[Sportschosun reporter Lee Ji-hyun] Jeon Bum Sun, the vocalist of the band Yangbans and a writer, commented on the controversy over actress Ahn Ha-young's great-grandfather's pro-Japanese activities and shared his thoughts on being compared with her.
On the 26th, Jeon appeared on the "Shoes Off" segment of the YouTube channel SPNS TV's "Shoes Off" and talked about his family background and the recent controversy surrounding Ahn Ha-young's great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho.
Jeon first addressed the public's tendency to compare him with Ahn. "We are talking about Ahn Ha-young in social terms right now, and I feel a bit uncomfortable," he said. "Articles keep coming out saying, 'Ahn Ha-young is like this, but Jeon Bum Sun is like that.' I was never trying to be some kind of morally righteous person."
He then mentioned that Ahn Ha-young's great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho, married a Japanese woman. "When I looked into it, I found that he was actually a descendant of a child born to a man who married a Japanese woman," Jeon said. "So one-sixteenth of him is Japanese. It is ridiculous to call a descendant of Japanese people a pro-Japanese collaborator."
Ahn Sang-ho is known to have married a Japanese woman named Kawaguchi Isoko and started a family. In 1918, Maeil Sinbo, the newspaper of the Government-General of Chōsen, also published a family photo of Ahn, his wife, and their children, along with an article describing their daily life.
Jeon also compared his own ancestry with the family histories of Yi In-jik and Ahn Sang-ho. Yi In-jik, who wrote Tears of Blood, regarded as Korea's first modern novel, is widely known as a representative pro-Japanese collaborator. Jeon is a fifth-generation descendant through Yi's maternal line and has previously spoken openly about his family history on several broadcasts.
"My grandfather abandoned a Korean woman and remarried a Japanese woman, and I am a descendant of the Korean side of the family that was left behind," Jeon said. "I don't know what it would have been like if I had been a descendant of a Japanese woman."
Jeon had previously drawn a line against the idea that his family had benefited economically from Yi In-jik's pro-Japanese activities. He explained that when Yi remarried a Japanese woman, his Korean wife and her descendants were effectively abandoned, and Jeon himself comes from that Korean wife's side of the family.
As for why the criticism of Ahn Ha-young was relatively harsher, he pointed to the family's background. When a fellow guest said Jeon's family had "not enjoyed those benefits," Jeon replied, "Not at all." The conversation then turned to the fact that Ahn had introduced herself on television as coming from a "four-generation family of doctors," and Jeon said, "Because she had received those benefits, she is getting criticized much more."
Jeon also suggested that Ahn may not have fully known about her great-grandfather's past. "She probably heard at home that her grandfather was a great man," he said. "If that is what she was told at home and she did not really know the details herself..."
He then cited historical background knowledge as the key difference between himself and Ahn. Jeon, who majored in history at Dartmouth College in the United States and earned a master's degree in history from the University of Oxford, explained, "I studied history and did research, so I can look at my grandfather objectively in context."
"I know he wrote a letter of support, but in that situation my American senior was involved in the independence movement while my Korean grandfather betrayed the country," he said. "Because I know that background, and because I have that knowledge, I was able to speak carefully."
He added, "Since she did not major in history, I think she made those remarks without fully understanding the broader social context."
Earlier, Ahn introduced her family on the July 7 episode of KBS2's Problem Child in House as a "four-generation family of doctors." She said her great-grandfather studied Western medicine in Japan, opened a clinic in Korea, and treated members of the royal family.
It was later revealed that her great-grandfather was Dr. Ahn Sang-ho, and controversy erupted over his pro-Japanese activities after records showed that his name appeared on the list of council members for the Taijō Friendship Association in 1916.
Ahn's side initially said the allegations were "groundless," but after further verification, it acknowledged that Ahn Sang-ho had been listed as a council member of the Taijō Friendship Association and issued an apology. The association is known as a group that promoted harmony between Koreans and Japanese during the Japanese colonial period.
Records also show that Ahn Sang-ho married a Japanese woman. In particular, documents from that period state that he lived in a Japanese style and that his children spoke Japanese.
However, Ahn Sang-ho is not listed in the Biographical Dictionary of Pro-Japan Collaborators published by the Center for Historical Truth and Justice in 2009.
Ahn later also apologized in a handwritten statement for proudly mentioning her great-grandfather on television without fully knowing his past.
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
