Website for identifying pro-Japanese ancestors emerges after Ha Young controversy

This screenshot shows search results from the Pro-Japanese Collaborator Scanner website.

Amid growing criticism over the pro-Japanese activities of actress Ha Young’s great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho (1872–1927), a website has emerged that allows people to check whether they have ancestors who were identified as pro-Japanese collaborators.

The website, called “Pro-Japanese Collaborator Scanner,” has been trending on social media since Monday. Users can enter their surname and ancestral clan origin, known as
"bongwan," to see whether their family lineage includes individuals classified as pro-Japanese collaborators.

The site was created using information on independence activists registered in the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ Digital Archives of Meritorious Persons, as well as the list of 1,006 individuals designated as pro-Japanese collaborators by the Presidential Committee for the Inspection of Collaborations for Japanese Imperialism.

A search for Sunheung Ahn clan, Ha Young’s family, brings up 25 independence activists, including Dosan Ahn Chang-ho and Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun. The search also identifies three people classified as pro-Japanese, including Ha Young’s great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho and Ahn Eak-tai, the composer of Korea’s national anthem, “Aegukga.”

The website cautions that “sharing the same ancestral clan origin does not mean that individuals are directly related by blood or belong to the same degree of kinship.”

It adds that “a single ancestral clan can have hundreds of thousands or more members,” and that “the actions of one’s ancestors have no bearing on the personal responsibility of their descendants, in accordance with the spirit of Article 13, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which prohibits guilt by association.”

Ha Young previously revealed on the KBS 2TV entertainment program "Problem Child in House," which aired on Aug. 7, that she comes from a family that includes four generations of doctors. Her remarks prompted renewed attention to the pro-Japanese activities of her great-grandfather, putting the actress at the center of controversy.

Ha Young’s agency initially dismissed the allegations as untrue, drawing harsh criticism. On Aug. 12, however, she apologized, saying, “I am deeply sorry for causing great disappointment and hurt through matters related to my great-grandfather.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.