Actress Song Hye-kyo has turned down an offer from Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to be a model in its advertisements, public relations company Shall We Talk said Monday.

Song rejected the offer to endorse the company in China about a month ago, added the PR Company.

The actress is reported to have said that she rejected the offer as Mitsubishi Group is involved in lawsuits over the alleged use of Korean forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule over Korea.

“Song Hye-kyo is deeply concerned about our history and culture,” Seo Kyoung-duk, a Sungshin Women’s University professor, wrote on Facebook. Seo, known as an expert in promoting South Korea, also revealed a conversation he had had with Song concerning Mitsubishi’s offer. According to Seo, the actress had asked him whether Mitsubishi had taken steps to redress its wrongdoing and then decided against signing with the Japanese company.

Last year, Song and Seo supported the publication of Korean-language brochures for historic sites of Korea’s overseas independence movement in the U.S. as well as foreign museums.

By Jung Eun-jin (jej2403@heraldcorp.com)