramas are you okay sweetie
Not so false if the *current* character descriptions confirm every single problem I had in MARCH kiddo
The fuck u think happens here, the president is at his desk stamping approval seals on K-dramas??????? The Blue House doesn’t give a shit they have an entire pandemic to deal with get a fucking grip
Sweet summer child “The Blue House” is literally the President’s Office
Like the White House
“Who mentioned the president I mean the Blue House!!!!”
Oh like “who mentioned Nayeon I meant the leader of TWICE!!!!l” ok ok
Honey it’s kinda personal when they’re glorifying the same torture agency that violently interrogated and tortured my parents + their friends

Sit down
Like it’s literally authoritarian propaganda straight from the 1980s if you don’t get it or you’re ignorant you can just say so and sit down
God yeah how dare I criticize the massively hyped Korean drama slated to be on Disney+ that violently distorts historical fact and erases what countless ppl like my parents went thru and broadcasts falsehoods to unknowing international fans like urself!!!!
HOW DARE I CRITICIZE
I understand it’s tiresome when ur fave gets embroiled in this stuff. And you just want to ignore it all and watch your unni. I get it, I do.

Doesn’t make it good or right.
Oh no my husband’s gonna wake up and see this and be like “oh babe I thought you weren’t gonna open twitter”
I guess I could be persuaded to watch #Snowdrop if Jisoo turns on her torture agency director father in Ep 1 and kills him dead and goes on the run and escapes to Fiji or something
Like that would be cool
You’re right guys, I shouldn’t judge a drama before it’s out. I should wait and see if Jisoo’s character calls her dad out for being an authoritarian stooge/murderer and kills him.
“Even if this gets shut out in Korea it’s gonna be watched overseas. And naturally foreigners will learn Korean history from this. It’s not a question of boycotting, this simply should not be broadcast.”
“The reason #Snowdrop’s story and character descriptions are unacceptable is not simply bc there are victims and it touches on a sensitive historical problem. It’s bc the drama is using verbatim the authoritarian justification for the government’s violence, such as…” (1/2)
“…their military junta, their massacres and torture. #Snowdrop directly uses the excuses and conspiracies the government used to further oppress the victims of their violence.”
Folks don’t send me links to trailers or clips unless it shows Jisoo murdering her own father for being a torturer that’s the only way this drama would be acceptable
Okay
I… I’m not really a FAN fan of any Kpop group, tbh…? Like everyone has good songs, everyone has good MVs and choreo, I mean I would probably die for BoA but that’s about it
Fact: #Snowdrop features as its protagonist a North Korean spy who pretends to be a student in Berlin in order to infiltrate South Korean groups.
Fact: The government literally kidnapped Korean artists and musicians in Berlin, accused them of being spies, and imprisoned them.
#Snowdrop just took that government propaganda justification for its atrocities and said “nice nice this looks good”
So why is the protagonist a spy who infiltrates student groups
(Character synopsis currently available on JTBC website)
If JTBC responded why did they fail to fix anything
So did either of these issues get fixed?
Yes or no??
These character descriptions from this WEEK show the protag is still a NK spy and the NSA agent is still a principled dude

So tell me what did they fix @Breakfast_Room
There must be a reason you insisted on me reading JTBC’s “response”, @Breakfast_Room

