South Korean cable network tvN clarified Monday the mascot doll for its drama, “Guardian,” was completely Korean.

Prior to the clarification, the show’s Korean fans mistook the doll to be Japanese and deemed it improper that tvN would use it for the drama as the plot centers around Korean indigenous folklore.

The controversial doll (tvN)

In the fifth episode of “Guardian” aired Friday, Ji Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun) asks Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) to get her a stuffed toy as a gift from a Japanese shop.

Viewers, thinking the doll must be a Japanese product, protested citing Japanese colonial occupation of Korea.

TvN said the doll was designed and made in Korea especially for the drama. The Japanese shop had supplied the venue for the shoot but was otherwise unrelated to the doll.

According to tvN, the stuffed toy character is named Bogle Gel. Bogle Gel has special powers to control water and fire but lives in hiding for the sake of maintaining peace. The cloth it wears is designed to resemble buckwheat jelly, which is a Korean goblin’s favorite food in the folklore.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)

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