Written by Yoo Hyun-mi and directed by Jo Hyun-tak, Snowdrop is their second collaboration after having worked together on the hit satirical thriller Sky Castle (2018–19).
[17] Based on the memoirs of a man who escaped a political prison camp in North Korea,[18] Yoo Hyun-mi had been planning the series for twelve years.
[50][51][52] In March 2021, parts of the synopsis and character profiles were leaked online which revealed that the male protagonist is actually a North Korean spy posing as a pro-democracy student activist who infiltrates South Korea to instigate chaos and political instability.
[1][53][54] On March 26, JTBC released their first official statement on the controversy that read, "The drama is not distorting the pro-democracy movement nor is it glorifying the Agency for National Security Planning.
"[1][56] On March 30, JTBC released a second statement regarding the controversy that read, "Snowdrop is set around the 1987 presidential election, and not a drama that deals with the pro-democracy movement".
[58] In the period from March 26 to April 25, a total of 226,078 people signed an online petition to the Blue House demanding that production on Snowdrop be stopped.
The response stated, however, that the Blue House was continuing to monitor the controversy, stating that "programming that violates broadcasting responsibilities, such as through excessive historical negationism or violation of regulations, are liable for a review by the Korea Communications Standards Commission," and that the Korea Communications Standards Commission would watch over the broadcasts.
[68] On December 24, a separate online petition to the Blue House was filed demanding the shutdown of JTBC for its "unconstitutional drama", which reached 30,000 signatures on its first day.
[69][70] By December 21, around 3,000 requests to cancel Snowdrop were posted to JTBC's website and around 740 complaints were made to the Korea Communications Standards Commission regarding the drama.
[67] On December 21, an official citizen complaint was filed with South Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission against Snowdrop's screenwriter Yoo Hyun-mi and director Jo Hyun-tak for violating the National Security Act.
[74] The Seoul Western District Court dismissed The World Citizen Declaration's lawsuit on December 29, finding in its decision that even if there was distortion of history in the plot, there was insufficient evidence to show the infringement of the group's civil rights or that the drama's audience may blindly accept the historical content as genuine.
[78] Memorial institutions of student activists Bak Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol, whose deaths became key inciting events of the 1987 June Struggle, have criticized Snowdrop.
[74] On December 21, JTBC released their official statement on the controversy that read, "The background and motif for important incidents in Snowdrop are the time of military regime.
The drama includes the production team's intent of hoping for no repetition of an abnormal era in which individual freedom and happiness are oppressed by unjust power.
JTBC hastened the broadcasting schedule of Snowdrop and aired episodes 3, 4, and 5 on December 24, 25 and 26 respectively, with the stated intention to quickly resolve misunderstandings from the beginning of the drama.
JTBC stated that episodes 3–5 were released quickly because they explained the backstory of the character Soo-ho and revealed collusion between the ANSP and the North Korean government in the drama's story.
[85] On December 23, Sim Sang-jung, 2022 presidential candidate of the Justice Party spoke out against the drama, stating, "If we are going to shine a light in a harsh era, the protagonist should be our ordinary citizens who shed blood, sweat and tears for the democracy of the Republic of Korea, not the security guards and spies of the South faction under the dictatorship.
[89][90][91] On April 7, JTBC said in a phone call with the newspaper company, Money Today News, they had filed the criminal complaint against netizens for defamation.