Korean-American actor Jin Ha, who is starring in the Apple TV Plus drama “Pachinko,” has apologized for his Tumblr blog that contained hundreds of photos of elderly Korean women taken without their consent and with descriptions that mocked and sexualized them.
The contents of his blog "Korean Flowers in Bloom" were uploaded from 2010 and 2011. It contained photos of elderly Korean women in the subway and other places taken without their knowledge.
On March 25, the day “Pachinko” was released, a Korean netizen posted online and accused Jin Ha of illegal photography, which is punishable under South Korean law, and sexual harassment through the descriptions he wrote on some of the posts about the women.
In “Pachinko,” Jin Ha plays the role of Solomon Baek, the grandson of Sunja (played by Youn Yuh-jung).
The Korean netizen’s post drew comments criticizing Jin Ha and boycotting “Pachinko.”
In a post dated Aug. 16, 2010 in which Jin Ha uploaded a photo of a sleeping grandmother, he wrote “Working with such a provocative model, I found it hard to keep myself and my concupiscence under control.”
Another post dated Aug. 9, 2010 showed a Korean woman wearing a blouse with large floral prints with Jin Ha writing, “Now we have an excuse to stare directly at her right nipple.”
“Hello. Thank you for this opportunity to address a failing in my past that was long overdue,” Jin Ha wrote.
He added, “You are absolutely right. My ‘Korean Flowers in Bloom’ Tumblr account from 2011 should not have been made at all. It was a breach of privacy for the elder women featured, and many of my captions were inappropriate. I deeply regret my actions. and apologize for them.”
“I was wrong to take these photos 11 years ago, and was wrong to post them online. I was negligent in allowing these photos and captions of people I did not know personally to stay online. We requested Tumblr to delete this account immediately- which they have done. ‘Korean Flowers in Bloom’ is no longer online,” he added.
Jin Ha’s Tumblr blog was no longer accessible as of March 26.
“I sincerely apologize to the senior women whom I photographed. I apologize, as well, to the viewers whom I offended with this Tumblr account. My lack of judgement in 2011 has been pointed out by readers wiser than I have proved to be and for that I am grateful,” he said.
Jin Ha wrote, “Thank you again for granting me this chance to rectify this blunder of a blog and for bringing it to my attention when it should have been clear to me from the beginning. I will work diligently to learn from this mistake so that I may never repeat it going forward.”
Under Section 14 of South Korea’s law “Act On Special Cases Concerning The Punishment, Etc. of Sexual Crimes,” it is stated that “a person who takes photographs or videos of another person's body, which may cause any sexual stimulus or shame against the will of the person who was shot, by using a camera or other mechanism which has functions similar thereto, shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than seven years or by a fine not exceeding 50 million won ,” according to a copy of the law posted on the Korean Law Information Center website.
The law added that “a person who distributes, sells, leases, provides, or openly exhibits or shows (hereinafter referred to as 'distribution, etc.') a photograph taken under paragraph (1) or its duplicate (including a duplicate of its duplicate; hereafter in this paragraph, the same shall apply) or a person who makes the distribution, etc. of a photograph or video taken under paragraph (1) or its duplicate against the will of the person shot after the photograph or video taken under paragraph (1) was not against the will of the person shot (including a person who takes his/her body himself/herself) as at the time such photograph or video was taken, shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than seven years or by a fine not exceeding 50 million won.”