Jo Hae-jin "4.9 Billion Won Raised, Only 900 Million to Grandmothers... Where Did 2.3 Billion Go?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Jo Hae-jin, a member of the Future United Party, pointed out that the Council for the Measures on the Comfort Women (Jeongdae-hyeop) raised 4.9 billion KRW over four years but only gave 900 million KRW to the grandmothers, raising concerns about the unclear use of the remaining funds.

On the 11th, Jo appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "The accounting part seems to differ greatly from what our citizens think."

Earlier, grandmother Lee Yong-soo raised objections on the 7th, claiming that Jeongdae-hyeop did not properly distribute the donations collected to the victims. Jo said, "This project started in 1992, and looking at the disclosed information, 1 million KRW was paid per person in the first year, 2.5 million KRW in 1993, and after nearly 24 years, 100 million KRW per person was paid in 2017," adding, "A total of 103.5 million KRW was paid over 30 years, but after payments in 1994, nothing was paid for nearly 25 years, which is far from common sense."

He explained, "From 2016 to 2019, 4.9 billion KRW was raised, of which 900 million KRW was paid to the grandmothers, and the remaining 4 billion KRW was partly spent on other purposes, with nearly half kept in cash," adding, "This institution (Jeongdae-hyeop) is holding about 2.3 billion KRW."

Jo said, "Most donors probably thought the money would be used for expenses, but fundamentally, they expected it to be given to the grandmothers," adding, "Moreover, since the grandmothers are elderly and passing away continuously, donors would have expected more payments to be made while there was still time, but this does not align with reality."

He also raised suspicions about Yoon Mi-hyang, the elected member of the Democratic Party of Citizens who served as the head of Jeongdae-hyeop. Jo said, "Yoon’s child is studying in the U.S., and the annual tuition and living expenses range from 50 million KRW to 100 million KRW," adding, "Calculating the annual income of Yoon and her husband based on taxes shows about 50 million KRW, roughly 25 million KRW per person, so these suspicions are growing even more."

In response, Kang Byung-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "There will be transparency in any process regarding how the donations were used," adding, "In 1993, the National Assembly enacted the Act on the Support for the Living Stability of Japanese Military Comfort Women under Japanese colonial rule, providing support for their livelihood," and "Currently, they are receiving 1.47 million KRW per month."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.