Japanese media outlets have published a series of reports on the controversy surrounding the pro-Japanese collaboration of actor Ha Young's great-grandfather, directly confronting South Korea's notion of holding descendants accountable. The debate over whether it is fair to criticize someone for an ancestor's past that they never experienced has grown into a cross-border dispute.
On the 13th, the conservative Japanese outlet JB Press said in a report that "there is a scarlet letter that has long followed Korea's entertainment industry," describing it as "the stigma of being a 'descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator.'"
The outlet conveyed that it found it difficult to accept the situation in which Ha is being criticized for the past actions of a great-grandfather he neither met nor lived alongside during the Japanese colonial period. It added that "in Korea's entertainment industry, once someone gains popularity, not only their own past but also that of their parents, siblings and even ancestors is dug up," and that "among these, the theory of a pro-Japanese ancestor is the subject that most enrages Koreans."
The outlet also introduced cases of other Korean actors who had faced similar controversies in the past, arguing that "what Korean society should truly guard against may not be forgetting history, but the reality in which history becomes a tool to judge people living in the present."
On the same day, Fuji News Network (FNN) published a column titled "The Heavy Meaning of Pro-Japanese Collaboration in Korea" by Hiromi Kamoshika, a professor and guest commentator for Fuji TV.
Kamoshika said that "on social media, accusations spread based on suspicions lacking facts and evidence, even calling him a 'descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator who saved Yi Wan-yong and poisoned Emperor Gojong,'" adding that demands for Ha to step down and retire have continued despite his apology. The professor said that "in Korea, there is a saying that 'if you take part in the independence movement, three generations are ruined, and if you collaborate with Japan, three generations prosper,'" analyzing that "a deep-rooted perception that the liquidation of pro-Japanese collaborators was not properly carried out lies behind this controversy."
However, the professor pointed out that "verifying an ancestor's conduct and imposing social sanctions on descendants are separate matters," noting that "a situation in which broadcasts and advertisements are withheld over suspicions about a great-grandfather can be called a modern-day form of 'guilt by association.'" He went on to express concern that "confirmed actions and baseless suspicions, ancestors and descendants, historical responsibility and contemporary political attacks must be distinguished," warning that "otherwise, the scope of the term 'pro-Japanese' could expand endlessly."
Denied as "Groundless," Then Admitted a Day Later
The controversy began when Ha appeared on a broadcast on the 7th and revealed his family history as a household of doctors spanning four generations. After the broadcast, his great-grandfather was identified as Ahn Sang-ho, a doctor from the Japanese colonial period, prompting suspicions of pro-Japanese collaboration.
Ahn Sang-ho went to Japan as a government-funded student, graduated from the Tokyo Jikei Medical School in 1902 and became the first Korean to obtain a Japanese medical license. Records in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the Journal of the Korean Society for the History of Medicine indicate that he attended to the health of Emperor Sunjong and Emperor Gojong as a commissioned physician and royal court physician.
The problem was that suspicions were also raised that he had been active alongside Yi Wan-yong in the Daejeong Friendship Society, a prominent pro-Japanese organization, and had promoted the "Japan and Korea as one body" ideology through the official gazette of the Japanese Government-General of Korea.
The initial response to the controversy was rocky. On the 10th, his agency, Bisters Entertainment, acknowledged that Ahn Sang-ho was his great-grandfather but called the collaboration suspicions themselves "groundless," only to reverse its position a day later on the 11th.
The agency said, "As a result of additional verification, we have confirmed that a record does exist showing Ahn Sang-ho's name on the 1916 list of Daejeong Friendship Society councilors," adding, "We sincerely apologize for causing confusion by responding hastily without sufficient verification."
Ha himself then posted a handwritten apology on social media on the 12th, saying, "I bow my head and apologize for causing great disappointment and hurt," and that "I knew only fragments of my great-grandfather's life through stories passed down by my family." He added, "In a state of ignorance, I brought up stories about my great-grandfather at various occasions as a source of family pride," and that "I reflect on having lightly mentioned my family history without properly understanding the painful history of the Japanese colonial period."
