n.b. The ANSP (안기부), or Agency for National Security Planning (1981-1999), was a precursor to the modern South Korean National Intelligence Service, and the enforcer arm of the authoritarian regime that held power at the time. On paper, they were Korea’s preeminent intelligence organisation, charged with ‘the collection, compilation, and distribution of foreign and domestic information regarding public safety against communists and plots to overthrow the government.’ They would regularly arrest student protestors and political dissenters, frame them as North Korean spies or communist sympathisers, torture, and even kill them.
Eun Chang-soo [Heo Jun-ho] (♂, 56 years old) ANSP Director
After going through the Korean War as a student soldier, burning with patriotism, he continued on to the Korea Military Academy. However, he was such a man of letters that, despite being a soldier, he went by the nickname ‘bookworm.’ In fact, he was so literary-minded that, after graduating the Academy, he transferred to Hankuk University and majored in Korean Literature. Perhaps because he was fond of poetry and aware of his mild-mannered and sensitive nature, rather than become a military field operative, he decided he was better suited to being a professor at the Academy, but then the May 16th coup broke out. The commander he served under ultimately objected to the coup and was carted off to jail and Chang-soo, too, spent some time in a cell. Perhaps that’s why, despite being a member of the ‘Dongshim Society,’ a core, private organisation within the Academy, he did not at all agree with the December 12th incident–on the grounds that it was absolutely unacceptable for a soldier who should maintain neutrality towards politics to mobilise an unauthorised division.
He thought that would be the end of his military career, but <Code One> never said a word about it and still trusted him enough to assign him an important roll. Which is how he ended up becoming <Code One>’s man. Thanks to this, the members of the ‘Dongshim Society’ were blatant about checking and ridiculing him–to the extent that there were all sorts of rumours that he would visit Nam Tae-il, the former ANSP director and Chang-soo’s junior at the Military Academy, during the holidays to pay his respects.* Wanting to gain <Code One>’s confidence, he tried his best to break free of his own insecurities–because he believed that thoroughly safeguarding <Code One> was the only way to repay the trust placed in him, that this was true patriotism.
[see notes]
Nam Tae-il [Park Sung-woong] (♂, 54 years old) Secretary General of the Ruling Party
He’s got guts and nerve in spades. He’s called the ‘Tiger General’ due to his large frame and resonant voice, and his spirit is equally impressive. In reality, he infiltrated North Korea four times to crush the Northern forces firing machine guns at his allies; he’s such a legitimate feild soldier that he took out an enemy platoon wholesale.
As a key member of the ‘Dongshim Society,’ a core, private organisation within the Military Academy, he rose through the ranks, becoming ANSP director, a member of the National Assembly, and now Secretary General of the ruling party. He prides himself on being <Code One>’s confidant and ‘second man.’* Since he’ll even bow in the direction of the Blue House 108 times every morning for a greeting from <Code One>, his allegiance is beyond a thing of marvel.
He’s known as a valiant commander with a strong ‘oyabun’ *disposition, but even the royal concubines of Gujunggung Palace, who yearned for their king’s favor, would have told him to get lost; when it comes to <Code One>, he’s jealousy incarnate. The reason behind his childish attempts to flaunt his status as ‘Number 2’ is that he’s secretly called the ‘icon of betrayal’ amongst the members of the Dongshim Society. He has a track record of having betrayed his direct superior, who had saved his life three times, in order to actively participate in the 12.12 coup d’état–ultimately leading to the death of his commander and savior. Thus, the more <Code One> trusts Eun Chang-soo, who blindly followed his commander’s wishes, the more it eats at him. He wants to eliminate Eun Chang-soo, who keeps needling that insecurity. So much that he assigned a dedicated employee to follow, monitor, and eavesdrop on Chang-soo, the ANSP director, in order to get a chance to off him...
[see notes]
An Gyeong-hui [Lee Hwa-ryong] (♂, 46 years old) ANSP Anti-Communist Investigation Bureau Chief
Wielding his exceptional resourcefulness, LTE-A level situational acumen, and personal connections as weapons, he’s climbed his way up the ranks. During the disbandment of the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency, he survived a large-scale purge and rose to the rank of Chief of the Anti-Communist Investigation Bureau of the Agency for National Security Planning. The iron-clad rule that was instilled in him while living as a bona fide intelligence officer is that power does not belong to the people, who are its original owners. The truth is that national security is the security of the regime, and the director of the ANSP is the head of an institution that exists solely for the sake of the one who rules. Since ignorant military-types who don’t know the first thing about espionage ops keep taking up key positions, curtailing budgets, and processing personnel arbitrarily, he’s so furious he can’t stand it. So he made a resolution. Like a politician who aspires to sit on the throne,* he must become the director of the ANSP. Unsure whether Eun Chang-soo or Nam Tae-il will become his ticket to the top, he’s currently supporting them both simultaneously...
