Actors Lee Je-hoon (left) and Ha Young are set to star together in the SBS drama series "Seungsan Itseumnida," but controversy has emerged after Ha Young's great-grandfather was confirmed to have collaborated with Japanese colonial authorities. [SBS]
Actors Lee Je-hoon (left) and Ha Young are set to star together in the SBS drama series "Seungsan Itseumnida," but controversy has emerged after Ha Young's great-grandfather was confirmed to have collaborated with Japanese colonial authorities. [SBS]

Actor Lee Je-hoon is facing fresh setbacks after his co-star in the upcoming SBS drama series "Seungsan Itseumnida" became embroiled in controversy — the third time a co-star's off-screen troubles have threatened to derail one of his projects. The latest involves Ha Young, whose great-grandfather has been confirmed to have been active in pro-Japanese colonial organizations.

Ha Young's agency, Bisters Entertainment, said Tuesday that Ha Young's great-grandfather is An Sang-ho and her grandfather is the late An Bu-ho, a former head professor at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine. The agency added that records show An Sang-ho's name on the council member list of the Daejong Chinmok-hoe, a pro-Japanese organization founded in 1916.

An Sang-ho was featured in the Maeil Sinbo — the official newspaper of the Japanese Government-General of Korea — as a "model case of Naeseon ilche," the colonial policy of assimilating Korea into Japan, and has also been confirmed as a member of the pro-Japanese business group Daejong Silop Chinmok-hoe. The Daejong Chinmok-hoe was established in November 1916 under the chairmanship of Min Yeong-gi, vice president of the Oriental Development Company and a designated pro-Japanese collaborator, and counted among its members a number of prominent collaborators of the era, including Lee Wan-yong, Jo Jung-eung, Song Byeong-jun and Lee Yun-yong.

"Seungsan Itseumnida" is a comic legal detective series in which Lee Je-hoon plays office manager Kwon Baek and Ha Young plays rookie lawyer Yeo Sim-hee. The show had been scheduled to air in the first half of 2027.

The confirmation of Ha Young's family's pro-Japanese colonial ties has cast a shadow over the drama's commercial prospects.

Actor Lee Je-hoon. [Yonhap]
Actor Lee Je-hoon. [Yonhap]

Earlier, Lee Je-hoon's tvN drama series "Du Beonjjae Signal," which wrapped filming last August, was thrown into scheduling uncertainty after co-star Jo Jin-woong retired in December of that year following controversy over his past as a juvenile offender. Rumors circulated that the show would air in November, but tvN said no scheduling had been confirmed.

Lee Je-hoon also went through a cast replacement on "Model Taxi," which aired in 2021.

At the time, actress Lee Na-eun became embroiled in allegations of participating in the bullying of a former April member, prompting production company Studio S to replace her when filming was roughly 60 percent complete.

The production company said it would reshoot all of Lee Na-eun's scenes and cast actress Pyo Ye-jin in the role of Ahn Go-eun.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com