Lee Ji-ah apologizes for grandfather’s pro-Japanese activities amid family land dispute

Actress Lee Ji-ah offered an apology on Friday over her grandfather’s pro-Japanese activities during the colonial period, following a local report about a legal dispute within her family over a piece of land.

“I deeply acknowledge my grandfather’s historical mistakes and sincerely apologize as one of his descendants,” the actress said in a statement released by her agency, BH Entertainment.

“The Penthouse” star said she was unaware of her grandfather’s misdeeds as he died when she was 2 years old and that she first learned about his activities in 2011 through a news article.

“I think his actions cannot be justified under any circumstances, even considering the historical circumstance of the time,” she said. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Her statement came after a local report recently revealed that Lee’s father has been embroiled in a legal dispute with his siblings over a plot of land in Anyang, around 20 kilometers south of Seoul, valued at around 35 billion won (US$24.4 million), which was inherited from their late father, Kim Soon-heung.

The actress said she had nothing to do with the legal matter and has received no financial assistance from her parents since she was 18. She severed ties with her family over personal matters more than a decade ago, she added.

“If the land was acquired during the Japanese colonial period, I think it should be returned to the state,” she said.