[see notes]
Hong Ae-ra [Kim Jeong-nan] (♀️, 50 years old) Eun Chang-soo’s Wife, Former Movie Actress
As befitting a former actress, she effortlessly exudes refined eloquence and elegance; her aura is no joke. She is careful not to stand out in front of Nam Tae-il’s wife, Jo Seong-shim, as Tae-il is considered her husband’s competitor to become the next presidential candidate. She’s determined to become First Lady by lightly stepping on the likes of frivolous Jo Seong-shim. The amount of drive and erumpent force she has put towards that goal are tornado-level indeed. Nonetheless, she feigns innocence and affects false grace; her only weakness is the fact that she isn’t her husband’s first wife. Though she’s exasperated that her husband never acquiesces to what she wants, even despite having borne him a son in his later years, she’s enduring it, smiling pleasantly, but... While moving forward with her plans to achieve her ambitions, she’s startled when a shaman tells her that there is a way for her husband to rise to the seat of power and begins to pay close attention to the timely incident that has just occurred...
[see notes]
Jo Seong-shim [Jung Hye-young] (♀️, 50 years old) Nam Tae-il’s Wife
She’s the daughter of a general. Since she has lived in a hierarchical society where order and obedience are clearly defined in accordance with her father’s rank, in the entire universe, only she exists; the world revolves around her. Even the sun is no more than a light that shines on her. She prides herself on being the ‘Queen’ of the ladies who visit Choi Mi-hye’s salon. Like her husband who presents swords to his subordinates, she gifts the wives kitchen knives engraved with ‘Sincerity’ and enjoys instructing them on how to be the wife of a soldier or the wife of a politician.
Since she dresses in a luxurious, showy style and is a straight-talker who hasn’t the faintest idea how to hide her true thoughts, she’s always the subject of heated gossip and reflects poorly upon her husband, Nam Tae-il, but the fact that she compounds his negative image is a truth only she’s ignorant of. We suppose that if you were to call her personality that takes people’s words at face value and her foolishness that would lead her to entrust her wallet to someone she’d just met without a speck of doubt charming, they might be considered that...
[see notes]
Choi Mi-hye [Baek Ji-won] (♀️, 42 years old) An Gyeong-hui’s Wife, Fashion Designer
Growing up under a father who was a non-commissioned officer, she learnt early on that no matter how good or smart she was, it was useless in the face of rank. Since her mother, who was the wife of a military man, also lived solely for the purpose of getting her husband promoted. Perhaps that’s why she considers flattery and fawning the basics for the sake of success and advancement and ‘honourably’ and regularly makes use of slander. She’s deft as well and, after quitting fashion school, she opened a boutique called ‘Charmant’ in Myeongdong on the strength of having studied abroad in France for a few months, making it into a salon frequented by the ladies of the core power class. One can’t help but be impressed. She’s fully a step more ambitious and greedy than her husband, who dreams of becoming the director of the ANSP. Though she’s always smiling and pandering to Hong Ae-ra and Jo Seong-shim, she holds the ambition to one day without fail step on both women and rise to the top...
[see notes]Other:
‘Code One’ [unbilled]: aka ‘[Your/His] Excellency’ (각하). The sitting ‘president’ (fictional).
Park Mu-Yeol [Kang Moon-kyung]: The leader of the ruling Aemin Party and the incumbent party candidate in the December 1987 election (fictional).
Choi Dae-young (mentioned): The opposition party candidate running against Park Mu-yeol in the election (fictional).
Oh Dong-jae [Choi Gyeong-hoon]: One of the more junior ANSP agents. He picks Gang-mu up from the airport in EP01. His call sign is ‘Lion.’
Lee Seung-joon [Moon Yoo-gang]: One of the more junior ANSP agents. Eun Chang-soo orders him to interfere with Gang-mu’s attempts to apprehend ‘Daedong-gang 1.’
Il-geun [Choi Yoon-je]: One of the more junior ANSP agents. He draws the composite sketches of the real and fake North Korean operatives for use on television. His call sign is ‘Mt Gamak.’ His surname is never given.
Jin-seong [unbilled]: Gang-mu’s ANSP hubae (junior colleague) who died two years prior to the start of the drama while in pursuit of ‘Daedong-gang 1.’ His surname is never given. According to the script, he was 29-years-old when he died.
