Kim Kyung-yul: "Comfort Women Movement Should Not Be Privatized... Yoon Mi-hyang Must Resign"

Kim Kyung-yul, Former Co-Executive Director of People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
Calls for Resignation of Justice and Jeong Dae-hyeop Executives

Kim Kyung-yul, CEO of Economic Democracy 21 / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Suwan Kim] Amid ongoing controversies surrounding the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeondae), Kim Kyung-yul, head of Economic Democracy 21, called on June 26 for the resignation of Yoon Mi-hyang, the elected member of the Democratic Party, as well as the executives of the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeondae) and the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop).

On the same day, Kim released a statement on his Facebook titled "Calling for the Immediate Resignation of Those Involved in the Yoon Mi-hyang Incident and Thorough Fact-Finding by a Third Party," criticizing, "Yoon, the elected member, and the executives of Jeongdaehyeop and Jeonguiyeondae must face the gravity of this situation, resign immediately, and accept legal judgment, as this is the only way to preserve even a fraction of the values they have pursued."

He continued, "Not only Yoon but also the current executives of Jeonguiyeondae lack the justice and morality necessary to properly resolve the comfort women issue," adding, "It has also been confirmed that Yoon, along with the executives and administrative officers of the two organizations, are by no means free from suspicions related to various ongoing allegations of accounting fraud, breach of trust, embezzlement, and tax evasion."

He then demanded △ the immediate resignation of Yoon Mi-hyang as a member of the National Assembly △ the total resignation of the current executives of Jeonguiyeondae △ the formation of a new executive team guaranteeing political neutrality and accounting transparency △ the establishment of a fact-finding committee appointed by the new executives to investigate and disclose the accounting fraud and other illegal allegations against Jeonguiyeondae △ and thorough investigations by the prosecution and the National Tax Service.

He also stated, "Since grandmother Lee raised suspicions of accounting fraud on the 7th, Yoon and officials from Jeongdaehyeop and Jeonguiyeondae have dismissed the core message of the issue by attributing it to political manipulation, the grandmother’s memory errors, or minor unintentional accounting mistakes," emphasizing, "Resolving the comfort women issue begins with listening to the voices of the victims, which is common sense."

He pointed out, "The comfort women movement is not the exclusive property of Yoon Mi-hyang or Jeonguiyeondae and Jeongdaehyeop."

He added, "Misleading public opinion as if the failure of these individuals would mean the failure of the entire comfort women movement ultimately admits to the 'privatization of the comfort women movement.' Only by returning to the original intention, centering the voices of the comfort women grandmothers, and genuinely opening participation to all who care about this issue can the proper movement firmly take root."

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