Actor Ha-young. [Yonhap]
Actor Ha-young. [Yonhap]

Amid growing controversy over the alleged pro-Japanese collaboration of actor Ha-young's great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho, cartoonist Yun Seo-in has mocked critics, calling the fixation on pro-Japanese collaborators "idiotic" and likening the backlash to people "marching around with bamboo spears to vent their relative deprivation." Yun had earlier defended Ha-young against criticism over her great-grandfather's wartime conduct, only to face a backlash of his own, with critics saying he was "defending someone who never asked to be defended."

In a Facebook post Thursday, Yun opened by saying he had "zero interest" in whether his defense of Ha-young had helped or hurt her public image.

"I didn't know who Ha-young was before, and I'll probably go on not knowing who she is," he said. "What does her public standing have to do with me? My only concern is the fact that, in 2026, harping on pro-Japanese collaborators is idiotic."

He went on to say the reason was simple: "Because in 2026, harping on pro-Japanese collaborators is 100 percent completely wrong — a pointless exercise without a single milligram of merit."

Yun also defended Ha-young for having spoken about her family background on a broadcast, saying she had done nothing worth criticizing.

"Those who say Ha-young's problem was bragging too much about herself are, when you look closely, just as mean-spirited as the anti-Japan bamboo-spear crowd — they're nothing but people wallowing in relative deprivation," he said. "Is a society that collectively beats someone up just because she said her family is well-off and has five refrigerators at home a sane society?"

He added: "If you actually have a good family background and five refrigerators, isn't that a good thing? I find it very enviable and admirable. It's not like she took your refrigerators — what's the problem?" He continued: "She's pretty, she acts well, and she comes from a wealthy family, so you're just dying of envy?"

Yun then asked: "Did beating her up with her pro-Japanese great-grandfather as the pretext make your depressing life a little better, even briefly?" He sarcastically told critics to "keep doing what you do — march around with your bamboo spears, relieve your relative deprivation, and go vote for No. 1."

[Yun Seo-in's Instagram]
[Yun Seo-in's Instagram]

Yun had recently posted a series of messages defending Ha-young after controversy erupted over her great-grandfather's alleged pro-Japanese collaboration.

On Tuesday, he wrote mockingly that Ha-young should "run to Dokdo, tear up the Rising Sun flag, polish the comfort women statue, and burn a Uniqlo."

The remarks drew criticism, with people saying he was "defending someone who never asked for it," that he had "poured oil on a burning house," and that he had effectively "stamped her with a pro-Japanese seal of approval."

Meanwhile, Ha-young had appeared on Netflix Korea and the KBS variety program "Oktapbang Munje-aduel" on Aug. 7, where she said her family had produced doctors for four generations and that her great-grandfather had been a physician — remarks that drew attention at the time. After the broadcast, however, the identity of her great-grandfather as physician Ahn Sang-ho spread online along with details of his alleged pro-Japanese activities, igniting the controversy.

Ahn Sang-ho (1872–1927) was the first Korean to obtain a Japanese medical license and served as a personal physician to emperors Sunjong and Gojong. He was listed as a council member of the Daejeong Chinmok-hoe, known as a pro-Japanese organization, in 1916. Records also indicate he married a Japanese woman, emphasized a Japanese lifestyle, and promoted the ideology of "Naeseon Ilche" — the assimilation of Korea and Japan.

Particularly notable is a 1918 article in the Maeil Sinbo newspaper in which Ahn was quoted as saying, after marrying his Japanese wife: "I am exactly the same as a Japanese person. I don't own a single piece of Korean clothing, and I can no longer eat spicy food."


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com