What did they fix?
What is the difference between the “alleged show synopsis” (that JTBC, the director, and BP fans insist was fake/exaggerated) and the actual show as it is being introduced by JTBC on their website right now??
Let me make this easier for you @Breakfast_Room
Is the agent at the terrible torture agency still being described as a principled, bad-guy-catching dude on JTBC’s own website? Yes or no?
Please feel free to ping me if you can think of a principled, good individual who would choose to work for (and continue to work for!) a torture agency.
Like just let me know if you know some real upstanding folks at Guantanamo.
FYI, if the topics are delicate and deeply painful (and still relevant!) issues in Korean history - who is the best judge of how those topics are portrayed? Like, do you think you’re equipped to evaluate the sensitivity of the portrayal?
“Just watch the first ep and we can judge then” - honey non-Korean fans didn’t even know how problematic the drama was until Korean people started yelling about it back in March. How are they gonna judge it now? Did they suddenly study all of modern Korean history under a month?
The willful ignorance and completely misplaced self-assurance is astonishing
You’re fucking lecturing ME - a person whose first memory is visiting her protester father in prison - that this is a “delicate issue” lmaooooo
I was born to protester parents
I grew up with their stories and trauma of how they and their friends suffered at the hands of the NSA
I have the information to judge that the NSA was not a place where you found principled individuals
I have eyes and I can fucking read and know they didn’t fix a single thing
I have a brain that says “torture agency + upstanding dude does not compute”
I have parents and aunts and uncles who knew Park Jong-cheol, who was murdered by the NSA
You literally told me, a Korean person raised by the actual ppl who lived this history, how this is delicate and how I should proceed. Do you realize how you sound?
Does it occur to you at all that I am far better equipped to judge this? I read the original Korean language descriptions and press releases, I have personal ties to the specific topic, and I have studied a plethora of media on this era.
Please take your blithe fandom-fueled ignorance elsewhere. You’ve done enough harm here.
Yeah see this is where you show yourself to be completely naive with K-dramas.
The character profile aren’t just details, they set the vibe for what *kind* of character they are. Both the NSA agents’ character profiles make clear they’re “fundamentally good” people.
International fans need to realize - this is a Korean history dispute.
This is an argument that is & should be unfolding *in* Korea.
But, thanks to global capital and distribution, it has suddenly become the business of a bunch of non-Koreans who have ZERO stakes in the history.
Stay in your lane.
I’ve done my best in this deranged length thread to unpack what the NSA was, what they did, and why this drama raises a lot of red flags. But I also know it’s prob still confusing to a lot of folks. And that’s fine, Korean history is a twisty motherfucker.
Just understand that entire generations and families were traumatized and killed by red scare propaganda, and it is enraging to see a narrative that appears to affirm the propaganda’s validity.
Media is about trust.
I remember ppl being mad about Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone, because with that casting choice, how could they trust the film?
It’s like that. The drama production’s failure to address the criticism has destroyed any trust.
The number of people who read this thread and say that it sounds familiar or resonant with their own country’s history or present… my heart aches. This is still all too real.
Thus far not a single #Snowdrop fan has been able to tell me
- what exactly they changed in the drama from March, when the issues first came to light
- why I should trust the director and the production when nothing has changed
Please stop telling me it’s “bad I’m just saying things” about something I know, understand, and have experienced.
Children did u really think I don’t have two-step authentication enabled
“Not based on history” yet the character profiles literally reference concrete historical incidents and the characters’ involvement lmao
(E.g. Jisoo’s dad character profile mentions the “12.12 incident” and his discomfort with it)
The 12.12 incident is this

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27…
Correct! Which is weird because Jisoo’s dad literally works for a heinous torture agency.

Do you see the problem? He’s described as a soft UWU literature lover who even disagreed with his own president but he still is fine with torturing people?
(Correction: he’s the director of this torture agency, which is also named for its real historical counterpart!)
Do you see how we are NOT OKAY with torture agency directors being portrayed in a sympathetic light? Like how a lot of ppl wouldn’t be cool with the chief of the Gestapo or the SS being portrayed as a kind and morally upstanding man???
I mean if you’d rather trust celebrities and drama producers over all the Koreans whose lives were shaped by those atrocities that’s your weirdo choice my dear
He’s literally described in his character profile as “majoring in literature and has the kind of sweet personality where he would have preferred that life.” (But oops he runs a torture agency)
Forgive me if I find it offensive that a person who ran an agency that tortured and ultimately killed countless people doesn’t deserve a “two sides to every person” portrayal.
The actual NSA director in 1987 was so evil he destroyed an entire family because it suited his propaganda narrative.
Ok so why do we need that?

