Lee Hye-sung thanked subscribers after clarifying remarks from a book video that had drawn criticism. Lee Hye-sung is a broadcaster and former KBS announcer. Lee Hye-sung posted a message to subscribers on her YouTube channel, Lee Hye-sung's 1% Book Club, on October 25. She wrote that unexpected events had disrupted her peace of mind. When she asked for help in a pinned comment, many people responded, leaving her with a sense of warmth she compared to family and home.
Lee said the experience showed her how many compassionate people were around her. She expressed hope that her channel would remain a welcoming place. Lee Hye-sung said she got up early to go see the sunrise on a day when she felt distressed. She described climbing a small hill because she wanted to see the darkness gradually turn to dawn, then greeting the rising sun there. She said the sight made her appreciate something she had long taken for granted. Lee also mentioned Helen Keller's book Three Days to See, saying it and her subscribers' comments and encouragement had helped her.
Lee Hye-sung introduced Michael Sandel's book Justice on her channel on October 20. In the video, she referred to a controversy over a public figure's great-grandfather and his alleged pro-Japanese collaboration during Japan's colonial rule, then presented a question from the book about ancestral wrongdoing and the responsibility of descendants. She did not name the public figure. Her remarks were nevertheless linked to actor Ha Young, who had faced a controversy concerning her great-grandfather's alleged pro-Japanese collaboration. Some took the book's question to be Lee's own position and questioned whether she was defending Ha Young or pro-Japanese collaboration.
Lee Hye-sung explained on social media on October 21 that the question in the video came from the book and did not express her own view. She pointed to page 297 and said she had neither defended pro-Japanese collaboration nor argued that descendants had no responsibility for their ancestors' wrongs. She said her message in the video was that people could not disregard their ancestors' wrongdoing and should recognize historical responsibility. In a pinned YouTube comment, she asked viewers to consider the full context, saying she was upset that an excerpt had been presented as her personal opinion.
After the controversy concerning her great-grandfather An Sang-ho's alleged pro-Japanese collaboration during Japan's colonial rule emerged in August, Ha Young issued a handwritten apology. She said she regretted her lack of historical awareness and careless remarks. She later withdrew from a follow-up season of the Netflix series The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and paused her activities.
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