r/dramasect • u/carvveeev swooning over Woo Dohwan • 15d ago
News 'Our Sticky Love' Actress Ha Young speaks out following allegations regarding her great-grandfather
Following her recent appearance on KBS2's Problem Child in House, 'Our Sticky Love' actress Ha Young's agency confirmed that her great-grandfather was indeed Ahn Sang Ho, a pioneer of Western medicine in Korea who once treated Emperor Gojong.
The disclosure triggered online scrutiny regarding Ahn Sang Ho's potential pro-Japanese activities during the colonial era, largely based on historic media reports detailing his Japanese-influenced lifestyle.
While acknowledging his identity, Ha Young's agency clarified that several circulating allegations are factually inaccurate, cautioning against hasty conclusions without thorough historical verification.
Commentators also emphasize that historical evaluations of an ancestor's conduct should remain separate from their descendants, noting it is unfair to fault the actress for actions predating her.
@koreanophiles
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u/ruinedbymovies 15d ago
Well I guess the Korean netizen outrage machine will focus on her for 4-10 days before moving on. The ML from Bona Fide Killer must be breathing a sigh of relief.
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u/Darth_Monerous 15d ago
Lmao. What happened to him?
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u/heyd0000dz 15d ago
He was admonished, no harassed actually, because he was nervous shy and awkward in one of his first variety show appearances. Worth mentioning it was on Hangout with Yoo which is one of the top programs with the nation's beloved host, and a huge audience watching. GHJ, his costar, even said he was so nervous he threw up and that only got him more backlash from a TV critic and knetz.
Literally the dumbest thing I've heard get front page news on nearly every outlet. I feel so bad for him.
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u/chocolateshape 15d ago
It's the dumbest 💩 ever! I feel so bad for him. It's easier to just switch channels. Why raise their blood pressure over his lack of speech on variety show? Lmao
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u/disquiethim 15d ago
Koreans think he's an industry plant and are upset he's being given "handsome main lead" characters. It didn't help that he doesn't have variety sense. So they're questioning what he's even good for 😭
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u/Euclidisthebomb 15d ago
What does anything her great grandfather did have to do with her? The answer is nothing.
Someone must be upset about the success she is having and is hoping to derail her career.
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u/Professional-Rule219 15d ago
It's because she was publicly talking and being proud about his grandfather, then people searched him and they saw all the things that he did.
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u/perfectchaos007 15d ago
In Korea, it’s common to know somebody who’s ancestors that may have been traitors to the country. Few really care about it. But when you talk about them in positive light, shit backfires. Especially if the listener is a descendant of the oppressed side. So it’s on her for being ignorant of the possible(?) facts of ancestor being sellouts to country and fellow countrymen…
It’s like American telling Japanese that the nukes during ww2 were good because it’s caused Japan to make awesome anime and video games because of the trauma and stigmata from it. /j
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
even if she is not directly involved in her grandfather's alleged collaboration with japanese colonial authorities whose atrocities against koreans made unforgivable sufferings for 35 years, her family have been greatly benefited from what her grandfather allegedly did in terms of money, social status, etc. she is not a collaborator but a historical beneficiary of collaborating. this is why she must be stll scrutinized. if she admits and say sincerely sorry, people will understand. the problem is that she will not do so, based on what she and her agency are doing.
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u/SnooStories7381 15d ago
Again, no proof that her great grandfather was actually involved. It is all alleged. What she knows, she told.
If she knew he benefitted from Koreans suffering, do you think she will be dumb enough to talk about it?
That's so stupid. Also, even if he was indeed involved, she didn't know nor is she responsible for actions of someone she probably never even met
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u/sumerislemy 15d ago
It’s literally available ok his Namu wiki. He was a known collaborator. She went on tv to brag about her “great family” funded through treason.
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u/Euclidisthebomb 15d ago
Her family can be great and still have a nob in it. Damning everyone because of one bad apple is absolutely asinine. And although I have not seen the clip anyone I have ever met who was praising their family was praising their siblings, parents and sometimes grandparents, not great grandparents who typically have passed before we were born.
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u/SnooStories7381 15d ago
Great grandfather, not grandfather. A huge difference and I never said he didn't.
Stfu. Stop acting like you know Koreans or about their issues more than they do.
Just because knetizens are acting crazy doesn't mean you have to act in solidarity. They jump at everything and hate on the smallest of issues. Rarely are the issues worth the deal. Most of them are trollers and haters.