Why do we need to see a “soft sweet literature dad” side to a murderer and torturer?

Is that helpful to the victims?
The base of the matter is this.
- I don’t trust a K-drama to handle this kind of nuanced portrayal well, and moreover the director and production have not changed a single thing since March. I have no reason to trust them.
- u trust them, even tho u have no reason either.
This is the victims’ own history???? And it’s going to be broadcast *internationally*????? I think they have a right to object?????? Like way way more right than you ever could?????
The drama directly references concrete historical events. It originally had a female protagonist named after a real protester, WHOSE HUSBAND WAS TORTURED. It brings in Berlin, it brings in Chun Doo-hwan, it brings in his organizations.
No? I’m saying you are unequipped to judge this at all. I am.
Like how dare you come here and tell me what to think and what this is about when this is MY history, MY family, and also my area of study?
Compared to yours, yes, in this convo my opinion is the one that matters. This is my history and my family’s history. Stay in your lane.
I want informed, educated opinions, not willfully ignorant fandom fueled opinions.
I would never, EVER presume to tell people of other countries what to think about a portrayal of their own history.
Well I guess you just don’t get it. Because it’s not your history.
I mean, I would just never try to talk over or talk down someone from a different country about their own country. That’s just me. Seems incredibly callous and frankly, malicious.
When it comes to my own family, our history, and what the NSA did to people like my parents? Yes. I’m fairly certain I’m completely correct.
I would never try to talk over an Irish person about a film like THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY.
I would never try and talk over Brazilians about the film MARIGHELLA.
I would not do that bc I know my own ignorance.
But clearly you would do that because you never let your own lack of understanding stop you from causing harm.
I just want to protect my parents and other victims from further pain.
And I’m telling you that you clearly do not have the understanding, education, information, or background to make that judgment. It’s a delicate issue. It’s also a Korean issue.
We live in disturbing times, if you haven’t noticed.
If you don’t understand the history, then at least try not to cause further harm.
Joseon Exorcist lost almost every single one of its sponsors in a day.
And you know this how, exactly? Do you know what’s been happening in Korea over the past 9-10 months?
Are you aware of the right wing defenders and apologists who keep trying to rehabilitate the atrocities of the 80s?
Please take your ignorance and air it elsewhere.
And I’m telling you I’m afraid it won’t be taken off air. Because JTBC is too rich. Because they held onto their sponsors. Because of the rise of the right wing.
You DON’T FUCKING UNDERSTAND.
NAME ME A SINGLE K-DRAMA THAT WAS DIRECTLY SHUT DOWN BY THE KOREAN GOVERNMENT AFTER DEMOCRATIZATION
why are you insisting the Korean government will “handle” this 80s authoritarian era drama like the government IS STILL the authoritarian government of the 80s
If you spoke Korean and read the news you would know Empress Ki was receiving significant criticism WHEN it was airing
So why did you say this is happening “only recently”
Idek what point the person is making about Empress Ki it’s just rambling
Do you know what the point ur trying to make might be?
History is not all the same, kiddo.

