As actor Ha-young's family history recently came to light and sparked renewed controversy, the past revelation by Jeon Beom-sun, leader of the band Yangban-do, that he is a descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator has also drawn fresh attention.
Last April, Jeon appeared on a podcast for the YouTube channel MP (Museum P) and disclosed his family history. While explaining the motivation behind writing his book
Jeon Beom-sun's Korean History Therapy
, Jeon revealed that his paternal grandfather was the person who served as a Japanese interpreter standing next to Lee Wan-yong at the time of the Eulsa Treaty. He explained that although Lee Wan-yong was fluent in English, he could not speak Japanese, and that it was actually his grandfather who handled the interpretation with the Japanese side.
According to Jeon, his 5th great-grandfather is Lee In-jik, who is introduced in Korean language textbooks as the author of the first modern Korean novel. He shared that during his college days, he frequently appeared in the media while active in the memorial association for Dr. Homer Hulbert, an independence activist, and only learned of this fact for the first time when his mother told him about his family's background one day.
He confessed, "One day, my mother came into my room and asked, 'Do you know what kind of family you come from?'" According to him, Lee In-jik later remarried a Japanese woman and moved to Japan, a situation that Jeon described by saying, "Our family was abandoned." He expressed his feelings at the time, saying, "The fact that I am a descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator was a tremendous shock."
He stated that he subsequently sought out and read all of Lee In-jik's novels, and while he could empathize with the progressive critical consciousness found in them—such as the abolition of the traditional class system and women's liberation—he clearly pointed out that Lee In-jik was someone who "very, very clearly engaged in pro-Japanese activities."
Summarizing the motivation for his work, Jeon said, "By dealing with my pro-Japanese grandfather, I wanted to try healing myself first."
Jeon, who majored in history at Dartmouth College in the United States and graduate school at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, has not only been active in a band but has also applied his major to participate in historical, political, and social movements and commentaries.
(SBS Entertainment News, Reporter Kang Kyung-yoon)
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