Institute of National Studies: "Hayoung's great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho confirmed to have collaborated with Japanese colonialists... Responsibility lies with the individual, not the descendants"

The Research Institute of Korean Ethnic Issues has issued an official statement regarding the pro-Japanese controversy surrounding actor Ha Young’s great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho. In a statement released on the 14th, the Research Institute stated that although Ahn Sang-ho was a professional doctor who graduated from the Imperial Korean Government Japanese Language School and Tokyo Jikei Medical School, his record includes acts of pro-Japanese and pro-colonial collaboration. The institute confirmed that Ahn Sang-ho participated as a preparatory committee member of the ″National Great Memorial Association,″ organized in 1909 to commemorate Ito Hirobumi, served as a member of the Gyeongseong City Council, was the head of the Jongno Financial Cooperative in Gyeongseong from 1922 to 1927, a council member of the Daejeong Friendship Association in 1916, and a member and council member of the Dongminhoe from 1924 to 1927. In particular, the institute stated that participation as a council member of the Daejeong Friendship Association can be seen as a pro-Japanese act considering the historical context and the nature of the organization at that time. Regarding Ahn Sang-ho not being listed in the ″Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators,″ published in 2009, the institute explained that his inclusion was withheld due to not meeting the selection criteria, but this does not mean that he had no pro-Japanese activities. They added that projects recording past history, such as the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, are ongoing efforts based on the discovery and verification of new materials. The institute emphasized that the core issue of this controversy is not whether Ha Young personally is a ″descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator,″ but the ″lack of historical awareness and reflection″ that caused harm to the public by speaking about his ancestor’s colonial collaboration history in the public sphere without historical reflection. They also stated that responsibility for historical wrongdoings should be attributed to the individuals who committed them, and that a guilt-by-association approach that transfers the faults of ancestors to their descendants cannot be justified. They also mentioned that this controversy should not end with mere criticism of Ha Young as an individual. The institute pointed out the need for historical reflection on the structural problem in which professional lineages and social assets formed under colonial rule were not properly purged after liberation and have continued as vested interests and hereditary privileges. Ha Young recently revealed on a broadcast that he comes from a ″family of doctors for four generations,″ mentioning his great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho’s medical career, which sparked the controversy. Initially, his agency denied the pro-Japanese allegations against Ahn Sang-ho but later reversed its position. On the 12th, Ha Young issued a handwritten apology, expressing regret and apologizing for mentioning his great-grandfather’s pro-Japanese activities on the broadcast without fully knowing the facts. With the Research Institute of Korean Ethnic Issues publicly confirming Ahn Sang-ho’s pro-Japanese and pro-colonial collaboration record, the controversy has entered a new phase. The institute clearly warned against guilt-by-association criticism directed at Ha Young personally.