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| The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan releases a statement about the death of the shelter director outside its headquarters in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
The head of a shelter for South Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery was found dead in her home in an apparent suicide, according to the police Sunday.
According to the police, her body was found in her apartment in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, at 10:35 a.m., Saturday. The police didn't find any traces of intruders and ruled out the possibility of homicide.
The shelter, run by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issue of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council), has been the center of controversy since May, when sex slavery survivor Lee Yong-soo came forward publicly to criticize the Korean Council and the organization's former director Yoon Mee-hyang for misusing funds. Yoon left the post in April after winning a National Assembly seat in a proportional representation vote.
"The late director struggled to accept what was happening to the organization," the Korean Council said in a statement released on Sunday. "Putting her personal life aside, she committed herself to taking care of those survivors' health and well-being. After the prosecution's visit, she pleaded that her life was being completely negated."
The Korean Council is currently under a prosecution investigation over the allegations of embezzlement and illegal accounting practices.
Yoon blamed the media and prosecutors for her former colleague's death.
"The media talked about the shelter as if it were a criminal shelter and prosecutors rushed there for confiscation. Constant pressure and endless phone calls must have made her feel like she was guilty. This must have been too much for her," she wrote on Facebook, Sunday.
On May 21, prosecutors made a surprise visit to the shelter and confiscated accounting documents and others, and then questioned the council's accounting officer.
Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office expressed condolence Sunday, saying "although we've been investigating the allegations, she was never our direct target."
Yoon was seen at the shelter on Sunday morning, walking into the building with one hand covering her tearful face.
Located in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, the shelter opened in 2012 with the help of a local church and is currently housing only one survivor, Gil Won-ok. Yoon is currently living in Daegu.
According to news reports, the Korean Council purchased another shelter, located in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in 2013, above the market price and sold it back recently below the market price, a move which Yoon's critics regarded with suspicion.
It turned out that the organization paid Yoon's father to take care of the property while it owned the property. Yoon explained it was because the group couldn't manage to find anyone more suitable.
The suicide is a new development in the spiraling controversy surrounding Yoon.
In two news conferences in May, Lee said she had been completed deceived by Yoon and added the former activist didn't deserve to represent the citizens at the National Assembly. Also, the survivor demanded Yoon should return to the Korean Council and continue the advocacy work.
Over the weekend, Lee continued her criticisms of Yoon at a highly publicized event for the sex slavery survivors.
Yoon dismissed the allegations as groundless and pledged to continue addressing the issue through legislative work.
Experts and those who've been following the sex slavery issue said the recent controversy is damaging the advocacy work.
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