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Seoul's 'Traitor Dinner' Goes Viral, AI Tool Lets Koreans Check for Pro-Japanese Ancestors

On August 15, Korea's Liberation Day, an unusual event took place near Seodaemun District in Seoul. Dubbed the "Clearing Pro-Japanese Cafés - Mockery Banquet for Traitors," it drew hundreds of young people, many in their teens and twenties. Before the doors even opened, over 500 people were queued up, some waiting nearly three hours to get in. The event turned pro-Japanese collaborators into objects of ridicule, with products like "Wajin Blood Red" five-flavor fruit tea and squishy toys modeled after Lee Wan-yong, a notorious pro-Japanese figure, selling out almost instantly.

But the real buzz was online. A tool called the "Pro-Japanese Collaborator Scanner," built by civilian developers using AI, quickly became a sensation. Users simply type in their surname and ancestral origin, and the system cross-references official records to list any individuals with the same surname and lineage who committed pro-Japanese acts or contributed to the independence movement. The database includes 19,000 records of independence contributors and an official list of 1,006 known pro-Japanese collaborators.

The website's traffic exploded, exceeding 2 million visits a day and causing frequent server crashes. Searches for "finding ancestors" spiked dozens of times compared to the same period before Liberation Day. The craze was ignited by an incident involving actress Ahn Ga-yeon, who boasted on a TV show that her great-grandfather was a royal physician of the Joseon Dynasty—only to be exposed as a pro-Japanese collaborator. After she issued a handwritten apology, the public debate only intensified.

However, experts caution that the tool can only search the officially registered list and cannot definitively confirm direct ancestry. Having the same surname and ancestral origin doesn't necessarily mean a blood relationship, so there's a risk of misjudgment. As public opinion heats up, the Korean government plans to restart the recovery of unjustly acquired property from pro-Japanese individuals under a new law in December, potentially recovering 32.5 billion won to compensate descendants of independence contributors.

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Key Points

  • The mock "traitor banquet" in Seoul attracted over 500 attendees, with products mocking pro-Japanese figures selling out.
  • The AI-powered "Pro-Japanese Collaborator Scanner" saw over 2 million daily visits, causing server crashes.
  • The trend was sparked by actress Ahn Ga-yeon's scandal involving her pro-Japanese great-grandfather.
  • The tool has limitations and may produce false positives; it only covers officially registered individuals.
  • The Korean government plans to recover 32.5 billion won from pro-Japanese collaborators' assets by December.