[Summary] Democratic Party "Verify Facts First" vs United Party "Yoon Mi-hyang Must Respond"

Grandmother Lee Yong-soo's Final Press Conference on the Afternoon of the 25th
Democratic Party: "Prosecutors' Investigation Underway... Will Monitor Results and Decide Position"
United Party: "Now It's Time for President-elect Yoon and the Democratic Party to Respond"

Grandmother Lee Yong-soo (92), a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery, is holding a press conference on the afternoon of the 25th at the Inter-Burgo Hotel in Manchon-dong, Suseong-gu, Daegu.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] On the 25th, the Democratic Party of Korea stated that "fact-finding comes first" regarding the second round of allegations raised by Grandmother Lee Yong-soo (92), a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery, who voluntarily held a press conference to speak out against elected representative Yoon Mi-hyang. On the other hand, the United Future Party pressured Yoon and the Democratic Party to respond to Grandmother Lee's revelations.

On the same day, Kang Hoon-sik, the chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a written briefing, "Since a prosecution investigation is underway regarding elected representative Yoon, we will wait for the results and then decide on our future stance."

He added, "It is deeply regrettable and humbling that Grandmother Lee, who has been involved in the comfort women movement for 30 years, felt compelled to hold a press conference to raise these issues," emphasizing, "The Justice Foundation should actively resolve the problems raised by Grandmother Lee."

He continued, "The cause and history of the comfort women human rights movement must not be damaged by this controversy."

The Democratic Party maintains the principle of verifying the facts through internal investigations by relevant agencies such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the National Tax Service, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as well as through prosecution investigations, before issuing a statement. They have stated that they will not decide on Yoon's position until the substantive truth regarding the allegations of financial misconduct is confirmed.

Amid controversies surrounding the Wednesday Demonstration donations and the Korea-Japan comfort women agreement involving Yoon Mee-hyang, a member-elect of the Democratic Party of Korea and former member of the Justice Memory Solidarity, raindrops have gathered on the Statue of Peace in front of the Embassy of Japan in Jongno-gu on the 10th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, the United Future Party pointed out that "it is now the Democratic Party's turn to respond" to Grandmother Lee's press conference.

Hwang Gyu-hwan, deputy spokesperson for the United Future Party, said in a statement immediately after the press conference, "We cannot even begin to imagine the pain and hardships endured, and we cannot fathom the feelings of a grandmother who holds such a press conference," expressing sympathy.

Hwang said, "When the elderly grandmother said she cried bitterly, thinking she had been foolishly deceived, the public cried with her and could only share her anger," adding, "When the allegations escalated, they suddenly visited the grandmother and falsely portrayed her embrace as 'forgiveness,' which was utterly intolerable."

He continued, "Now, what else will elected representative Yoon and the Democratic Party say? Will they still claim that the grandmother's memories are distorted, or will they try to mislead by saying she was just someone who applied for proportional representation? As we have repeatedly said, this is neither an ideological issue nor a political matter," emphasizing.

He added, "This is a matter of clearly recognizing the pain of history and properly embracing the wounds of the grandmothers, which is a natural duty as citizens of the Republic of Korea," and said, "As the grandmother said, legal punishment for the numerous allegations that have emerged since the first press conference will be handled through prosecution investigations. If the allegations are proven true, punishment must be imposed to ensure such incidents never happen again."

Furthermore, he said, "The grandmother said she did not forgive elected representative Yoon and that those who sold out the comfort women grandmothers must be punished. She also expressed a wish to resolve the unjust and falsely accused comfort women issues and apologized to all women," emphasizing again, "Who is truly the one who should apologize before the people and the grandmothers? Now it is time for elected representative Yoon and the Democratic Party to answer."

Former Director Yoon Mi-hyang of the Justice Memory Solidarity
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 25th at 2 p.m., Grandmother Lee held her second press conference at Hotel Inter-Burgo in Suseong-gu, Daegu. This was 18 days after she revealed allegations of accounting fraud by the Justice Foundation and announced she would no longer attend the Wednesday demonstrations at a teahouse in Nam-gu, Daegu, on the 7th.

At the press conference, Grandmother Lee said, "I felt betrayed and angry as unbelievable acts kept coming to light from those I trusted as comrades for 30 years," adding, "The investigation will be conducted by the prosecution."

Grandmother Lee criticized the integration process in 2018 between the 'Justice Memory Foundation for the Resolution of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Issue' and the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop), which combined the issues of comfort women and military sexual slaves under one operation.

Grandmother Lee said, "How can comfort women and military sexual slaves be the same?" and added, "After quietly thinking about it the night before yesterday, I realized that Jeongdaehyeop should only handle the military sexual slave issue, so I wondered what right they had to use comfort women victims as mere decorations." She also said, "I couldn't sleep a wink the night before the press conference and woke up crying bitterly."

Grandmother Lee mentioned the late comfort woman victim, the late Grandmother Kim Bok-dong, who passed away last year, claiming she was exploited by Jeongdaehyeop.

Grandmother Lee said, "Grandmother Kim Bok-dong could only see a little with one eye, yet they dragged her around to America and elsewhere to exploit her," and added, "(Yoon Mi-hyang) shamelessly went to the grave and shed fake tears," emphasizing, "I absolutely cannot forgive Jeongdaehyeop for exploiting comfort women."

Regarding the operation of the Justice Foundation, Grandmother Lee said, "I want to change the 'demonstration (comfort women movement)' method, not end it," emphasizing, "Japan must apologize and compensate for the comfort women issue for a thousand years, even ten thousand years."

Grandmother Lee proposed, "We need to understand why apologies and compensation are necessary. For this, Korea and Japan should get along well and study history correctly," adding, "The ones who will solve the unjust problems of the comfort women grandmothers are our students."

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