▲ Actor Ha-young
Actor Ha-young's agency has retracted its stance and issued an apology just a day after denying online allegations regarding her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese activities.
Today (August 11), Ha-young's agency, Bistus Entertainment, released an official statement announcing that they had confirmed records showing her late great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho, was listed as a council member of the Daejeong Chinmokhoe, a pro-Japanese organization, in 1916.
Previously, appearing on the KBS 2TV variety show "Rooftop Room Problems" broadcast on the 7th, Ha-young shared that she comes from a four-generation family of doctors, stating, "I heard my great-grandfather learned Western medicine in Japan and was the first doctor to open a practice in Korea. My grandfather, father, and older sister are also doctors."
Although Ha-young did not explicitly mention her great-grandfather's name, online controversy arose after it became known that her great-grandfather was Ahn Sang-ho, who worked as a doctor during the Japanese colonial period.
The Daejeong Chinmokhoe, in which Ahn was active, was an organization composed of businessmen, bureaucrats, journalists, educators, legal professionals, and medical personnel in Gyeongseong, established in 1916.
According to a 2007 paper titled "Daejeong Chinmokhoe and the Naeseon Yunghwa Movement" by Jang Shin, a senior researcher at the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, Ahn was listed as one of 21 council members in the executive leadership elected in November 1916.
The paper noted that the Police Bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Korea defined the Daejeong Chinmokhoe as a "Naeseon Yunghwa (Japan-Korea assimilation) organization aimed at endorsing the Governor-General's politics and harmonizing the Japanese and Korean ethnicities."
The agency stated, "We have realized how careful and thorough verification is needed when conveying historical facts to the public. Ha-young herself is also feeling heavy-hearted over the unintended controversy and is deeply reflecting on it."
Meanwhile, Ahn, Ha-young's great-grandfather, was the first person in Korea to obtain a Japanese medical license and served as an outside royal physician to Emperor Gojong and Emperor Sunjong. It was learned that he is not listed in the "Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators" published by the Center for Research and Information on Japanese Imperialist Collaborators in Korea.
(Photo courtesy of Netflix, Yonhap News)
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