Actor Ha Young's great-grandfather featured as pioneer of Japanese-Korean assimilation in 1913 colonial-era magazine

Amid growing controversy over the pro-Japanese activities of Ahn Sang-ho, the great-grandfather of actor Ha Young, a 1913 Japanese-language magazine article has surfaced identifying him as a pioneer of "ilseon donghwa" — the assimilation of Japan and Korea.

According to the Tuesday newspaper Ilyo Sinmun, the September 1913 issue of the Japanese-language magazine Joseon Gongnon (Vol. 1, No. 6) carried a piece titled "Pioneer of Japanese-Korean Assimilation: A Profile of a Korean Husband and His Japanese Wife," featuring Ahn Sang-ho.

Joseon Gongnon was a Japanese-language magazine published from 1913 to 1944, primarily targeting Japanese residents living in Korea under colonial rule.

Ahn was introduced as the first subject in the magazine's "Japanese-Korean Assimilation" series, launched in its early issues.

The magazine detailed how Ahn graduated from Tokyo Jikei Medical School, worked as a physician to Prince Yi Gang, and married a Japanese woman, Kawaguchi Isoko, in 1907.

It also praised his manner and conduct, saying he was "not in the least different from a Japanese mainlander in speech or attitude" and describing him as "unusually quick-witted for a Korean and an exceptionally diligent man."

The magazine further described his 1907 marriage to his Japanese wife as the act of "a naturally lucky man" and "a man of great fortune."

In a 1918 interview with the Maeil Sinbo newspaper, Ahn said he did not own a single piece of Korean clothing and could not eat spicy food, adding that he was "exactly the same as a Japanese person."

The controversy began after Ha Young appeared on the KBS 2TV variety program "Oktapbang-ui Munje-a," a TV quiz show, on Aug. 7 and revealed that her family had produced doctors across four generations — her great-grandfather, grandfather, father and older sister. She said her great-grandfather had opened the first Western-style medical clinic in Hanyang and had treated Emperor Gojong.

Following those remarks, it emerged that the great-grandfather in question was Ahn Sang-ho (1872–1927), a physician who practiced during the Japanese colonial period, sparking a pro-Japanese collaboration controversy.

It subsequently came to light that Ahn's name appeared on the council member roster of the Daejeong Chinmok-hoe, a pro-Japanese organization formed in Seoul in 1916. The group drew members from business, government, media, education, law and medicine, with Yi Wan-yong — one of the five ministers who signed the 1905 Eulsa Treaty — serving as its central figure.