[Provided by Herald POP (now Herald Muse)]
[Provided by Herald POP (now Herald Muse)]

Broadcaster Lee Hye-sung has referenced a case that evokes the recent controversy surrounding actor Ha Young's great-grandfather and pro-Japanese collaboration during the colonial period.

A video titled "The justice we believed was right may have been wrong | What Is Justice?" was posted Tuesday on Lee's YouTube channel "Lee Hye-sung's 1% Book Club."

In the video, Lee introduced Michael Sandel's book "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?" and said, "There was recently a controversy when the pro-Japanese activities of a public figure's great-grandfather during the Japanese colonial era came to light."

Lee added that "some people expressed outrage over it, while others urged caution."

Lee then posed a broader question. "Issues of historical wrongdoing — reparations between perpetrator nations and victim nations, and those caught in between — are nothing new," she said. "There is no disagreement on the historical facts themselves, but should we atone for the sins of our ancestors? Should a nation apologize for its historical wrongs?"

She continued: "When we talk about justice, we divide not only the things everyone wants but also the responsibility for mistakes and wrongdoing. Who's going to clean up this mess? If only one person has to clean it up, isn't that unfair? And if the person who made the mess has to clean it up, that feels unfair too. But saying sorry and taking responsibility is not an easy thing to do."

Earlier, Ha Young had revealed on the KBS2 program "Rooftop Troublemakers" that the great-grandfather had opened the first Western-style medical clinic in Hanyang and treated Emperor Gojong.

Her great-grandfather was subsequently identified as modern physician Ahn Sang-ho, and his pro-Japanese activities drew fire. Particular attention was paid to records showing Ahn's name on the list of council members of the Daejeong Chinmok-hoe, a fraternal society, in 1916.

Ha Young's representatives initially denied the allegations regarding the great-grandfather's pro-Japanese activities but later reversed their position after reviewing the relevant materials, and Ha Young issued a handwritten letter of apology.

Following the controversy, Ha Young departed from seasons 2 and 3 of the Netflix drama series "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call." The production team of the drama series "Seungsan Issseumnida" also said in August that they were "taking the recent matter involving one of the cast members very seriously" and were "carefully discussing the situation from multiple angles with the production company and those involved."


min3654@heraldcorp.com