Choi Hui-joon [Jang Tae-min]: aka Section Chief Choi. He acts as Eun Chang-soo’s aide, though his loyalties ultimately lie elsewhere.
Commander Je [Seo Seok-gyu]: The acting commander to the troops brought in to deal with ‘Plan B.’ His loyalties lie with Nam Tae-il. His given name is undisclosed.
Cheollyeong-dosa [unbilled]: The shaman the three wives are constantly seeking out for advice. His given name is revealed to be Shin An-jin. (n.b. ‘dosa’ is a religious title that translates to something like ‘ascetic/guru’).
Kim Ye-ni [Park Ye-ni]: Mi-hye’s assistant at Charmant. She was born (or has lived) overseas and speaks fluent English.
Housekeeper [unbilled]: The housekeeper of the Eun household. She’s obviously fond of Young-ro but well under Ae-ra’s thumb.
Driver Kim [Song Hoon]: Ae-ra and Chang-soo’s chauffeur.
Eun Young-woong (mentioned): Eun Chang-soo and Hong Ae-ra’s nine-year-old son. Young-ro and Young-woo’s younger half-brother.
Gal Sang-shik [An Byeong-shik]: aka Reporter Gal, the news reporter who teams up with Han-na. His given name is a homophone for ‘common sense’ (상식), likely since he does what one ought in trying to report on the ANSP plots, even at the risk of his own life.
Park Jun-pyo [Lee Joo-ahn]: Code One’s son and tabloid disaster waiting to happen.
A few notes on the above:
- The Korean War here is referred to as simply the ‘6.25 War’ (6.25 전쟁) because it broke out on the morning of 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of skirmishes along the border. Since the drama takes place in 1987, anyone over the age of 37 would have lived through it. A bit more on that here.
- The Korea Military Academy (KMA) is the leading South Korean institution training officer cadets. It produces the largest number of senior officers in the Korean army. Notably (in the context of Snowdrop) it also produced most of the members of the Hanahoe, an unofficial private group of military officers headed by Chun Doo-hwan (more on that below).
- There is no Hankuk University (or Korea University) in Seoul, but there is a Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. They could have been going for a hyper-generic name, or simply wanted to avoid using the names of any real-life institutions in the drama.
- The May 16th coup (5.16 정변) was a military coup d’état that took place in 1961, organised and carried out by the Military Revolutionary Committee. The coup neutralised the democratically elected government, ending the Second Republic and installing a reformist military junta–the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction–under Park Chung-hee.
- The ‘Dongshim (‘same-mind’) Society’ is a fictional re-imagining of the historical Hanahoe (‘One Society’), an unofficial private group of military officers–mostly graduates of the KMA–who formed the core of the group that took control of the South Korean government in 1979.
- The 12 December Incident (12.12 사태) would be the military insurrection, or Coup d’état of December Twelfth, that took place in 1979. Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan (of the Hanahoe), acting without authorization from then-President Choi Kyu-ha, ordered the arrest of the ROK Army Chief of Staff on allegations of involvement in the assassination of former President Park Chung-hee. A series of conflicts broke out in the capital and by the next morning the Ministry of Defense and Army HQ had been overtaken. This and the Coup d’état of May Seventeenth effectively ended the Fourth Republic.
- Eun Chang-soo’s character description states that he opposed the mobilisation of an unauthorised (lit. ‘irregular’) division. This is referring to the fact that the Dongshim Society is not an official division of the Military Academy or the army, but mobilised forces against the government in the 12 December coup.
- When it says that Eun Chang-soo became Code One’s ‘man,’ they’re using it in the sense of ‘one of the people loyal/beholden to him,’ of course. The verb ‘became’ also takes the inflection ‘~beorida’ (~버리다) which implies that this is regrettable or happened unintentionally.
- *Eun Chang-soo’s profile mentions rumours that ‘he would visit Nam Tae-il...during the holidays to pay his respects’ or–more literally–‘he goes to offer New Years bows on the holiday’ (명절이면 세배를 간다). On New Years in Korea, it’s traditional to go around calling on family, friends, etc., offering greetings and New Years bows (세배・歲拜). However, the person going around doing the calling is typically of a lower station than the person doing the receiving (since they have to do all the leg work), so for Chang-soo to call on Tae-il, who is two* years his junior, would be an embarrassment to Chang-soo. Hong Ae-ra mentions this in the EP01 dialogue.
*n.b. In the dialogue it’s stated that Tae-il is four years Chang-soo’s junior, but the JTBC website has their respective ages as 54 and 56, so there’s a discrepancy.
- The National Assembly is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea, equivalent to the UK Parliament or the US Congress.
