Actress Ha Young has seen a noticeable rise in public attention, with her social media following increasing by more than 200,000 while her Netflix drama Our Sticky Love climbed to No. 1 globally among non-English TV shows.

As of the afternoon of August 19, Ha Young had around 1.249 million followers on social media. She had only recently passed the 1 million mark, meaning her account gained more than 200,000 followers within a short period.

It is difficult to determine exactly what caused the sudden increase. However, Ha Young’s name has received heightened attention in recent days following controversy surrounding the historical record of her great-grandfather, Ahn Sang Ho.

At the same time, interest in her current drama has remained strong.

According to Netflix’s Tudum rankings, Our Sticky Love ranked No. 1 in the global Top 10 TV Shows Non-English category for the week of August 10 to 16. The series recorded 7.5 million views during that period.

The romantic comedy stars Ha Young as prosecutor Go Eun Sae, who experiences memory loss, while Jung Hae In plays boxing coach Jang Tae Ha, a man who claims to be her boyfriend.

The increased attention comes after Ha Young spoke about her family background during a recent television appearance. She said her great-grandfather had studied Western medicine in Japan and later practiced medicine in Korea.

Following the broadcast, online discussions resurfaced records connected to Ahn Sang Ho and his alleged involvement with a pro-Japanese organization during the Japanese colonial period.

Ha Young’s agency initially said the allegations were unfounded but later corrected its statement after reviewing historical records.

The agency said, “We confirmed that records do exist showing Ahn Sang Ho’s name on the 1916 list of council members of the Daejeong Friendship Association.”

It also apologized for responding too quickly without sufficient verification.

Ha Young later posted a handwritten apology on Instagram, saying, “I had spoken about my great-grandfather with pride while not knowing enough about the history.”

She continued, “The fact that I did not know cannot be a reason to ignore or take history lightly. I take the matter seriously and sincerely apologize as a descendant.”

While the family history controversy has brought increased attention to Ha Young, there is no clear evidence that it directly caused the rise in her followers or the strong performance of Our Sticky Love. The actress herself has not been accused of personally taking part in the historical actions being discussed.