The scandal surrounding actress Ha Young is taking on a highly intriguing dimension, with clear financial and political interests.

15 August 2026, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung delivered a speech at a ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. This is a national holiday in the country.

In his speech, the president outlined several key policy goals, including proposing an end to the state of war with North Korea, calling for a «new liberation» (that is, transforming Korea into an «indispensable» nation capable of creating new opportunities amid global shifts), restructuring national resources, offering young people a «reliable ladder of opportunity,» and urging social unity, calling on everyone to act as a «single team».

But one of the most striking announcements, particularly against the backdrop of calls for social cohesion and stable prospects for young people, was his pledge to hold pro-Japanese collaborators strictly accountable for their actions a century ago. The president vowed to launch investigations and reclaim illegally accumulated property under the «Special Act on the Confiscation of Property of Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators».

Also interesting was his statement on the eve of the holiday that Lee Jae-myung is proposing a constitutional reform and wants to replace the current single five-year presidential term with a four-year term, renewable once. In effect, this would establish a new, seventh republic.

What is the «Special Act on the Confiscation of Property of Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators»?

The National Assembly passed the bill on May 7, 2026, and the Constitutional Court upheld it, ruling that confiscation aligned with the constitution since property acquired through collaboration with Japan is not protected by property rights and the law serves to restore historical justice. Notably, the parliamentary vote saw mostly ruling party members present, with most opposition lawmakers from the «People Power Party» absent. Despite this, the vote was nearly unanimous with the 50% quorum met: out of 188 present (out of 300 available), 187 voted in favor and one abstained.

So, what does this «historical justice» entail?

Timeline for property review

From 1904 to 1945.

It is important to recognize that for someone born in 2000, this concerns actions taken by their great-great-grandparents or even earlier. To draw a parallel with Russian history, it would be as if today's zoomers could face property disputes dating back to the date of Bloody Sunday — assuming, of course, they remember from their school history classes what that event was. However, in Russia, very little property remains that has not changed hands through revolutions, nationalizations, wars, and repression. One cannot bring oneself to add 'thank God,' but there is nevertheless a hint of that sentiment in the feelings that arise.

Who will decide?

An Investigative Commission on the Property of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, with a term of 5 years.

A similar commission existed from 2006 to 2010. Its work resulted in:

- a list of 452 individuals identified as collaborators;
- decisions to confiscate property from 168 descendants, valued at 237.3 billion won (approximately $193.4 million).

The new commission will operate for one year longer and will have the power to confiscate not only the property itself but also the proceeds from its sale.

The Сommission will operate under the Ministry of Justice.

Functions of the commission:

- it alone will decide who qualifies as a collaborator and their descendant, and no existing dictionaries or lists are considered authoritative for this purpose;
- it determines which property is subject to confiscation. For this, it has the authority to access any archival documents related to property.

What property is subject to confiscation?

Property acquired through collaboration with Japan between 1904 and 1945.

If the owner of such property later actively participated in the independence movement, they are removed from confiscation lists.

If a descendant is penniless and does not possess such property, nothing is confiscated.

If the property was sold at any point, the commission can seek to recover the entire amount received from the sale.

An interesting nuance: if a current owner is descended from both a collaborator and an independence fighter, the status as a fighter's descendant does not exempt them from liability for property inherited from the collaborator. That property can still be confiscated.

Another interesting nuance: previously, statutes of limitations could protect old sales. For instance, property acquired during the colonial era but sold in 1970 might have been exempt. Now, it is not. This means a person born in 2000 could be held liable for debts stemming from actions of ancestors many generations back, concerning property they may have never even seen. What about that «reliable ladder of opportunity» for young people? It doesn't get more reliable than that. But downwards. No one promised it would lead up.

If you are a buyer of such property, the commission will scrutinize you too, and you would need to prove you had no reason to know the property was acquired through collaboration.

The decision can be appealed by appealing to the commission itself and then to the courts. However, it is generally assumed that heirs are aware of their property's origins. A buyer might have a slightly stronger case.

How are confiscated funds used?

It is loudly declared that all proceeds will go to support descendants of independence fighters.

However, the funds actually go to the state. Their subsequent use will be overseen by a Sales Subcommittee.

The Sales Subcommittee was established in 2025 under the Patriots and Veterans Fund Management Committee and operates under the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA). This ministry reports directly to the president through the prime minister. 

Previously, the MPVA was simply an agency, but in 2023 it was elevated to a full ministerial rank, gaining a seat and vote in the Cabinet. The ministry also received the right to issue its own regulatory acts (decrees).

