Actress Ha Young Apologizes After Boasting 'Four-Generation Doctor Family' Sparks Pro-Japanese Controversy

South Korean actress Ha Young (하영) debuted in 2019 in the KBS 2TV drama Doctor Prisoner. She has since appeared in works such as Extraordinary Attorney Woo, The Good Detective 2, and Doona!. Last year, she gained recognition for her standout performance as Cheon Jang-mi, Baek Kang-hyuk's capable assistant nicknamed "Gangster," in the Netflix series Critical X. She then played Choi Ga-yoon, the fiancée of lead actor Kim Mu-yeol, in Punch Education. Recently, she took on her first leading role in the new drama My Sweet Mobster.

To promote her new drama, Ha Young has been making frequent appearances on various variety shows, openly sharing her family background. She revealed that she comes from a "four-generation doctor family," which unexpectedly embroiled her in a pro-Japanese controversy surrounding her great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho. Her agency initially denied the claims yesterday (the 10th), stating that the online rumors were "groundless." However, just one day later, they made an abrupt U-turn, admitting that her great-grandfather's name did appear on the list of councilors for the "Taisho Chinmokhoe," a pro-Japanese organization during the Japanese colonial period. This revelation quickly ignited heated discussion across Korean online communities.

The controversy began when Ha Young appeared on KBS 2TV's variety show Problem Child in House. During the episode broadcast on the 7th, she first disclosed her family's four-generation medical history. She mentioned that her great-grandfather "opened the first Western hospital in Hanyang and also treated Emperor Gojong," which piqued the curiosity of netizens.

Following the broadcast, some online users speculated that Ha Young's great-grandfather was the modern physician Ahn Sang-ho. Ahn Sang-ho had studied Western medicine in Japan, returned to Korea to establish a Western-style hospital, and participated in royal medical care, making him a significant figure in Korea's modern medical history. It is said that when Emperor Gojong fell ill in 1919, Ahn Sang-ho treated him alongside Japanese physicians.