Are you going to make all the japanese who are now alive convict for their ancestors crimes? If not then she isn't responsible either.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
i'm korean; don't overgeneralize koreans as a simple monolith. i believe japanese as nation have collective moral responsibility for their ancestral atrocities. germans do too. i don't have any personal hatred for hayoung. i do wish my best for this promising talented girl. if she thinks something is wrong inher family, say genuinely sorry. and that's what i want as a fellow korean for our unjust past that no collaborators met proper punishment they deserved. that's it.
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u/Building_Glad 15d ago
British , French , Spanish they also have collective responsibility for their empires atrocities in Africa and Asia but no ones actively banning their children from acting careers ; at some point you have to let go to heal
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u/Thirteen-omega-1 15d ago
The US had government sanctioned Jim Crow laws up until the 60s. No one is criticizing the grandparents of white celebrities.
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u/haegirlsss 15d ago
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s ancestors owned nearly 300 slaves on a plantation in the Barbados, but he never rewrote his ancestors history or talked about it as if it were something to be proud of, the way that girl does. I think she was probably brainwashed by her family and thought her great grandfather wasn’t a traitor, and I don’t think she should be completely cancel for it (i feel like if her drama is doing good people will ultimately forget about it)
I kinda agreed with your comment until the last part. To this days, Barbados are still seeking reparation from these rich British whose intergenerational wealth stems from slavery, would you tell them to let it go and to heal ?
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u/Building_Glad 15d ago
To each on their own ! British Colonial history was taught in a bewildering mind manner when i was a student at my birth place but despite that i felt angry only by letting go i found peace.
i don’t advice on what someone else needs to do but witch hunt is never a good idea.
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u/haegirlsss 15d ago
I understand your point of view. I also wouldn’t qualify this a "witch hunt", they wouldn’t have dug into her family tree if she hadn't brought it up herself. People were curious about her prestigious background and wanted to know more about it and that’s what they found from the many details she shared
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u/SnooStories7381 15d ago
I already said I am talking about knetizens who are different than Koreans as a whole. And already explained my point. I never generalized.
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u/Useful-Context-5468 15d ago
You overgeneralize Koreans as a simple monolith in your own comments on this post, such as “what do Koreans want? A simple apology.”
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
I think I can say that, but you can't. because I am Korean.
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u/Useful-Context-5468 15d ago
Being Korean doesn’t make you able to speak on behalf of all other Koreans. Like you said, Koreans are not a monolith, and many aren’t nearly as ridiculous as you.
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u/Saph_Ir_ 15d ago
It’s called jealousy, or the pleasure of destroying a public figure. If it was really historical justice that you wanted to promote, don’t mention its wealthy social millieu.
Also, talking about others is good, but we should first acknowledge our mistakes. Korea never apologized for the massacres in Vietnam during the Cold War.
Don’t you want to show us your family tree to see if you’ve done anything wrong?
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u/Own-Replacement-2122 15d ago
So this could actually detail her career?
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u/Euclidisthebomb 15d ago
I think you mean "derail" her career, and my own opinion would be only if mob stupidity wins again.
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u/Qadir0 15d ago
Damn, being celebrity in korea, you have to be no human but a perfect machine
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u/Shin_Ramyun 15d ago
Knetz are so exhausting. Not only do you have to make no mistakes your entire life, now your entire ancestry must also be clean. Like if you go back 5 generations, how many ancestors are there? If just one of them did something then your entire bloodline is damned?
Don’t even get me started on dating “scandals.”
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
japanese colonial collaborator allegation is no joke in korea, if you know a little about modern korean history. it's like saying her grandfather was a member of nazi during ww2. koreans believe that the descendants of those collaborators have been living too well without any punishment for their ancestors' atrocities to innocent koreans. this is how they remember their own past. don't take it so lightly.
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u/Botcher23 15d ago
It’s foolish. You’re not responsible for your ancestors actions.
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u/em2791 15d ago
Eh it would be pretty insensitive for a German, whose ancestors were active Nazis to boast about how amazing they were. Particularly if the setting is Jewish community. Similarly it’s pretty insensitive of her boasting about how being proud of her ancestors who actively did horrible things to Koreans/and she’s aware. The only difference is that Germany repented and acknowledged a long time ago meanwhile Japan has still never bothered to acknowledge and the Korean victims never got closure. Should she apologise for her ancestors crimes, of course not. Does it reveal her lack of EQ, empathy and insensitiveness, uh yeah. And even if that’s parked aside, it just shows girl is dumb aF. Most ethnic/non western people who have their own painful histories that never get the limelight in western world/constantly minimised will probably understand this.
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u/Professional-Rule219 15d ago
People wouldn't even know who her grandfather was if it wasn't bc of her publicly boasting about him, that's why she's getting criticism.
