Actor Ha-young is going through turmoil over controversy surrounding her great-grandfather's pro-Japanese actions, but interest continues as her social media followers increased by more than 200,000 and her work succeeded at the box office.
As of 2:30 p.m. on the 19th, Ha-young's Instagram followers total 1,249,000. Just a week ago she surpassed 1,000,000, and within days more than 200,000 accounts followed Ha-young.
It is difficult to analyze the cause of the increase in follows as a single factor, but some view the recent rise in searches and topicality as one reason.
In particular, the Netflix series "Our Sticky Love," in which Ha-young appears with Jung Haein, recorded 7.5 million views from the 10th to the 16th (based on the 10th–16th) and ranked No. 1 among non-English shows.
After starting last week at No. 5 among non-English shows, it rose to the top in two weeks and ranked No. 1 in 26 countries including Korea, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Indonesia.
"Our Sticky Love" is a romantic comedy that depicts the sticky cohabitation romance between prosecutor Go Eun-sae (played by Ha-young), who suffers from amnesia, and boxing coach Jang Tae-ha (played by Jung Haein), who insists he is her boyfriend.
To promote the work, Ha-young appeared on Netflix Korea's own variety show "I did come to promote it," where she introduced herself as from a "four-generation family of doctors," starting with her great-grandfather, and later controversy erupted when pro-Japanese actions by her great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho became known.
At the time of the controversy, Ha-young's side initially released a position calling Ahn Sang-ho's pro-Japanese actions "baseless," but later Ha-young publicly released a handwritten apology and bowed her head. Ha-young said she takes her great-grandfather's misdeeds seriously and, as a descendant, offers an apology. The planned round interview for "Our Sticky Love" was also canceled.
Since then, the increase in Ha-young's social media followers carries somewhat complex implications. While critical public opinion remains, some views emerged that a work should be judged as a work irrespective of ancestors' pro-Japanese controversies. On the other hand, there is a mood in which sympathy for Ha-young has also appeared.
Meanwhile, Ha-young is filming the SBS drama "The Long Shot Trial" as her next project.
[photo] OSEN DB, Netflix
[OSEN]