“Pachinko” Jin Ha gets in trouble from the beginning of his activities in Korea due to the hidden cameras and sexual harassment controversies
It seems like “Pachinko” will be negatively affected by Jin Ha’s controversies.
Korean-American actor Jin Ha, who stars in Apple TV+’s new drama “Pachinko”, recently caused a stir as he was found to have done hidden cameras and sexual harassment 12 years ago. It is known that the illegal photos on his personal SNS account were kept public from 2010 until recently (2022), and have only been deleted after controversies broke out.
With Jin Ha’s dark past being revealed right ahead of drama “Pachinko”’s first release in Korea today (March 25th), domestic and foreign viewers are losing their interest in “Pachinko”. Since the crimes caused by hidden cameras can destroy the lives of many women, Jin Ha’s crime cannot be taken lightly.
Previously, netizens discovered and revealed the content of Jin Ha’s old blog, which he used from July 2010 to September 2011, on online communities. It is known that Jin Ha posted over 100 photos of middle-aged women and grandmothers he took illegally on subways and buses in Korea. It is true that he took those photos without asking for permission.
Apart from illegal photos, he also wrote captions and comments that sexually harassed the grandmothers, such as “Working with such a provocative model I found it hard to keep myself and my concupiscence under control”, “Now we have an excuse to stare directly at her right nipple”, etc. Moreover, he also made rude evaluations on the grandmothers’ appearances, such as “They really look like ducks”.
In the end, Korean viewers declared, “I will not watch ‘Pachinko’” and began to show a different attitude towards the new drama. Netizens criticized, “Illegal filming is a serious problem. It’s so unpleasant to see him writing down such comments about what he felt as if he was evaluating those grandmothers as objects. I hope he would apologize to the victims and take down his posts”.
The majority of netizens are showing negative and intense reactions, saying “It’s so disgusting just thinking of someone taking photos of our grandmothers secretly and leaving such comments. I hope the victims sue him”, “I’m completely out of immersion at the scenes in which Youn Yuh-jung appears together with Jin Ha while watching ‘Pachinko’”.
“Pachinko” is a drama based on a novel of the same name. It tells the history of Korea through the story of a Korean family living in Japan in a period of turbulence from the 1910s to the 1980s. The history of a family with 4 generations is viewed from the perspective of Sun-ja (Youn Yuh-jung’s role). Jin Ha appears in the series as Solomon, Sun-ja’s grandson.
Apple TV+ has not expressed its position on Jin Ha’s hidden cameras and sexual harassment controversies.
Meanwhile, Jin Ha was born in Korea then immigrated to the U.S with his family when he was 8 years old. Jin Ha, who made his debut in 2016, graduated from the Department of East Asian languages and cultures of Columbia University. The actor completed his master’s degree in acting at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
He appeared in various American dramas, such as “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”, “Hot Air”, “Devs”, and “Love Life”.