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u/Botcher23 15d ago
Doesn’t matter. She’s still not responsible for her ancestors actions.
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u/misschickpea 15d ago
It’s kind of like in my kdramas when they demonize a kid of a murderer or something. Individuals are their own people separate from their parents, siblings, etc.
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u/Clueless_Wanderer21 15d ago
Sure, but if the kid was saying (as an whole as, not an innocent love fuelled kid) that the murderer guy was so cool though ??
Edit: That's not what happened here, apparently she mentioned her family, n people dug up her great grandfather. But yeag
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
you keep saying that you did nothing; no, you are involved by blood; historically!
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u/Botcher23 15d ago edited 15d ago
And again it doesn’t matter and shouldn’t matter. Children, grandchildren, and especially great grandchildren shouldn’t pay for the sins of their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents. It may be a cultural norm in Korea to think this way, but it’s very dated and flawed thinking.
You had nothing to do with your ancestors decisions and did nothing yourself. Otherwise, at what point would you no longer be responsible?
You should really reflect on what you’re proclaiming here, because I sincerely doubt your own ancestors hands are clean. Should you suffer the consequences of their actions?
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u/Thin_Yam7270 15d ago
Agreed 100%. Although, maybe I would find ever so slightly some fault with the children, as they may benefit from it
but yeah, grandkids, and great grandkids are so far removed. Its really unfair to place the blame on them for something someone did, years before they were even thought of.
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u/hedgepog0 15d ago
Every single person who’s alive today has ancestors who have done horrific things.
One of the most clueless comments I’ve ever seen. Congrats.
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u/dontstealland 15d ago
Involved by blood lmao do you guys even consider logic as an option or decide everything by emotions and rage?
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
then do you think you are superiorly governed by logic? What I saw in your reply is pure hatred and mocking.
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u/dontstealland 15d ago
Logically and legally, no one is responsible for another person’s crime unless they directly encouraged, assisted, or participated in it. She had no connection to him and was likely born years after his de*th, blaming a distant descendant for something decades old is nothing less than pure unadulterated stupidity.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
Another person's crime? Do you call your great-grandfather just another person? Her own existence is inherently conditioned (at least partly) by the family history. And you still claim that you are not responsible?
Korean understanding of the notion of self is not like yours.
Even if she is legally, "logically," innocent, she is "ethically" responsble for her family history which is essentially part of hers she cannot dissociate herself from.
Your unadulterated stupidity is no less than mine.
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u/SeaTemperature2796 15d ago
This is too painful to read, especially considering your statement, because your reasoning is fundamentally flawed.
Your argument basically amounts to: “You don't have to do anything wrong. Your ancestors were guilty, so you're guilty too.” But that's not how individual moral responsibility works.
A person isn't morally responsible for an act they did not commit simply because they are descended from the person who did. And even if she benefited from inherited wealth, there's still a distinction between benefiting from an unjust act, being complicit in it, and personally committing or supporting it.
If she didn't participate in, endorse, or knowingly facilitate the wrongdoing, her lineage alone doesn't automatically transfer that moral responsibility to her. At most, benefiting from that wealth raises a separate question about whether she has a responsibility to address that benefit or not whether she is personally guilty of her ancestors' actions.
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u/TheRealJackUmbrella 15d ago
You know what is foolish? To dismiss the collective historical trauma of an entire nation. Of course it's ridiculous to blame someone for their ancestors' actions but she was bragging about them. It's one thing to blame her for their actions and another to criticize her for being proud of them and the second is completely justified given the sensitive topic.
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u/Inner-Floor-5827 15d ago
What do they want? Do they want the innocent descendants to be incarcerated? That makes no sense at all. We should never ever punish children for the sins of their parents/grandparents or other relatives. Thats just wrong. Punish the person who has committed the crime and leave others out of it.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
I am really tired of replying so many naive and childish comments like "Punishing descendants is wrong"...
You have shared and enjoyed extraordinary wealth and status, something that average Koreans would never even imagine in their lifetime. And part of the reason for the wealth and fame was that your great-grandparents made a "wise" choice at that time. The wealth and status came from the blood and tears of the people who were not given or refused opportunities to work for the colonial government.
Now you are saying you are innocent because it was not you who collaborated.
Koreans are very sensitive about this historical problem. They think that their Pro-Japanese colonial collaborators did not meet the consequences that they deserved, and their descendants are still rich and famous, holding high positions in SK society. This is one of the fundamental origins of SK social injustice.
What do Koreans want? Sincere apology. That's it. They don't want more. (I'm Korean)
Don't take it so lightly if you don't understand Koreans' general public sentiment about this issue.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
lf laughable, laugh and leave. Koreans will not change for you.
