When news broke that Ha Young would not return to Netflix’s The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, many international K-drama fans were left with an uncomfortable question:
Why should an actress in 2026 face consequences for something her great-grandfather allegedly did during Korea’s colonial era?
It is a fair question.
But to understand why the controversy became so serious in South Korea, you need to understand more than Ha Young’s family history.
You need to understand what the term “pro-Japanese collaborator” means in modern Korea, why the legacy of Japanese colonial rule remains emotionally powerful, and why the way Ha Young’s family history was publicly discussed became part of the controversy.
Here is the historical context international viewers may be missing.
What Happened to Ha Young?
Ha Young played nurse Cheon Jang-mi in Netflix’s Korean medical drama The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call.
She was expected to return for the drama’s follow-up, but Netflix confirmed on September 1, 2026 that she would no longer participate.
The decision followed controversy surrounding her great-grandfather, An Sang-ho, a physician whose activities during Korea’s Japanese colonial period became the subject of public scrutiny.
The controversy began after Ha Young discussed her family’s medical history on Korean television.
She described her family as having produced doctors for four generations and spoke about her great-grandfather studying Western medicine in Japan.
Korean internet users subsequently began examining historical records related to him.
Questions were then raised about his activities during the colonial era.
What Did Ha Young Say After the Controversy?
The controversy did not end with the initial allegations.
Ha Young’s representatives initially rejected the claims surrounding her great-grandfather.
However, Ha Young later said she personally reviewed relevant historical records and learned about his pro-Japanese activities.
She apologized for discussing her family history without knowing the full historical background and expressed regret over her ancestor’s actions.
This sequence is important for understanding the Korean reaction.
The issue was therefore not simply:
“A famous actress discovered that an ancestor had a controversial past.”
The public discussion also involved the way her family history had originally been presented, the initial denial, and the later acknowledgment and apology.
What Does “Pro-Japanese” Actually Mean in Korea?
This is where translation can create confusion.
In English, the phrase “pro-Japanese” might sound like someone who simply likes Japan, Japanese culture, food, anime or Japanese people.
That is not what Koreans usually mean when discussing this historical issue.
The Korean term 친일파 (chinilpa) is commonly used in discussions of Koreans who collaborated with Imperial Japan during the colonial period.
Depending on the historical case, collaboration could involve participation in colonial institutions, supporting Japanese rule, assisting colonial policies or benefiting from the colonial system.
So when Koreans describe a historical figure as chinilpa, they are not criticizing someone for having a positive opinion of modern Japan.
They are referring to the much more serious historical issue of collaboration with a colonial regime.
That distinction is essential.
Why Is Japanese Colonial Rule Still Such a Sensitive Issue in Korea?
Japan formally annexed Korea in 1910, and colonial rule continued until Japan’s surrender in 1945.
Those 35 years profoundly shaped modern Korean history.
Koreans experienced political repression, attempts at cultural assimilation, economic exploitation and restrictions on Korean identity under colonial rule.
The colonial period also included issues that remain politically and diplomatically sensitive today, including forced labor and the wartime sexual slavery of so-called “comfort women.”
For Koreans, therefore, the colonial period is not remote ancient history.
People whose parents or grandparents directly experienced that era are still part of modern Korean society.
And August 15 — Gwangbokjeol, Korea’s National Liberation Day — remains one of the country’s most important national commemorations.
The Bigger Issue: What Happened After Liberation?
There is another historical layer that international audiences often miss.
After liberation in 1945, Korea did not completely remove everyone who had worked with or benefited from Japanese colonial institutions.
The political realities surrounding liberation, the division of the Korean Peninsula and the emerging Cold War made the situation extremely complicated.
Attempts were made to investigate and punish collaborators, but the process was limited and politically contested.
As a result, a long-running perception developed in Korean society that some collaborators escaped meaningful punishment and that some families were able to preserve wealth, status or professional influence after liberation.
This produced a historical question that remains controversial:
Was colonial collaboration ever properly addressed?
That question is one reason discussions about chinilpa can still provoke strong reactions decades later.
Are Descendants Responsible for Their Ancestors’ Actions?
