Main opposition party may seek Assembly inquiry into 'misuse' of comfort women funds

By Jung Da-min

The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) said it could seek a National Assembly inquiry into the mounting scandals surrounding the alleged misuse of funds by a civic group that was supposed to advocate for former sex slaves.

UFP leaders said Tuesday, that they plan to talk with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) when the 21st National Assembly is inaugurated May 30 regarding an investigation of Youn Mee-hyang, the former leader of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan and a DPK lawmaker-elect.

Youn, who was thought to be actively working to support victims of the Japanese military's sexual slavery practices before and during World War II, has been recently accused of misusing public donations made for the elderly women.

“We should conduct a National Assembly investigation into Youn as the public is calling for it,” said UFP deputy floor leader Rep. Kim Sung-won. He said the party has been receiving many complaints from other civic groups about the council's alleged misappropriation of state subsidies and donations from citizens.

“Such issues should be clearly investigated through cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties and if wrongdoings are found, those responsible should be held criminally liable,” Kim said.

The Future Korea Party, a UFP satellite, said it had formed a taskforce to look into the allegations surrounding Youn, calling for the ruling party to expel her in a statement.

The DPK first defended its proportional representation lawmaker-elect, saying Youn and the council's support for the former sex slaves for nearly 30 years and the accounting transparency issue were two different things. However, some DPK members have changed their stance in recent days, as more and more allegations have surfaced.

Lee Nak-yon, a DPK heavyweight, said Monday he was taking the issue “very seriously” and discussing it with other party members. His remark was different from the party's earlier stance that fact-finding should come first.

The controversies surrounding the civic group started earlier this month, weeks after Youn won a proportional representation seat for the 21st Assembly in the April 15 general election.

On May 7, Lee Yong-soo, 92, one of the surviving victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery who helped initiate a weekly Wednesday protest in front of the then Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul, held a press conference in Daegu and said the council and its former leader Youn had misused public donations.

Lee said she would no longer attend the weekly event, as she did not know how the group had used donations made by students who attend the rallies. She also said Youn should not be serving as a lawmaker but instead come back to the organization to settle the related issues.

Youn and the civic group refuted Lee's claims, making public documents displaying the group's use of public funding. But further allegations have been raised against them, including suspicions that they mismanaged a vacation home it had purchased with donations, originally intended for the use of the surviving victims.

The victims were allegedly not allowed to use the house, while Youn's father has been residing there as a “property manager,” receiving a total of 75.8 million won from the civic group over the past six years for “managing” the building.

The group bought the house at a much higher-than-market price, and recently sold it at a great loss after the suspicions of fund misuse began to emerge. One allegation said another DPK lawmaker-elect, Lee Kyu-min, directly put Youn into contact with the former owner of the house. The opposition parties claim the former owner should also be investigated over the suspicious deal.