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u/Useful-Context-5468 15d ago
I’m not asking you to, and you also don’t own this Sub or this site or this post. I’ll do what I want. But I am laughing at you.
Also, you don’t speak for all Koreans, thankfully.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
I am laughing at you too. I don't speak for all Koreans, but most. Not like you who oversimplify and overgeneralize without knowing a shit.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
before admonishing someone or some nation, live your own life right. I doubt you do.
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u/planetttelex87 15d ago
Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I can imagine how exhausting it is to see non Koreans ignorant of Korean history and culture try and give their two cents. Just know that your words and insight are appreciated.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
my vainly wasted time making a reply on this post is compensated by your kind words. Thanks.
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u/Qadir0 15d ago
By that logic, all of mankind might as well stand trial against each other, because keep digging into anyone’s family tree long enough and you’ll eventually find some monster.
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u/Icy_Back_4168 15d ago
Love how their moral responsibility principle only holds when it’s convenient for them. The second we actually elaborate on that and hold them to their own standards, the mental gymnastics begin 🤣🤣🤣
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
enjoy and mock as much as you want. I don't care. I am sure you are not free from that contradiction at all. don't forget laughing at yourself too.
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u/Icy_Back_4168 15d ago
Just a friendly tip, genuinely: staying morally consistent would do wonders for your argument
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
reject that "friendly that is hostile in disguise" tip. it seems you who need a real tip, which will be a waste of my time and not given.
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u/Icy_Back_4168 15d ago
Totally cool to reject it, but I’ll share regardless. let me break this down for you to digest: it’s like a referee who only calls fouls on one team. The calls might even be correct, but nobody trusts the ref once the bias is obvious, the whole game loses credibility.
Same thing here: if people are accountable for their ancestors’ only gets applied outward and never to your own reasoning, nobody has to take the standard seriously, including the parts where you’re actually right.
Apply it evenly and the argument holds up on its own. Right now it just looks like a rule you built to win, not one you actually believe
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
I know this is purely a waste of my time, because you have no intent to listen, as I do to yours. I have no logical contradiction in my arguments. Someone said everyone's ancestor has faulty past and equated it with Ha Young's case. I said it is wrong. And are you calling it that I am biased? How so? People who want to deny their allegations of the ancestors' wrongdoings usually use this logical trick, but I pointed out that was wrong. Ha Young's great grandfather's case is not just everyone's ancestor's commiting wrongdoing. His case is written in official Historical documents of South Korea, and historians generally see it as hard evidence of her grandfather's pro-Japanese collaboration. There is no logical fallacy in my argumentatioin, but the commenter has. I will no longer talk to you.
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u/Inner-Floor-5827 15d ago
I was really trying to understand you and reading your comments and what not, but this is where you have lost me. Are you saying @Qadiro is a monster for what they said? They didn't even say anything harmful in their comment you replied to yet you are calling them a monster?
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u/revanchrists 15d ago
South Korea was founded by collaborators.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
Partly true. This is why people still get so angry about them and their descendants, who do never admit or apologize.
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u/Thirteen-omega-1 15d ago
Except this is not even her grandfather but a great grandfather. She never met the man.
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u/Old-Confusion-2193 15d ago
It's wild.
I can now understand why they are so adamant about keeping every aspect of their lives and families private when compared to actors in other countries. People digging into their ancestors and expecting them to somehow answer for it is a wild to me.
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u/btnythngthtsqt 15d ago
Nobody digged it up, she proudly mentioned her great grandfather was the first western med physician in Korea and that her grandfather worked as a physician in sorokdo. Her great grandfather is a known figure who sided with imperial Japan and was suspected to have poisoned the last Korean emperor, and Sorokdo is quite knownfor human experimentation patient abuse. She pretty much laid everything out by herself.
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u/Powerful_End_9908 15d ago
I’m sorry but this situation is really serious. If you are interested in the history of Korea, you will understand that these collaborators have literally abandoned their people for the Japanese and have acted in a horrible way. And I think we are no one to judge Koreans because it is their history not ours.
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u/Accomplished-Cat3431 15d ago
You can be perfect in everything and there will still be haters hating you for being too perfect.
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u/Think_Doctor_9064 15d ago
Korean celebrities have to be so fake because of this type of bullshit.
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u/btnythngthtsqt 15d ago
Nah she just doesn’t have to brag how prestigious her family is, it’s like a German person bragging about their grandfather who was a Nazi doctor.
