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Post by Admin on May 29, 2020 22:14:58 GMT
A South Korean lawmaker-elect who is a longtime activist for "comfort women" forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japanese troops on Friday denied allegations that she misappropriated donations for the surviving victims, while offering a public apology for causing a related controversy. Speaking on the eve of the start of her four-year term at the National Assembly, Yoon Mee-hyang of the ruling Democratic Party rejected calls to give up her parliamentary seat. "I will work (as lawmaker) in a responsible manner," she told reporters at the National Assembly. She was elected in the April 15 parliamentary elections. In response to various suspicions, largely driven by local news reports, Yoon claimed that the donations raised by her civic group on three occasions from 1992 till 2016 have been evenly distributed to the victims. The nongovernmental organization is now named the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. She had long headed the organization at the forefront of a campaign both at home and abroad to raise awareness of Japan's World War II crimes against humanity. Democratic Party lawmaker-elect Yoon Mee-hyang speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 29, 2020. (Yonhap) She admitted "wrongdoing" in the use of her personal bank accounts to receive some donations. Yoon added she would come clean on all of the relevant suspicions, as she is facing a probe by state prosecutors. Last week, investigators raided the headquarters of the NGO and its facilities. Earlier this month, a well-known victim, Lee Yong-soo, publicly accused Yoon of dubiously managing donated funds. Among the allegations reported by media were her purchase of a shelter, called a "healing center," for victims in Anseong, just south of Seoul, at a price higher than market value and use of personal bank accounts in collecting financial donations during the funeral of an aged victim. Suspicions have also been raised over the financing of her own apartment purchase in 2012. Yoon appealed to the public not to link the scandal involving her with the purity of the civic group's campaign for the dignity and rights of the victims. For three decades, it has demanded that Japan formally apologize for its wartime atrocities. "I will thoroughly clarify (the allegations), and if there's a fault, I will take responsibility," she said. "But please stop denigrating or distorting the accomplishments the group, the victims and the public achieved together (so far)," Yoon said.
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Post by Admin on May 31, 2020 20:19:21 GMT
The former leader of an advocacy group for South Korean victims of Japanese wartime sexual violence on Friday denied allegations of misusing funds meant for the victims but apologised for “banking errors”.
Yoon Mee-hyang is under prosecution investigation over allegations she had used government subsidies for her own benefit, not to help the “comfort women” – a euphemism for those forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels.
She recently stepped down as long-time leader of the group, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, better known as Jungdaehyup, to contest a national election and won a seat in parliament.
Lee Yong-soo, a prominent victim and activist, this month accused Yoon of exploiting the women to garner government funds and public donations while spending little money on them.
After weeks of silence, Yoon held a news conference and denied the accusations and calls for her resignation, saying she did not embezzle the money.
The investigation includes allegations she embezzled funds to buy apartments and support her daughter’s US college education, and incurred losses by buying and selling a property meant to shelter victims.
Yoon apologised for taking donations via nine of her personal banking accounts, though none of them have been spent for personal purposes, she said.
“I used my accounts because the money was raised for special occasions, not for all victims, but it was a wrong decision,” she told the conference. “I had wired it to Jungdaehyup accounts but there were some errors. But I did not spend it personally.”
The group is also being investigated and has said it “never loosely used money” but apologised for “accounting flaws” for which it has requested an independent audit.
The feud threatens to undermine the wartime sexual violence movement, led for decades by Yoon, Lee and Jungdaehyup, which together played a key role in effectively nullifying a controversial 2015 settlement with Japan.
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Post by Admin on May 31, 2020 21:10:07 GMT
oon Mee-hyang, a leading activist for wartime sex slave victims in South Korea who recently won a parliamentary seat, is facing growing suspicions that she misappropriated funds donated to the victims. Yoon first came under fire early this month after Lee Yong-soo, a victim of the imperial Japanese military's wartime sexual enslavement, claimed that public donations intended for the victims were not spent transparently and that victims were exploited over the past 30 years by the civic group Yoon led. Lee, 92, also called on Yoon give up her parliamentary seat to resolve the problems associated with the accused civic group, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. Yoon has been at the vanguard of South Korea's civic efforts to draw attention to World War II sexual atrocities by the imperial Japanese forces and press the Japanese government to apologize and provide compensation. From 2002-2005, she headed the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, the predecessor of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance. Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual servitude in front-line Japanese brothels during the war, when the Korean Peninsula was a Japanese colony. The women are euphemistically called "comfort women." In April, Yoon won a seat in the National Assembly on the proportional representation ticket of the Platform Party, a satellite party of the ruling Democratic Party (DP). Lee's recent allegations led to a slew of other accusations of financial improprieties involving Yoon's real estate transactions and condolence money from a victim's funeral, prompting the opposition bloc to demand her resignation. The allegations center on the Korean Council's purchase of a shelter for comfort women victims in Anseong, south of Seoul. Media reports alleged that the civic group, using a 1 billion won (US$815,727) corporate donation, purchased the shelter building at a price far above market value in 2013 and resold it below the market price this year, raising the possibility of fund misappropriation. The media also accused the council of splurging donated money on renovating the building's interior and renting space in the shelter for profit. Yoon has also been accused of lying about how she funded her purchase of a flat in 2012 and using her private bank account to collect financial gifts during the funeral of an elderly female victim in 2019. Yoon denied most of the allegations and remains adamant that she will not give in to the opposition's demand for her resignation. "I am not considering (resigning)," Yoon said during a radio interview on Monday. "I sincerely apologize for the current situation ... (but) the purchase price (of the shelter) was reasonable for us then, given the quality of its construction material and other factors," she said. As the corruption allegations snowballed, however, the prosecution has reportedly decided to launch an official investigation into the civic group and Yoon after several social groups filed complaints against them on embezzlement and fraud accusations.