This is perhaps the most important question.
Legally and morally, a descendant is not automatically responsible for something an ancestor did.
And Korean public opinion is not as simple as saying:
“Your ancestor collaborated with Japan, therefore you are guilty too.”
In Ha Young’s case, much of the controversy centered on additional circumstances.
Her family’s multigenerational medical history had been publicly discussed.
Questions were then raised about how part of that history was connected to the colonial period.
The allegations were initially rejected.
Ha Young later said that after checking historical records herself, she learned about her great-grandfather’s actions and apologized.
The controversy also emerged close to Liberation Day, when public attention toward colonial history is particularly high.
All of those elements intensified the reaction.
Why Did Ha Young Apologize for Something Her Great-Grandfather Did?
Ha Young’s apology is also easier to understand within this context.
She was not simply saying that she personally committed her ancestor’s actions.
Rather, she apologized for having spoken publicly about her family history without knowing its full historical background and expressed regret regarding what she later learned.
This is an important distinction because international headlines can sometimes reduce a complicated controversy to:
“Korean actress apologizes for great-grandfather.”
That headline is technically connected to the story, but it does not fully explain why the controversy developed.
Did Netflix Fire Ha Young Because of Her Great-Grandfather?
There is no official basis for simplifying the story that way.
Netflix confirmed that Ha Young would not participate in the follow-up to The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and said it respected the actor’s position.
Netflix did not publicly announce:
“We fired Ha Young because of her great-grandfather.”
Reports indicated that Ha Young communicated her intention not to participate in the follow-up.
Therefore, it is more accurate to say:
Ha Young withdrew from the follow-up after the controversy, and Netflix confirmed her departure.
That wording matters.
Why International and Korean Reactions May Be Different
An international viewer might naturally think:
“This happened generations ago. Why should it affect her career today?”
A Korean viewer may approach the same story from a different historical starting point:
“Was a family’s social success connected in some way to benefits received during colonial rule, and was that history being presented without acknowledging how it began?”
Neither question alone explains every Korean person’s opinion.
Koreans themselves disagree about how much responsibility — if any — descendants should carry for the actions of their ancestors.
Some believe judging descendants for family history is unfair.
Others believe historical privilege and the way that history is publicly remembered deserve scrutiny.
That disagreement is itself part of the story.
This Is Bigger Than One K-Drama Casting Controversy
For international K-drama fans, Ha Young’s departure may initially look like another celebrity controversy.
But the reaction reveals something deeper about modern South Korea.
The country became one of the world’s major cultural exporters within only a few generations of colonial rule, national division, war and extreme poverty.
That rapid transformation did not erase older historical conflicts.
Questions involving colonial collaboration, historical accountability and relations with Japan still appear in Korean politics, entertainment and public debate.
Understanding that background makes many Korean controversies — not just this one — easier for international audiences to understand.
What Happens to Cheon Jang-mi Now?
For The Trauma Code viewers, there is also a much more immediate question.
Ha Young played Cheon Jang-mi, an important member of Baek Kang-hyuk’s trauma team.
Her departure means the production must now decide whether to:
- recast Cheon Jang-mi,
- remove the character,
- or introduce a new member of the trauma center.
As of now, no official replacement for Ha Young has been announced.
For a detailed look at the casting question, see our guide:
Who Will Replace Ha Young in The Trauma Code Season 2? Cheon Jang-mi’s Future Explained
And for the full timeline of Ha Young’s departure:
Why Is Ha Young Leaving The Trauma Code Season 2? Her Great-Grandfather Controversy Explained
Final Thoughts
So why did Ha Young’s great-grandfather controversy become such a major issue in South Korea?
The answer is not simply that Koreans believe descendants should be punished for their ancestors.
The controversy sits at the intersection of family history, colonial collaboration, historical memory, public statements and one of the most sensitive periods in modern Korean history.
You do not have to agree with every public reaction to understand why the issue became so significant.
But once the history of Japanese colonial rule and Korea’s unresolved debate over collaboration are understood, the intensity of the reaction becomes much easier to explain.
And that historical context is something international viewers may miss when they encounter the story only through a short entertainment headline.