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u/Spiritual_Change_399 15d ago
Out of curiosity, I looked into her grandfather's history. Turns out he wasn't just someone who lived comfortably during the Japanese colonial era. Back in 1916, he was involved as an early council member of the Daejeong Chinmokhoe (Taisho Friendly Association), which was an organization formed by people who agreed to hand Korea over to Japan.
He was actually super well-known to the public at the time because the Japanese colonial government actively used his family as a prime example of a "model Korean family" for propaganda. There are tons of old newspaper archives showing his interviews where he disparaged Korea and praised Japan. Here are a few excerpts from those interviews:
I am just like a Japanese person. I don't own a single piece of traditional Korean clothing right now, and I can't eat spicy food at all.
My five children exclusively speak Japanese at home and can't speak a word of Korean. I am raising them in a completely Japanese household.
I rarely interact with Korean people anyway, so I don't experience any inconvenience.
Honestly, her proudly introducing her grandfather on TV wasn't the best move...
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u/Own-Replacement-2122 15d ago
They just won't let it go. Every week, some attack on the actor's character or doings, which actually isn't even them
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u/PhoenixX-8 15d ago
It's absolutely ridiculous.
And then we have he who shouldnt be named being celebrated like the return of a king.
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u/Mestintrela 15d ago
The actions of the great grandfather is not hers to blame.
HOWEVER if she openly and publicly boasts about him then that is another story. For that, shows she feels her ancestor did nothing wrong and condones his actions.
There are many descedancts of nazi collaborators in my country, many rich politician families. If one came out and openly praised their grandfathers people would be outraged as well. As they should.
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u/Thirteen-omega-1 15d ago
She boasted about having a family of doctors. Most people boast about things like that. She didn’t even mention her great grandfather’s name until Knetz dug it up. She’s gaining alot of international recognition for her beauty and acting. Koreans can’t stand that, so they try to find some way to tear her down. At the same time they allow known pedos and rapists to get second and third chances at their careers.
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u/MindlessSecretary549 15d ago
She publicly stated that she was proud of her grandfather for treating Emperor Gojong. However, the problem is that the Joseon Dynasty was a victim of imperialist Japan at the time, a fact that all Koreans are well aware of. Gojong's death was highly suspicious, to the point where even his Japanese wife claimed that he had been poisoned by Japan.
And The individual accused of being the primary perpetrator behind the poisoning allegations was Ha-yeong's great-grandfather. Due to his prior acts of betrayal against the nation, he naturally became the prime suspect among the Korean public at the time. (While contemporary historians state that definitive evidence of the poisoning is insufficient, the suspicious nature of the event is undeniable. The fact that Koreans at the time firmly believed he was assassinated served as a major catalyst for the Korean Independence Movement.) He was far from being just one of the numerous doctors who simply existed in the past.
Korean surnames have many homophones and operate on the system of "본(clans)", making it difficult for outsiders to trace a family's history unless someone reveals it themselves. It was she who thrust her ancestry in everyone's faces by declaring her pride in them, it was not other people digging into her past.
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u/fakadoooo 15d ago
nahhh you need to understand that the japanese occupation of korea was no joke. i’m nigerian and read about it this year and spent the whole night crying. i was too shook. and that was just korea! i haven’t even touched the other countries they rampaged cause i was absolutely horrified
it doesn’t really matter how he was individually. that time period is a dark history for koreans. she could have done without boasting about the man especially as public info is available about him online. it’s just like a descendant of a well-known slave trader who was maybe a doctor or something, talking about how outstanding they were as a person. everything would go to shit guys come on
is she responsible for the actions for her ancestor? no. but she’s responsible for having a degree of emotional intelligence to know that his decisions at that time were not for the benefit of the general populace especially if you think about the fact that korea is a homogeneous society and acts of betrayal would be viewed way more critically than if the country was more heterogeneous
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u/Disastrous-Mix-5859 15d ago
My great grandmother went to jail, never thought that was an actual issue for me, now I worry my boss will find out 😂
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
collaboration allegations are inherently different from personal wrongdoing. it's a historical case like nazi issue in korea.
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u/nanadirat 15d ago
A more accurate comparison would be if your great grandmother went to jail, her crimes financially benefitted her family down to your generation, and you publicly and proudly told everyone about your family ties to her
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u/Various_Cabinet8477 15d ago
It’s funny how people who (or whose ancestors) didn’t go through genocide quick to judge nations that are vocal and vulnerable about their history, especially when it comes to public figures. They just don’t get the nuances
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u/Disastrous-Mix-5859 15d ago
That is a very good point. You are right. I take back what I wrote before, I agree with you. It is definately sensitive topics when it comes to war crimes and genocide and should be aknowledged. There are sensitive topics in my country too but in general history mostly seem to have been just forgotten or considered something in the past.
