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. 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." She also said that "creative freedom should be humble when faced with of the scars of history." Defenders of Snowdrop have pointed to respect that must be given to freedom of expression. On his Facebook page, film director Jeong Yoon-cheol expressed his belief that censoring the drama's broadcast would be dictatorial in and of itself, and cited the films Hiroshima mon amour and The Lives of Others as positive examples of similar love stories that include individuals of objectionable political backgrounds. Political commentator Chin Jung-kwon called on the public to "just watch the drama as a drama." On December 30, JTBC issued a last statement regarding the controversy around Snowdrop. The broadcasting station stated that JTBC is experiencing severe damages due to the spread of false and malicious comments regarding Snowdrop. JTBC considers the freedom and independence of creativity a key component of successful content creation, as much as they respect the rights of consumers to freely criticize or form opinions about content to a healthy extent. However, "against comments and rumors which openly terrorize those involved in the making of the drama and which have nothing to do with the story's actual content", JTBC plans to proceed with strict legal actions in order to protect the broadcasting station's image as well as the image of the drama's creators and the rights of creative content. JTBC then continued, "the synopsis of Snowdrop was leaked in the early stages of production, malicious narratives that falsified the plot were circulated continuously and repeatedly. Even to this day the spreading of false information and baseless accusations regarding the drama's content are swaying the public's opinions severely." On March 30, 2022, Korea Communication Standards Commission investigation results revealed, from the first episode to the final episode, Snowdrop did not "distort history" or denigrate "democratization movement." Korea Communications Standards Commission has concluded that