- *‘Second man’ here is actually in English (세컨드맨), and means something like his ‘right hand man,’ though, as Secretary General, Nam Tae-il is also the second most powerful man in the ruling Aemin Party (the party, like the presidential candidates, is fictional).
- The Blue House (청와대・靑瓦臺) is the South Korean presidential residence, so named because of its blue roof tiles.
- Nam Tae-il’s character description states that he bows 108 times (108배를 올리다) every morning. Needless to say, this is an expression that’s usually meant figuratively and can be used to express respect, gratitude, entreaty, etc. The number 108 is significant in a number of Eastern traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. For instance, there are 108 beads on a japamala, Indian Kathak dancers will spin 108 times, and in Japan the shrine bells are rung 108 times on New Year’s Eve. The number is also believed to be echoed in the cosmos (the distance between the sun and the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the sun, etc.).
- The word ‘oyabun’ (오야붕) made its way into Korean via Japanese, likely during the Japanese occupation of Korea that lasted from 1910-1945. (For anyone who watched Mr. Sunshine (2018), this is how Goo Dong-mae’s men referred to him). In Japanese (親分), the word means ‘boss, leader, chief,’ but since the term is often used by members of a gang or by yakuza to refer to their leader, it means something closer to ‘kingpin, head of a crime syndicate.’ So, they’re basically saying he’s got the disposition of a mafia don or some such.
- Gujunggung Palace (구중궁궐・九重宮闕) is now the presidential palace, separate from the Blue House, but I gather it was a royal palace back in the day. It appeared in the news recently when Moon Seok-yeol won the 2022 South Korean presidential election. You can see images of it here.
- (For ‘Dongshim Society’ and the ‘12.12 coup,’ see above notes.)
- An Gyeong-hui’s character description describes him as having ‘LTE-A level situational acumen,’ and yes, they are referring to the mobile communication standard.
- The South Korean Central Intelligence Agency (대한민국 중앙정보부) was officially disbanded on 4 April 1981 and restructured into the Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP), which was in turn restructured into the National Intelligence Service in 1999.
- *His description also mentions politicians who aspire to the throne (용상・龍床・‘dragon-seat’). There isn’t a literal throne in Korea anymore, obviously, since King Sunjong, the last Emperor of Korea, was removed from power when Japan occupied Korea in 1910. Though the House of Yi persists, they don’t have a symbolic/political presence in the way the Japanese or British royal families do today. Hence, the word is now used to refer to the supereme seat of power–in this case, the presidency.
- If it’s not apparent, women in Korea do not assume their husbands’ surnames when they marry, but rather keep their own, which is why the wives all have different surnames from their husbands.
- Even today in Korea, having been married once (‘한 번 갔다 온 사람’) is considered something of a black mark on a prospective partner’s record, and it certainly was back then. Even though this is Ae-ra’s first marriage, since she’s her husband’s second wife, it reflects poorly on her/puts a dent in her status. The description says that this is her only weakness, but Seong-shim throws shade at her over her past as an actress (women entertainers have historically been frowned upon as improper or ‘indecent’) and her less-than illustrious academic background. Ironic, since Ae-ra is sharp and quick on the uptake while Seong-shim is dim and vacuous.
- Jo Seong-shim’s character description states that ‘the world revolves around her.’ More literally, it says that ‘she’s the “centre” of this world,’ complete with quotes. I can only assume this is a play on her name since ‘seong-shim’ (성심) and ‘centre’ (중심) share a syllable.
- Also, it gets mentioned in the dialogue in EP02, but her name means ‘sincerity.’ This is the word she has engraved in hanja (‘誠心’) on the knives she gifts her posse of matrons. The Korean description had the word in hanja rather than hangeul, for this reason.
- Choi Mi-hye’s character description states that ‘she “honourably” (‘떳떳이’) and regularly makes use of slander.’ This is, of course, an oxymoron, but the word carries the connotation of ‘fair play; aboveboard; unashamedly’ so what it’s really getting at is that she considers slander fair play when it comes to clawing one’s way up in the world.
- Myeongdong, where Mi-hye’s boutique is allegedly located, is a commercial district in Seoul, second only to Gangnam in terms of affluence/expensive shopping (it was apparently ranked the world’s 9th most expensive shopping district back in 2011).
- Though not listed in her character profile, she also goes by ‘Charlotte,’ perhaps because she spent time abroad in France and adopted the name during her time there–or wants to give the impression that she did.
- Also not mentioned in her profile, it’s revealed that she has a head for finance and has apparently falsified her academic records.
You can find the original Korean on JTBC’s official website here.
All source materials belong to the parties to which they are licensed. All translations are our own.