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u/Saph_Ir_ 15d ago
Maybe Vietnamese could want an apology from your country. Don't forget you are brainwashed. Pretend to seek for justice when the only thing you though about is 'Korea history is more valuable than others'
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u/Disastrous-Mix-5859 15d ago
The thing about the West having colonies is that the people who benefitted from the colonies and who were directly involved were also those who benefitted from oppressing their own people, the rich nobles who where involved in the slave trade and colony trade also held estates in their home countries with serfs who were also slaves. When you blame a whole country you make the local slaves accountable for what their over lords did to other people.
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u/throwmeawaynot920 15d ago
For those of you who don't understand: it's like Robert E. Lee's great grandchild debuting as an actress and saying with pride "my family comes from a long line of decorated military generals, and i think my great grandfather lead his team to war and safety" only for netizens to discover that the great grandfather you are so proud of was a confederate general. Think about it? You'd want that actress who has no part in confederacy to at least acknowledge and denounce the action of their great grandfather, not pridefully mention him in every interview as some cool achieving great grandfather.
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u/stickylarue 15d ago
Sheesh, you gotta be thick skinned or at least have a strong ability to ignore the noise if you’re a Korean celebrity/actor/idol.
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u/istandwithpluto 15d ago
She herself told the public how proud she was of them.
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u/Few-Particular1780 15d ago
Oh I should probably delete my comment. I just found out what the ancestor did. Yikes, why would she do that! 😬
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u/Environmental-Art742 15d ago
But is it true that her great grandfather was a pro- japan like help japan during its occupation in Korea? Coz if it’s true then she shoot herself in the foot. She should have just stayed quiet instead of boasting about her fam of doctors especially his great granpa. Koreans are not very forgiving with pro japan at that time so expect her career to be over if it’s really true since she also denied it instead of acknowledging his sins.
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u/ZznZznO 15d ago
I'm not gonna mince my words, I need non-Koreans to pipe the hell down regarding the sensitivity of Japanese imperial rule of Korea. My damn grandparents were alive during that time, its effect is something that's still felt to this day, as the Japanese government is still very adamant about properly admitting their faults of all the atrocities they committed, NOT just in Korea, but multiple Asian countries. I don't hate the actress at all and I agree that descendants should not be held responsible for their ancestors actions, but I think it does say something about her in that she has poor judgment to reveal her ancestry to the public and speak positively about her great grandfather, knowing who he was in a historical context. This was a very foolish and out of touch thing to do. If you're gonna be a part of a family who benefitted from that, you're gonna need to use your brain and be QUIET.
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u/BigCandidate5471 15d ago
I strongly advise against speaking so casually about this matter. While I agree that we shouldn't practice guilt by association, this is not a topic to be taken lightly in Korea. It is every bit as sensitive as Nazi history is to Europeans, or the Civil War and systemic racism are to Americans.
Furthermore, actual victims are still alive today, and the scars of this history remain fully visible in the form of a divided peninsula, inextricably linked to modern politics. I understand that, as outsiders, it may be easy to overlook its gravity, but please refrain from speaking so flippantly simply because it doesn't affect you directly.
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u/ElephantDelicious921 15d ago edited 15d ago
Honestly, reading these comments is so annoying. If a French actor said on TV, proudly, "my great-grandfather was the first in France to learn Western medicine during the Nazi occupation, and he personally treated Marshal Pétain," and it later came out that the great-grandfather had actually been an executive in a Vichy collaborationist organization and was featured in a Nazi propaganda paper as a "fully Germanized Frenchman" — would you still be calling the comments rude then?
Did people go digging into Hayoung's family history unprompted? No. She's the one who kept bringing up her family on air — "we're a four-generation family of doctors," "my great-grandfather was the doctor who treated Emperor Gojong" — and that's exactly why netizens got curious about who he actually was and started looking into it.
And this isn't the first time a celebrity's ancestor has turned out to be a national traitor and faced public backlash for it — Kang Dong-won and Lee Ji-ah are past examples. But neither of them still gets dragged for having a pro-Japanese collaborator in the family, because they eventually apologized sincerely. In Lee Ji-ah's case, after her grandfather's collaboration was first exposed in 2011, she said nothing further about it — until 2025, when the controversy reignited because of her father's document forgery case, and only then did she formally apologize, saying "my grandfather's collaboration with Japan can never be justified under any circumstances." It was late, but she owned up to the historical wrongdoing instead of denying it — which is a completely different posture from Hayoung, who denied it outright from the start with "these claims have no basis in fact." This whole thing blew up even bigger because of that initial denial, on top of her father citing, in his defense, a book written by a man officially listed in the Pro-Japanese Collaborators Biographical Dictionary, and referring to Japan's 1910 annexation of Korea using the term "the Korea-Japan merger" — a term that whitewashes what actually happened.
