Actress Ha Young Faces Renewed Scrutiny as Grandfather's Controversial Past at Sorokdo Hospital Resurfaces

Korean actress Ha Young (하영) is once again facing controversy over her family background. After previously revealing she comes from a family with “four consecutive generations of doctors,” netizens began unearthing her family history. This led to revelations about her great-grandfather being identified as a pro-Japanese historical figure, and now, her grandfather’s past has also come to light, sparking a new wave of criticism.

Netizens recently discovered that Ha Young is the great-granddaughter of Ahn Sang-ho (안상호), a controversial pro-Japanese historical figure. Following these revelations, online users delved deeper into Ha Young’s family background, uncovering her grandfather Ahn Bu-ho’s (안부호) connection to Korea’s Sorokdo National Hospital (소록도국립병원).

Ha Young’s agency recently confirmed that her grandfather, Ahn Bu-ho, previously served as a professor and department head at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine. However, netizens further discovered that he was involved in Hansen’s disease research at Sorokdo Hospital between 1949 and 1954.

Sorokdo National Hospital has a documented history of severe human rights abuses, where patients with Hansen’s disease endured inhumane treatment, including forced sterilization, forced abortions, and forced labor. A 2005 report by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea revealed that between 1949 and 1958, the hospital performed 1,191 vasectomies on patients. At the time, regulations even stipulated that couples could only live together after the male underwent a vasectomy.

Furthermore, reports indicated that patients were allegedly subjected to controversial medical experiments. For instance, some had needles inserted into their chests to extract bone marrow samples, a process described as extremely painful. Some patients reportedly saw their health rapidly deteriorate and even died after these experiments.