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Post by Admin on Jun 1, 2020 6:27:42 GMT
A South Korean organization that helps women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during World War II has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for some of its financial dealings, in another twist to the long and painful saga of the so-called “comfort women.”
One of the few remaining survivors of this wartime slavery, 91-year-old Lee Yong-soo, accused the organization of using the survivors and their stories to collect public donations but spending the money on things that don’t actually benefit the victims.
Lee presented no evidence against the group, known as the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. But her remarks served to reopen an old war wound that still mars relations between South Korea and Japan.
They also triggered investigations into the Korean Council by news sites, one of which reported that the organization purchased a two-story house in 2013 for well above market price. The house has since been sold at about half the purchase price.
The Korean Council has admitted to “accounting errors” but has denied allegations of embezzlement and misappropriation.
“We believed that the Korean Council represented the victims’ position. However, Ms. Lee’s comments made it clear that it is not the case. Now we are not sure what to believe and what we must do to solve the historical problem,” Choi Eunmi, an associate research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told Foreign Policy.
She said the ordeal could make it more difficult for South Korea to negotiate a long-delayed settlement to the sexual slavery issue with Japan.
The two countries reached a tentative agreement in 2015, calling on Japan to pay 1 billion yen (around $9.3 million), issue a formal apology from Japan’s prime minister, and accept “deep responsibility” for the issue. The deal heralded a new era in relations between South Korea and Japan.
But it fell through after South Korean President Park Geun-hye was ousted. The current president, Moon Jae-in, has rejected the terms, saying the negotiations were conducted without input from the victims and the Korean public.
Precisely how much negotiating is underway at this moment is unclear. Last year, the speaker of South Korea’s parliament suggested a solution that involved collecting donations from both countries that would go to the victims of sexual slavery and forced labor. But the proposal drew public criticism and is unlikely to pass when the parliament reconvenes in June.
Some in Japan have portrayed South Korea as too heavily focused on the financial aspects of any possible deal. The scandal surrounding the Korean Council could sharpen that perception.
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Post by Admin on Jun 1, 2020 18:59:34 GMT
“Of course the Japanese right-wing crowd is all over the story about badly used funding at the Korean Council. After all, this view in Japan has always maintained that the Koreans are in it only for the money,” Alexis Dudden, an expert on Japan-Korea relations at the University of Connecticut, told Foreign Policy in an email.
The conservative Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun has highlighted the story on its pages, referring to the Korean Council as sharply anti-Japanese.
The scandal remains mainly a domestic issue. But the history it invokes has a way of infecting contemporary relations between the two countries.
When a South Korean court fined Japanese companies in late 2018 for forced labor practices during World War II, Tokyo imposed export restrictions on certain goods used primarily in South Korea’s semiconductor industry. In response, Korean civil society groups encouraged businesses to boycott Japanese companies.
The coronavirus has given the two countries another issue to fight over: travel restrictions. South Korea suspended visa-waiver programs with Japan in response to the pandemic. Tokyo responded by banning entry to people flying in from South Korea.
“It’s bad, and in these three or four years, the relationship has gotten worse. And of course … regional peace is closely related to the governments’ relationship,” said Lee Mi-hyeon, an activist at a weekly protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Even gestures of kindness have ended up creating tension. This month, a city government in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang province sent personal protective equipment and other supplies to cities in Japan. But some Korean residents responded with criticism.
Lee, whose complaints against the Korean Council launched the latest ordeal, says she’d like to see young Koreans and Japanese meeting to discuss their fraught history.
“Korea and Japan are neighbors. Our students eventually will be the owners of the countries. So these students need to know why we need an apology and compensation,” Lee said at a news conference this week.
“The students are the ones who will resolve the issue,” she said.
Lee is one of just 17 remaining women registered with the South Korean government as former comfort women—a euphemism used to describe those women and girls who were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese troops during World War II. She was shipped off to a kamikaze unit in Taiwan when she was 14 years old.
“I said what I had to say, and I will no longer be used,” she told the South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo.
Morten Soendergaard Larsen is a freelance journalist based in Seoul who writes about geopolitics.
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