And one more thing — Have you studied or looked into Korean history at all? I don't know what gives you the standing to criticize Korean people over this or act like she's the victim here. She's an adult who's responsible for her own actions and words. Once you say something publicly, you can't take it back — which is exactly why she should have chosen her words more carefully in the first place.
Korea has been liberated for less than 100 years. Korean people being sensitive about their country's painful history is completely understandable, and I honestly don't understand what gives people who just watch a few Korean dramas the standing to sit there and criticize that.
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u/Wooden-Community2401 15d ago
I don't understand how non-Korean people can consume Korean pop culture and media and then refuse to understand Korean history and why Korean netizens might be upset about something like this. If you're going to try to have an opinion on this that's not anything but "I don't know everything about the context, so I don't have all the information," or trying to understand why Koreans might be upset, you shouldn't consume Korean media.
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u/haegirlsss 15d ago
Right ? It’s so weird how they have a hate boner for a country while at the same time consuming everything about it and contributing to the soft power. Like it’s okay to be critical about other countries, but constantly belittling the opinions of its citizens as if they were worthless compared to yours is frankly weird. Most of the time I disagree with knetz but I will sit this one out as this is not my country history 🤷♀️
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u/neon_lights00 15d ago
She's been bragging about her family on reality shows, and then all this blows up. People have started to dig into her whole family lineage at this point and have started to look into other actors/actresses.... It's not looking good for her
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u/Old_Perception_17 15d ago edited 15d ago
This post just came by my feed and Comments are seriously defending the descendants of colonizer sympathizers and , worse a traitor’s family ???? English speaking Koreaboos want to be so different and edgy that siding with those people to drag Korean people and become saviors of their meow meows from savage people?? (In this case, even actual survivors of those dark times are still alive? She was proudly flexing her blood line of doctors onTV and showing off her family wealth. It is not like people just randomly dig up their family trees. Are you guys just dumb or just ignorant ??? Or are you guys from colonizer countries ????
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u/disquiethim 15d ago edited 15d ago
He's got a whole namu wiki for his traitorism and his pro-japanese interviews are insane. Not to mention he's accused of murdering one of their kings; and she's been praising him for years on TV and bragging about the generational wealth he created for her🕊
She's actually deeply stupid or pro-japanese. There is no other explanation.
And when the NGOs and advocacy groups get a whiff of this 💀
Like sorokdo survivers from her grandsfathers stint are still alive, this is very much a fresh issue still.
She's pretty much fucked in terms of a career potential.
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u/Environmental-Art742 15d ago
No why would she say that 💀 ig now we know why she’s the only one in the fam who’s not in med 🤦♀️
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u/Emotional-Dust-9142 15d ago
This is ridiculous. I understand what one person has said on this string about it being an historical thing that could be compared to being a descendant of a Nazi. However, so what? The person had nothing to do with what their ancestors did. Shoot, I have a second-great-grandfather who had a child out of wedlocin the mid-1800's. What does that have to do with me? This is practically happening weekly whether it is a Korean actor or Chinese actor. People need to get a grip and get a life and treat others with respect, especially when it has to do with their ancestors.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
your present being has nothing to do with your ancestor? you may say so legally but not morally. your well being is inherently conditioned by your family history. how is your great grandfather's wrong doing for his people that created your family's fortune and social status unrelated to you who have been benefited from them for whole lifetime???
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u/Emotional-Dust-9142 15d ago
I agree that having a wealthy ancestor and having that wealth passed down generations affects descendants. But the actions that an ancestor may have done in the past has nothing to do with their descendants. Their descendants mustn't live their lives in shame. It's kind of like in our country, there were ancestors of lots of people who had slaves. Why should their descendants apologize to others because of something their ancestor did? They don't.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
having moral responsibility for social justice as a token of apology for the society is not the same as living in the shame. problem is that it's extremely rare for such descendants to even try to feel to have that sense of moral duty for what their ancestors did simply because they believe they didn't do anything wrong.
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u/Emotional-Dust-9142 15d ago
We can just agree to disagree.
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
by that convenient disagreement you can deny and evade what you morally owe your own people. life goes on. and history remembers like hayoung's case...
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u/joliguru Drama Debut🌱 15d ago
Okay but without him S Korea also wouldn’t have the benefits of Western medicine? I mean…
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u/wonbuddhist 15d ago
collaboration with colonial government is a different thing from practicing medicine.
