Actor Ha-young. [Newsis]
Actor Ha-young. [Newsis]

History lecturer Bae Ki-seong has publicly criticized actor Ha-young over allegations that her great-grandfather collaborated with Japanese colonial authorities.

The controversy was taken up on the YouTube program "Choi Wook's Maebulshow," which released an episode Wednesday addressing the recently surfaced allegations about Ha-young's great-grandfather.

Historian Bae said he was the one who posted the online claim linking Ha-young to An Sang-ho. "On Friday I saw Ha-young's remarks about her ancestor and thought, 'Could that be An Sang-ho?' — so I looked it up and found that Ha-young's real name is Ahn Ha-young," he said. "I then wrote about it in an online community."

Bae assessed An Sang-ho's legacy critically. "He went to Japan to study medicine. He was supposed to come back and contribute to our country's development, but he had become Japanized. His colleagues, by contrast, actually returned and contributed," he said.

Bae also took issue with Ha-young's official statement claiming she had been unaware of the truth about her ancestor.

"She is 33 years old — she knows what there is to know. A quick internet search turns up the information," he said. "She chose to go on a show and talk about her great-grandfather, and that is her own responsibility. If she knew the truth, she would have been too ashamed to say those things."

Ha-young had appeared Friday on the KBS 2TV variety program "Problem Child in House," saying her great-grandfather "opened the first Western-medicine clinic in Hanyang and treated Emperor Gojong."

The remarks prompted online speculation that her great-grandfather was An Sang-ho, followed by criticism over his pro-Japanese conduct.

Widely circulated was a 1918 article from the Maeil Sinbo in which An, after marrying a Japanese woman, was quoted as saying, "I am exactly the same as a Japanese person. I don't own a single piece of Korean clothing and I can't eat spicy food." Ha-young subsequently apologized, saying the controversy had been the occasion for her to learn about her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese record.

Ha-young issued a statement of apology, saying it was through this episode that she first learned of her great-grandfather An Sang-ho's collaboration with Japanese colonial rule.


min3654@heraldcorp.com