'Great-grandfather's Collaboration Controversy' Ha Young's SNS in Chaos Amid Public Outrage [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

The comment section of actor Ha Young's social media has turned into chaos amid controversy over her great-grandfather's alleged collaboration with Japan.

Recently, Ha Young posted several photos from the filming set of the Netflix original series "This Ridiculous Love" on her social media, accompanied by a brief caption: "We met in the mountains."

The released photos showed Ha Young resting behind the camera or joking around. As these were behind-the-scenes images released to coincide with the announcement of the new work's release schedule, they drew significant attention.

However, the situation in the comment section is far from positive. Alongside this post, comments on all recent posts over the past few weeks are filled with discussions about allegations regarding Ha Young's family's collaborationist activities during the Japanese colonial era. In particular, voices calling for the actor to issue a direct statement and apologize have grown louder.

Including on a KBS 2TV variety program aired on the 7th, Ha Young has repeatedly emphasized in multiple content pieces that her family is "a medical family for four generations." Specifically regarding her great-grandfather, she stated: "My great-grandfather was one of the first to open Western medicine in Hanyang. After studying medicine in Japan, he opened Korea's first clinic in Hanyang and treated patients at Ko Jong (황제)."

Following this, online discussions emerged claiming that Ha Young's great-grandfather mentioned on the broadcast was Ahn Sang-ho. Ahn graduated from Tokyo Jisei Medical School in Japan in 1902 and was the first Korean to obtain a Japanese medical license. He is also a figure suspected of collaboration with Japan during the colonial period.

In fact, records surfaced showing that on December 10, 1918, Ahn Sang-ho made statements through Maeil Sinbo, an institutional investor-backed newspaper at the time: "I am like a Japanese person; I wear Japanese clothing and my wife is Japanese. Our family's rules and dietary habits are all in the Japanese style. Unlike Koreans, we do not even own a single traditional robe." These revelations further fueled public outrage.

Ha Young's agency, Vistars Entertainment, initially responded on the 10th to the controversy over her great-grandfather's collaborationist activities by stating it was "baseless." However, just one day later on the 11th, they unexpectedly acknowledged: "Upon further verification, we confirmed that there is indeed a record showing that our great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho, was listed as a council member of the Daejeong Friendship Association in 1916," bowing their heads.

Due to the escalating controversy, scheduled official events were also canceled. Originally, Ha Young was set to hold a roundtable interview on the 14th, the day before Liberation Day, to commemorate the release of "This Ridiculous Love," but it was canceled amid the controversy. As a result, interviews with fellow actor Jung Hae-in were also called off, leaving Ha Young's work facing significant damage.

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*This content was translated by AI.