Ha Tae-kyung: "The Ministry of Gender Equality, which volunteered as an accomplice in the 'Yoon Mi-hyang Incident,' must also take responsibility"

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family "No Consideration to Cancel Subsidies at Present"

Ha Tae-kyung, Member of the Future United Party (Busan Haeundae Gap) / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the Future United Party, strongly criticized the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) regarding the controversy surrounding Yoon Mi-hyang, a proportional representative-elect of the Democratic Party of Korea and former chairperson of the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeokdae), stating, "The MOGEF minister who defends Yoon Mi-hyang is essentially an accomplice in this Yoon Mi-hyang incident."

On the 24th, Ha posted on his Facebook under the title "MOGEF Minister, Giving Blind Support Funds and Claiming No Distribution Issues? The Lying Minister Must Be Held Accountable," saying, "MOGEF supported Jeonguiyeokdae with nearly 1 billion won last year and this year alone, but there was no actual investigation into whether the subsidies were properly used."

Ha said, "The subsidies to Jeonguiyeokdae were blind support funds. Even so, the MOGEF minister lied by saying there were no problems with the distribution of subsidies," and pointed out, "When the government provides support funds with taxpayers' money, monitoring and supervision of the usage must be accompanied."

He continued, "MOGEF subsidies were mainly for medical and housing support for comfort women grandmothers. However, most of the surviving grandmothers testify that they did not receive significant support from Jeonguiyeokdae," emphasizing, "This implies that a large part of Jeonguiyeokdae's expenditure records is likely false."

Ha stated, "The MOGEF minister effectively concealed Yoon Mi-hyang's accounting fraud," and said, "If the allegations of subsidy accounting fraud and embezzlement by Yoon and Jeonguiyeokdae are true, MOGEF, which abetted this, must also be held responsible."

He added, "The lying minister must be held accountable," and "A thorough audit of MOGEF's overall subsidy management practices must be conducted."

Earlier, on the 21st, according to Yonhap News, a MOGEF official said in a meeting with reporters, "There was no problem in the process of distributing national subsidies to Jeonguiyeokdae by MOGEF," and "At present, we are not considering canceling the subsidies."

The official explained, "The reported contents to MOGEF and the parts posted on the National Tax Service disclosure system were different, but they admitted to misreporting and said they would undergo an external audit," adding, "Not only MOGEF but also subsidies given by Seoul City were recorded as zero, and since they said the National Tax Service disclosure system issue was a 'simple error,' we need to observe the situation."

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