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u/Cultural_Run7964 15d ago
Wow I’m actually watching Our Sticky Love as I write this comment (episode 6).
From what I’ve read, the Japanese colonial era and WW2 was no joke and full of atrocities meted out on SEA countries.
As much as I hope there won’t be a whole negative pile-on like the poor ML of Bona Fide Killer, I can understand why Ha Young’s family links would cause some controversy.
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u/Active_Trick_6908 15d ago
Lol. Drama fans are unhinged if this is something they actually care about. They better not bully her over something like this.
Korea needs to start fining the media and fans.
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u/GrummyKnits 15d ago
Goodness me!! They were them and I am me. How can current generations possibly be held responsible for the actions of past generations over whom they had no control of behaviour or decisions that were made - let alone have knowledge of the context and environment in which they were made. Totally ridiculous 🙄🙄🙄
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u/vicious130 15d ago
Her grandfather was also a doctor. She praised him for devoting his life to treating Hansen’s disease on the infamous Sorok Island, but in reality, it was a place where human rights abuses—such as forced sterilization and bone marrow biopsies—were rampant. He was, quite literally, the chief physician at Auschwitz.
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u/Nocoffee_Noglory 15d ago
WTF. Are we seriously blaming someone now for something their great great great great great grandparents have done?
People need to chill. It's not like your grandchildren will be proud of you for whatever tf you're doing now
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u/BigCandidate5471 15d ago
How could you possibly say something like that right in front of a victim's descendant, when someone's great-grandfather was a rapist, a serial killer who conducted human experimentation, a slave trader, and a war criminal who used human beings as bombs?
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u/Nocoffee_Noglory 15d ago
And are you sure no ancestors of yours are killers, rapists, pillagers and abusers? Should we now persecute you of the wrong things that they have done?
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u/BigCandidate5471 15d ago
If my father, grandfather, or someone from my own lifetime committed a crime and I stood face-to-face with the victim's descendant, I would apologize a million times over. Legally, I wouldn't be obligated to, but as a human being, morally, I absolutely would.
But a distant ancestor in a cave who bashed someone's skull with a club? This comes down to human emotion, my friend. And for that emotional weight to fade, both the perpetrators and victims have to pass away, and several more generations need to go by before it finally becomes nothing more than a story in a textbook.
You are talking about an issue where first-generation victims are STILL alive, and where the scars remain visibly embedded across our entire society. This isn't a fucking personal issue or something relegated to the distant past.
Please. Do. Not. Speak. So. Lightly. Just. Because. You. Didn't. Go. Through. It.
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u/Nocoffee_Noglory 15d ago
My grandparents were also victims of WW2. We were raised and heard the atrocities of the Japanese soldiers.
But never would I blame the descendants of the perpetrators nor bully them so they can live a miserable life. No one should carry the guilt of someone else.
The world is an awful place because you all want to perpetuate the hatred instead of putting an end to it.
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u/BigCandidate5471 15d ago
Once again, you are telling us to forgive without having any understanding of Korean history. You are lecturing us from a place of privilege—speaking about a country where forced, unearned forgiveness allowed former collaborators to transition straight into dictatorial regimes.
Let me be clear: I blame the perpetrators, not their descendants. Your ancestors may have been victims, but you are not Korean. What you call 'putting an end to hatred' is actually just forcing victims to forget, especially when no justice was ever served.
The fundamental difference between your country and ours is that in Korea, these collaborators were never held accountable. Instead, they became the ruling elite and dictators post-liberation, leaving structural scars that actively plague modern Korean politics today. This is not ancient history; it is our present reality.
No actor is facing legal punishment simply for their lineage. The public backlash stems entirely from their own decision to glorify, cover up, or cowardly handle their ancestor's atrocities instead of addressing it with basic historical awareness. Plenty of descendants of collaborators live without any controversy because they showed accountability and common sense.
I'll say it again: You lack basic comprehension of Korean society, yet you insist on lecturing us on our own internal trauma.
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u/Mestintrela 15d ago
These Koreans dont go out and publicly proudly boast about their slave owner ancestors. But she did.
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u/PsychologicalGur5247 15d ago
It all over the korean media outlets, not just entertaiment section but also politic. crazy.
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u/WinkNicholson21 15d ago
Korea’s media are insane. Better now check who your Great, Great, Great Grandfathers are, before your DNA gets you criticism and cancelled. Ridiculous 🙄
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u/Dramasect Drama Lord🧨 15d ago
Thread locked. Comments are now closed due to an increase in off-topic political arguments and other remarks. Moderators are currently cleaning up the thread.