"Second Wave of Harmful Comments Targeting Grandmother Lee Yong-su Regarding 'Spiritual Marriage with Japanese Soldiers' Reported... Civic Groups Take Legal Action"

Citizen Group's Legal Action Against Elderly Defamation Comments
Excessive Elder Disparagement and Regional Insults

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] A civic group will take legal action on behalf of grandmother Lee Yong-soo (92), a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery, who has been suffering from abusive comments after raising suspicions about Rep. Yoon Mee-hyang of the Democratic Party of Korea and the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeondae).

The nonprofit organization Citizens' Group with the Grandmothers of the Military Sexual Slavery Victims stated on the 1st, "Since grandmother Lee's recent press conference, there has been a significant increase in defamatory comments online that damage her honor," adding, "We intend to take active legal measures against malicious commenters and those spreading false information to protect grandmother Lee from criminal acts."

The organization has been active since 1997, focusing on welfare for Japanese military sexual slavery victims and resolving related issues primarily in Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions.

The civic group said, "Regardless of the factuality of the issues raised by grandmother Lee in this incident, defamation against an individual is a criminal act and subject to punishment," and requested related reports.

Along with this, the group also disclosed an email address for reporting malicious comments and false information spreaders.

Earlier, grandmother Lee held two press conferences on the 7th and 25th of last month, criticizing Jeonguiyeondae and Rep. Yoon.

Following this, personal attacks and defamatory posts against grandmother Lee have been continuously posted online. Some comments included phrases like "(Grandmother Lee) is senile" and "a greedy old woman."

Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon criticized these comments on his Facebook, introducing posts related to grandmother Lee and saying, "Look at the comments. They are shocking."

The post shared by former professor Jin was written by a netizen presumed to be a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stating, "I pay respect to the grandmother who held a soul marriage ceremony with a deceased Japanese soldier, a true love," and demanding, "Since the wife of a Japanese is essentially Japanese, apologize to the Korean people."

The post appears to assume that grandmother Lee is the subject of a media report dated August 27, 1998, titled "A 69-year-old comfort woman grandmother held a soul marriage ceremony with a Japanese military officer she met on the battlefield."

Notably, the post included harsh comments such as "Is she really a Japanese military comfort woman?" and "(Grandmother Lee) is Japanese, so go back to Japan."

Meanwhile, female lawmakers of the United Future Party held a press conference at the National Assembly on the morning of the 2nd, strongly urging, "We strongly urge the immediate cessation of the inhumane secondary victimization against comfort woman victim grandmother Lee," and stated, "We will continue to prioritize 'victim-centeredness' regarding this matter."

They added, "Grandmother Lee courageously raised issues against Jeonguiyeondae and Rep. Yoon through two press conferences, but what she received in return were personal attacks and hateful expressions that are hard to even speak of," criticizing, "Online, there are excessive attacks ranging from 'elderly disparagement' to 'regional disparagement,' with insults, speculative accusations, and distortions presenting falsehoods as facts."

They emphasized, "Grandmother Lee Yong-soo's outcry is a matter concerning women and universal humanity, and no one should use this issue as a tool for political strife."

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