On August 10, a representative of Ha Young’s agency, BISTUS Entertainment, confirmed to iMBC Entertainment that Ahn Sang-ho was indeed the actress’s great-grandfather.
However, regarding allegations raised in some quarters about Ahn Sang-ho’s alleged pro-Japanese activities, the agency firmly denied them, calling the claims “completely unfounded.”
No definitive evidence establishing Ahn Sang-ho’s involvement in pro-Japanese activities during the Japanese colonial period has been publicly confirmed. According to the Comprehensive Information System of Korean Historical Figures, operated by the Academy of Korean Studies, Ahn Sang-ho was born in 1872. In 1902, during the Japanese colonial period, he graduated from Tokyo Jikei University’s predecessor institution, Tokyo Charity Hospital Medical School, and became the first Korean to obtain a Japanese medical license.
After returning to Korea in 1904, he taught Western medicine at the medical school founded by Ji Seok-yeong and at Dongdam Korean Medicine School. He also established a private clinic in Jongno 3-ga, Seoul, where he practiced medicine. In opposition to the Gyeongseong Medical Association, an organization made up of Japanese doctors, he served as president of the Hansung Medical Association, which consisted of Korean physicians.
In 1919, when Emperor Gojong collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage at Hamnyeongjeon Hall in Deoksugung Palace, Ahn Sang-ho was urgently called to treat him, but he was ultimately unable to save the former emperor. Following Gojong’s death, Ahn became the subject of allegations that he had administered poison to Gojong at the urging of the Japanese. However, because no clear evidence has emerged, the allegation has not been officially accepted by scholars.
Ahn Sang-ho’s activities are also documented in Maeil Sinbo, the official newspaper of the Japanese colonial government. The National Library of Korea’s “Korean Newspaper Archive” contains a December 10, 1918, edition of Maeil Sinbo featuring an article about the married life of Koreans and Japanese. The headline described the household of physician Ahn Sang-ho as a “completely Japanese-style family,” portraying him as a Korean who had married a Japanese woman and adopted Japanese lifestyles and customs.
The article stated that Ahn Sang-ho, who had successfully introduced Western medicine to Korea, had also been among the first to establish a household based on the concept of “Japan and Korea as one body.” A record from the article also quotes Ahn as saying, “I am just like a Japanese person, and I do not own even a single Korean garment.”
The passage can be interpreted as an example of Maeil Sinbo, which was aligned with the Japanese colonial government, promoting Ahn Sang-ho’s household as a model family that had embraced Japanese customs. However, this alone does not establish that Ahn Sang-ho personally engaged in pro-Japanese activities.
Meanwhile, Ahn Sang-ho’s descendant, Ha Young, recently appeared in the Netflix original series Our Sticky Love.
Sources: Daum