Actress Ha-Young’s Family Faces Colonial-Era Allegations as Historians Clash
Actress Ha-Young's mention of her medical family lineage on Korean television sparked historical controversy after her great-grandfather's alleged ties to a Japanese organisation emerged.
Actress Ha-Young's family has become the focus of a historical controversy after she mentioned on KBS's "Rooftop Room Problem Children" that her family represents four generations of physicians. The disclosure prompted scrutiny of her great-grandfather, An Sang-ho, a doctor during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.
Writer Seo Jae-won, author of the film "The Wish", responded on social media by invoking the tragic history of Sorok Island, where the colonial and post-independence Korean governments conducted forced sterilisations and medical experiments on leprosy patients. Seo highlighted that An Sang-ho appeared on the 1916 membership list of the Daejeong Chinmok-hoe, a pro-Japanese association, and challenged Ha-Young to visit the island to understand the era's atrocities.
Historian Shim Yong-hwan, director of History N Education Institute, offered a more cautious assessment. While acknowledging that An Sang-ho was an elite figure whose family benefited from Japanese imperial administration, Shim cautioned against labelling him a collaborator without clear evidence of specific pro-Japanese activities. He stressed that membership in a pro-Japanese organisation alone does not constitute proof of wartime collaboration.
Ha-Young's agency subsequently apologised for initially denying the connection, confirming that An Sang-ho's name does appear in the 1916 records. The dispute reflects broader tensions in South Korea over how historical accountability is assigned to colonial-era figures when documentary evidence remains incomplete.