Of the 237.3 billion won confiscated by the first commission (2006-2010), open sources and media offer no verifiable information on its final destination. It is stated that the funds went to compensation for independence fighters and memorial projects, but specific data on amounts, recipients, or projects remains elusive. They probably exist, but have been very poorly covered in the media.

When does the law take effect?

The confiscation law comes into effect on 02.12.2026.

Who could be affected by confiscations?

Or, to put it more broadly, who could be dragged into the scandal?

Ha Young
(«Our Sticky Love», «The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call»)

Actress Ha Young is currently serving as a punching bag on all social networks, including Chinese ones. But, you must agree, it is very interesting that this scandal arose at such a convenient time for everyone. After all, she had not previously concealed information about her family and had spoken about it many times.

But is it a coincidence that right now a file emerged from the archives describing her great-grandfather as a collaborator, even though he was not even included in any dictionary of such collaborators? They also brought up her grandfather, who cannot be considered a collaborator, but who worked in 1949-1952 in a very difficult place — the Sorokdo leprosarium, where there were, to put it mildly, unpleasant methods of dealing with patients. And it turned out that the actress's father had said the wrong things. And in general — the family is excessively wealthy, excessively so.

Simultaneously with the file from the archives, a storm of netizens immediately appeared on social networks, who, in righteous patriotism, conveyed the following information to the stunned public:

- all Japanese are criminals;
- descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators (traitors) are all wealthy and elite, with low moral qualities;
- descendants of independence fighters are all poor beggars, but with high moral qualities (because a descendant cannot have low moral qualities);
- we must take away the ill-gotten wealth from the former and give it to the latter.

Sharikov from Bulgakov's novella «Heart of a Dog» gives a standing ovation.

No statistical data is provided confirming the wholesale wealth of the descendants of collaborators and the wholesale poverty of the descendants of independence fighters. Likewise, there is no statistics on moral qualities, at least on criminal records.

On August 14, the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities stated that «the actress Ha Young's great-grandfather, Ahn Sang-ho, had clear signs of pro-Japanese collaboration» and called on Ha Young to reflect on and acknowledge this history, since her words «caused pain to the public.» No other arguments, besides the grandfather's membership in one of the pro-Japanese organizations, a photograph and a newspaper article, have been provided so far.

So it turns out that there are signs, but we won't say what exactly he did. He was probably thinking in the wrong way.

As a result, Ha Young's advertising contracts with Samsung Electronics and the clothing brand Artid were suspended.

If earlier our editorial board was inclined to see in the scandal around Ha Young a struggle within the film industry, where black methods are used to inflict maximum damage on multi-billion dollar projects of competitors (following the example of the scandal with Jo Jin-woong and «Signal 2»), now it looks more and more interesting. And the sums are more serious, and the political interests are more serious.

Let's see who else, besides Ha Young, could be implicated as a descendant of collaborators.

Actor Kang Dong-won
(«Tempest», «Peninsula»)

His great-grandfather on his mother's side, Lee Jung-man, was involved in the textile industry, collected gifts for the front for Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation, made donations «to our boys,» participated in the activities of pro-Japanese organizations, and was included in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Figures. In 2017, Kang Dong-won already apologized for his great-grandfather.

Actress Lee Ji-ah
(«Beethoven Virus», «The Penthouse»)

Her grandfather, Kim Soon-heung, contributed funds to the national defense fund during the occupation and supplied materials there, grew rich running a successful silk business in the Jongno area of Seoul, and his name is included in the «Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators». The actress stated that she learned about this from an article in 2011 and, to verify the facts, visited the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities. She also noted that she became independent at the age of 18 and has no connection to the inheritance disputes over the land inherited from her grandfather. She also expressed the opinion that if the land was acquired during the Japanese occupation, it should be returned to the state.

Actor Go Yoon
(«Criminal Minds», «Love in Memory»)

His grandfather, Kim Young-ju, founder of the textile company Jeollanamdo Textiles, from 1937 to 1945 was one of the organizers of the large pro-Japanese civic organization «Imjeonbogukdan,» where he held the position of standing director. He actively participated in campaigns for the forced recruitment of Koreans for labor service and in fundraising for airplanes for the Japanese army. At that time, newspapers published his announcements calling for support for these campaigns. In his youth, Kim Young-ju was an independence fighter, was arrested, and after the 1930s his activities became exclusively pro-Japanese. His son, Kim Moo-sung, a member of the National Assembly, tried to prove that Kim Young-ju was a patriot who provided funds to the independence army. But the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities made public documents irrefutably proving the facts of collaboration and accused Kim Moo-sung of distorting history.

