Actor Ha Young [left, from her Instagram] and a photo of the Ahn Sang-ho family published in the Dec. 10, 1918, edition of the Maeil Sinbo. [National Library of Korea]
Actor Ha Young [left, from her Instagram] and a photo of the Ahn Sang-ho family published in the Dec. 10, 1918, edition of the Maeil Sinbo. [National Library of Korea]

Online communities are circulating translated reactions from Chinese social media to actor Ha Young's handwritten apology, as controversy continues over her boasts about coming from a "four-generation family of doctors" — remarks that drew scrutiny over her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese colonial-era activities.

Ha Young posted a lengthy handwritten apology Wednesday on both her domestic and Chinese social media accounts. The move came after she had proudly mentioned her great-grandfather on a recent television program, only for his pro-Japanese conduct to be exposed and the backlash to intensify.

In the apology, Ha Young said she had known only fragments of her great-grandfather's life through stories passed down by family. "Shamefully, in that state of ignorance, I had brought up my great-grandfather at various occasions as if he were a source of family pride," she wrote. She added that while searching through related materials following the controversy, she learned of his pro-Japanese activities. "I reflect on having casually mentioned family history without properly understanding our country's painful history under Japanese colonial rule," she said.

The handwritten apology was subsequently deleted from her Chinese social media account.

Online users speculated she had taken it down belatedly out of concern for local sentiment in China. Translated excerpts of comments left by Chinese users on Ha Young's Chinese social media account have since spread online.

Chinese users reacted critically to the apology. Comments included: "If you were a Chinese actor, all your platform accounts would be suspended and you'd be banned by now"; "You had no choice in your birth, but why couldn't you just stay quiet?"; "If you had stayed quiet, your ancestor's 'glorious past' would never have been dug up"; and "Your ancestors betrayed their homeland to accumulate enormous wealth so that four generations could live without worry — and you were even proud of that."

Meanwhile, Ha Young had appeared on KBS 2TV's "Oktapbang-ui Munje-a," a TV quiz show that aired Friday, Aug. 7, and said her great-grandfather had completed studies in Japan before opening the first Western-style hospital in Hanyang and serving as physician to Emperor Gojong. She also revealed that her grandfather, father and older sister had all become doctors, making hers a four-generation medical family — a disclosure that drew wide attention.

When her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese conduct subsequently became a source of controversy, Ha Young's agency initially said the claims were "groundless," only to apologize the following day and acknowledge the facts as the backlash grew, saying it had "responded without sufficient verification."

The agency, Bisters Entertainment, said Tuesday that "Ha Young's great-grandfather is indeed Ahn Sang-ho, and her grandfather is the late Ahn Bu-ho, who served as a department head professor at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine," and confirmed that "records exist showing Ahn Sang-ho's name on the list of council members of the Daejeong fraternal society, formed in 1916."


jshan@heraldcorp.com