Ha Young's great-grandfather embroiled in pro-Japanese collaboration controversy, while co-star Jung Hae-in descends from Joseon scholar Jeong Yak-yong

Amid continuing controversy over alleged pro-Japanese collaboration by Ha Young's great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho, the contrasting family histories of the two lead actors in the Netflix series "This Ridiculous Romance" have drawn public attention. While Ha Young faces questions over her great-grandfather's alleged collaboration with Japanese colonial authorities, her co-star Jung Hae-in is a descendant of the revered Joseon-era scholar Jeong Yak-yong.

Jung is widely known as a direct descendant of Dasan Jeong Yak-yong through Jeong Hak-yu, the scholar's second son.

In past television appearances, Jung said he grew up living with his paternal grandparents and heard many stories about Jeong Yak-yong during his childhood.

His father runs an ophthalmology clinic in Ansan, and his mother works as a pathologist at a hospital in Seoul. The fact that both of Jung's parents are doctors became publicly known by chance through a television broadcast.

During a segment on the KBS2 variety program "Jung Hae-in's Walk Report," footage aired of Jung making a video call to his father, who was heard saying, "I'm seeing a patient right now." The clip sent "Jung Hae-in father hospital" trending in real-time searches.

However, while Jung has mentioned his family background on occasion, he has not actively promoted his parents' professions or his family heritage.

Jung's ancestor Jeong Yak-yong was a reformist scholar who championed practical learning and the welfare of ordinary people. Even during 18 years of exile, he produced landmark works including "Mongminsimseo," "Gyeongse Yupyo" and "Heumheumsinseo." He is regarded as one of Korea's most celebrated Silhak — or practical learning — scholars, respected to this day for his reformist ideals and his deep concern for the common people.

Ha Young, by contrast, sparked public interest Friday when she appeared on a Netflix Korea program and the KBS variety show "Rooftop Troublemakers," describing her family as "doctors for four generations" and saying her great-grandfather had been a physician. The remarks prompted online searches that surfaced the identity of her great-grandfather as doctor Ahn Sang-ho, along with accounts of his alleged pro-Japanese activities, setting off a wave of controversy.

Ha Young's agency, Bisters Entertainment, released an official statement Tuesday saying that "further verification confirmed that a record does in fact exist showing that great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho's name appeared on the list of council members of the Daejeong fraternal society in 1916."

Ahn Sang-ho (1872–1927) was the first Korean to obtain a Japanese medical license and served as an external royal physician to Emperor Sunjong and Emperor Gojong. He was listed as a council member of the Daejeong fraternal society, known as a pro-Japanese organization, in 1916. Records also indicate he married a Japanese woman, emphasized a Japanese lifestyle and promoted the ideology of "Naeseon Ilche" — the assimilation of Korea and Japan.

A 1918 article in the Maeil Sinbo newspaper quoted Ahn as saying, after marrying his Japanese wife, "I am exactly the same as a Japanese person. I do not own a single piece of Korean clothing, and I cannot eat spicy food."