Squid Game mania is driven by nostalgia

Squid Game in South Korea has become a breakout success for Netflix as the streamer’s biggest non-English-language series. A recent on-air promotion event by K-pop girl band Itzy on KBS Cool FM radio recently deviated into a discussion of the survival show. While they were supposed to be promoting their single ‘Loco’, three of the band’s five members discussed their reactions to the show.

Singer Chaeryeong said that she found the series too violent. That is a common criticism of the show, in which the majority of the 400-plus contestants in a mysterious contest are brutally eliminated. For many, part of the show’s appeal is its use of childhood games and activities. Model-turned-actor Jung Ho-yeon, who portrays a North Korean refugee, has now become the most followed actress in South Korea. —IANS