But that's okay, they're actors, what can you expect from them.

But here are people of a more serious caliber.

Doosan Group (두산)

One of the oldest and largest chaebols, whose history spans more than 130 years (energy, heavy industry, semiconductors, operating profit of more than 1 trillion won). The dictionary includes the grandfather of the current chairman of the Doosan Group, Park Yong-hyun — Park Seung-jik. This same Park Seung-jik, in 1907, participated in the National Debt Repayment Movement, which indicates his pro-nationalist position at that time. And so, having paid off Korea's debts, with a new turn of history, he worked in institutions supporting the colonial authorities and made large donations to the Japanese government. In 1940, he changed the name of his company to the Japanese «Miki Shoji.» Despite being included in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, in 2026 Park Seung-jik and his son Park Doo-byun were inducted into the «Hall of Fame of Korean Entrepreneurs». Which, probably, will not prevent the Investigative Commission from taking on this family.

Hyundai Group (현대그룹)

Logistics, container shipping, tourism, heavy industry. Hyun Jeong-eun is the current chairwoman of the Hyundai Group, one of the most influential and famous top managers in South Korea. In 1976, she married Chung Mong-hun, the fifth son of the founder of the Hyundai empire, Chung Ju-yung. Now power in this company belongs mainly to her. Her great-grandfather and grandfather were named collaborators by the private Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities (IRCA). It is claimed that they worked in the administrative structures of the Japanese authorities, and in the 1940s, Hyun Jeong-eun's grandfather urged people to send their daughters as «comfort women».

Samsung (삼성)

Electronics, semiconductors, mobile devices, etc., operating profit of more than 43 trillion won. Lee Kun-hee, chairman of the Samsung Group from 1987 to 2020 and father of the current head of the chaebol, Lee Jae-yong, had a wife, Hong Ra-hee, and she had a father, Hong Jin-ki. Hong Jin-ki worked as a judge in the Japanese colonial administration in the mid-1940s. In 1945, Hong Jin-ki escaped punishment thanks to connections, in particular, with the first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, who (watch this) came to power with the support of pro-Japanese forces.

Who is the expert on collaborators in public opinion?

Finally, who are the experts on collaboration issues, besides government agencies? Whose opinion is considered significant and weighty?

Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities (민족문제연구소, The Center for Historical Truth and Justice)

This is the central organization dealing with the issue of collaborators. It was founded by a group of historians who began this work in 1991. It is IRCA that conducts work on collecting data and publishing the «Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators.» It is a non-governmental organization — a private research institute in the form of a public organization. The institute exists mainly on membership fees, donations, and income from the sale of its own publications.

According to the latest report for 2025, posted on the organization's website, its annual budget is about 2.3 billion won ($1.6 million). Of this, donations amount to 1.43 billion won (60%), government subsidies 350.8 million won, and fees for managing the memorial hall under a municipal contract 477.3 million won. Total assets grew from 1.425 billion won to 1.527 billion won. The main part is bank deposits (400 million) and a rental deposit (790 million). Employee salaries account for 1.37 billion won. The organization operates with a small surplus of about 88-112 million won per year.

The organization conducts scholarly work on the colonial period, publishing articles and monographs.

Also, under this institute, the Committee for the Publication of the Biographical Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators was established. The three-volume work published in 2009 included 4,389 people. There is a special clarification that the absence of a name in the «Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators» is not an indulgence, because the data is incomplete and research continues.

The work on compiling the dictionary of collaborators has been going on for decades, but there is no end to it, because if the work ends, the very meaning of existence for many organizations will also end.

There is a beginning to a revolution, but there is no end to a revolution, as was sung in a wise Soviet song.

In general, it seems that the love for compiling discriminatory lists, registries, indexes, inventories, etc., has engulfed literally the entire world. One gets the feeling that all other problems have been solved, leaving only bad people who think or listen the wrong way, sometimes these people have been dead for half a century, but that doesn't matter.

You need to have a list or registry, and then a registry of registries, to compile a comprehensive index of those who may eat truffles and those who may not.

As President Lee Jae-myung emphasized, punishing traitors is an important duty for achieving social justice. It is interesting, but what kind of justice is it if the punishable have long been dead? Moreover, it doesn't even look like they took the money to foreign offshore accounts. But the line of thought with confiscations and imputing to descendants responsibility for their ancestors up to 120 years ago is, of course, very promising, so promising that bureaucrats from all countries should be breathless with excitement.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4