[Sportschosun Lee Woo-joo] Writer So Jae-won has lashed out over suspicions that actor Ha Young is descended from a pro-Japan collaborator.
On the 10th, writer So Jae-won expressed anger over suspicions surrounding Ha Young's great-grandfather, saying, "Now we live in a world where even ancestors with pro-Japan records are something to boast about. I never thought I would see people bragging about pro-Japan ancestors... Is this because our history failed to punish the collaborators? If history had punished pro-Japanese activity, could descendants have spoken so proudly about it?"
So added, "We may have to teach children that dirty treason is a law of success and glory. Let me express my feelings with the passage below," and continued, "Son! If our country is ever taken away, you must become a traitor! Then point guns and blades at those trying to reclaim the nation, persecute them, and build wealth!"
He went on, "Son! Do you really want this kind of history to repeat itself? Do you want to live your whole life watching descendants of pro-Japan collaborators proudly boast that their family was pro-Japan? If not, we must change it now. We must create a present in which descendants of collaborators are ashamed and descendants of independence fighters stand tall. Only then can we be honest before history, and before the great independence fighters and their descendants," adding, "Let us leave behind a precedent of history that punishes treason, and teach shame and disgrace to descendants who boast of betrayal!"
On the 10th, controversy erupted after it was reported that Ha Young's great-grandfather was Ahn Sang-ho, who is suspected of having pro-Japan ties. Ahn is not listed in the Biographical Dictionary of Pro-Japan Collaborators published by the Center for Historical Truth and Justice. However, controversy has grown over allegations that he was a member of the Daejeong Friendship Association, an economic group from the Japanese colonial era that included figures such as Yi Wanyong and Song Byeong-jun. He has also come under fire after saying in an interview with a newspaper under the Government-General of Chōsen that he maintained a lifestyle and child-rearing style no different from that of Japanese people.
Meanwhile, So Jae-won is the original author of the films "Beastie Boys," "Tunnel," and "Air Murder."
wjlee@sportschosun.com
▶ The following is the full text of writer So Jae-won's post
Ahead of Liberation Day, I came across a bitter article.
Now we live in a world where even ancestors with pro-Japan records are something to boast about. I never thought I would see people bragging about pro-Japan ancestors... Is this because our history failed to punish the collaborators? If history had punished pro-Japanese activity, could descendants have spoken so proudly about it?
We may have to teach children that dirty treason is a law of success and glory. Let me express my feelings with the passage below.
Son! If our country is ever taken away, you must become a traitor!
Then point guns and blades at those trying to reclaim the nation, persecute them, and build wealth!
What if we take the country back later?
Don't worry. We learned during the Japanese colonial period that history repeats itself, didn't we? Then you can use the wealth you seized to curry favor with power. Power will protect you and, for the sake of coexistence with you, will reach out first.
Never forget this! You must build a solid fortress with people like you that ordinary people can never hope to breach. That way, you will not be punished as a traitor, and your descendants will be able to enjoy everything in South Korea without effort, while respecting and boasting about you for generations.
Son! Do not join the independence movement! No matter what happens, do not fight for the country!
Those people either met miserable deaths at the hands of invaders, with their bodies never even found, or were assassinated or executed through the schemes of power brokers allied with traitors. The descendants of independence fighters also lived under the rule of traitors! This is not a lie. Isn't that the reality you and I are living in right now?
Never forget this!
History repeats itself!
This is not a mere possibility. It is the truth!
Son! Do you really want this kind of history to repeat itself?
Do you want to live your whole life watching descendants of pro-Japan collaborators proudly boast that their family was pro-Japan?
If not, we must change it now.
We must create a present in which descendants of collaborators are ashamed and descendants of independence fighters stand tall. Only then can we be honest before history, and before the great independence fighters and their descendants.
It may be too late, but it is not impossible. We can still change it now. If the changed present is recorded as history, that will be enough.
Your father is not generous enough to sit by and watch descendants of collaborators brag about it!
Let us leave behind a precedent of history that punishes treason, and teach shame and disgrace to descendants who boast of betrayal!
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