You do realize Joseon Exorcist’s cancellation wasn’t *just* about historical inaccuracy? You realize it was deeply enmeshed with Korea-China geopolitics that are very current?
You realize there are many, many historical dramas that take massive creative licence, but it’s when it touches a *present day* nerve that it becomes an issue? We don’t care if King Sejong is portrayed as a grump bc no one’s currently trying to discredit Sejong’s achievements.
In the US, many folks would be plenty mad if a flattering biopic about Columbus came out because it reinforces awful white supremacist logic about the “discovery” of America.
Yes. Do you see how your knowledge is limited? And that limitation means you are not able to form an educated opinion until you read and learn?
Do you know how it feels when someone yells over you when they know so little?
You came into my mentions with your confident ignorance, devaluing and invalidating victims. You deserved rudeness.
Maybe go tell your friends that ignorance causes pain then
Since no one *means* to but they all succeed at it
Tell me which part of Youth of May portrayed the soldiers who murdered civilians, or the generals who ordered thise soldiers to murder civilians, in a positive or sympathetic light.
The entire intent of Youth of May was to portray how the Gwangju massacre impacted not only the victims + their direct families, but also the community at large. You see how innocent lives were upended by the indiscriminate violence. No sympathetic murderer character present.
I talked about Joseon Exorcist’s cancellation when it happened. I also enjoy historical dramas that take interesting creative license for clear purposes. I am simply drawing a line, and the line is “do not glorify torture agencies or any of their agents.”
Netflix’s KINGDOM literally makes a “zombie AU” of Joseon dynasty history. It’s interesting and creative bc it serves as a commentary on actual Joseon history itself; it enacts a kind of populist revenge on the inept, corrupt, and self-serving nobility class. No one took offense.
This isn’t about being a stickler for Real History. We can take creative license with history but we should have a good reason for it. No one can give me a good reason for how these NSA officials have been written.
Do you know what’s really FUCKED?
A lot of those NSA officials got off without punishment. Jang Se-dong, the actual NSA director in 1987 (the setting for #SNOWDROP)? He’s alive. Never apologized. Defended Chun to the end. Rotten to the core.

He does not need a glowup.
I repeat you do not, under any circumstance, have to give a still-living, still-unrepentant torturer and murderer an “uwu literature loving kindly father” backstory.
It’s my family. It’s my parents and their history. That is the point.
So would you support a drama in which a Japanese murderer is described as a principled and good person?
I think we all make friends and form relationships regardless of history. But if a friend started telling me that actually the NSA had some really good people working there in the 1980s, I would throw a cactus at them and put legos in their socks.
If it’s criticizing then why does the official website intro to the characters describe NSA officials in such a positive light?
Actually a really encouraging number of ppl have QRT’d my thread and said they won’t be supporting the show, so I’m grateful for that.
My in-laws are the only ones who have Disney+ so I’ll be telling them not to watch.
No, I think I will keep talking about it. The character introductions (and the fact that they have not changed even a little since March) is enough to indicate this is not a trustworthy production.
This description alone of Jisoo’s father is making me vomit
In real life, the secretary general of the “ruling party” of the 80s (the Democratic Justice Party) was deeply involved in the massacre of civilians at Gwangju.
But he’s intelligent courageous and brave so what’s the death of several thousands of civilians by an authoritarian regime I guess?
I’m literally seeing people romanticize NSA agents in real time like they’re just fictional Romeo and Juliet characters
Could it possibly be it’s because I love my parents and I do not want to see their history distorted and twisted for monetary gain?
Maybe I should stop being a depress bitch dwelling on the fact that my mom was sexually assaulted and my dad was beaten and imprisoned by the kinds of people being glorified in this TV show

For Jisoo’s sake, at least
Closing this thread. I hoped it could be a reference resource for the FAQ’s I was seeing/getting about #Snowdrop.
At the end of the day, you watch what you watch. But let that be an informed decision. The best any of us can do sometimes is to try and not add to ongoing harm.
Be aware of your positionality. International fans are in a strange limbo spot - they may not be able to file direct consumer complaints like Korean viewers, but their actions and words nonetheless impact big stake issues in Korea in ways they may not realize.
For a starting point on the events of the 1980s, check out the film 1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES by Jang Joon-hwan. Of the cast members, many had deeply personal ties to the victims of the era. The credits song was sung by ppl who had been protester students in the 80s.
Some English language books that I think are decent primers on modern Korean history:
- Michael E. Robinson’s “Korea’s 20th Century Odyssey” (2007). Chap 6 and 8 deal with the dictatorships.
- Bruce Cumings’ “Korea’s Place in the Sun” (2005). Chapter 7 is on the 60s-80s.
I guess I should warn folks that 1987 will make you cry
Adding one more answer to an FAQ
Q. JTBC said the drama is about the 1987 election, not the June Struggle student movement. Is that true or possible?
A. No.

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