Ministry of Gender Equality and Family "Reviewing Submission of National Assembly Data Request List with Personal Information Protection"

If the list is disclosed, victims may be identified
Disclosure possible without revealing personal information

Subsidy recovery measures and prosecution investigation results
Will be handled according to law and principles

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced that it is considering a plan to provide some of the data requested by the National Assembly in a limited manner.

On the 12th, the Ministry held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office and stated, "We are contemplating ways to submit the list of the 'Japanese Military "Comfort Women" Victim Support and Memorial Project Deliberation Committee' requested by the National Assembly while protecting personal information," adding, "The list has been kept confidential due to concerns about disclosure during the victim registration process."

The Ministry previously received requests from some lawmakers' offices, including the 'Comfort Women Grandmothers Victim Truth Investigation Task Force (TF),' to disclose the committee list along with weekly reports related to victim support, funeral expense statements, and health treatment records. However, since the list contains sensitive personal information such as treatment details and health status that could reveal the victims' identity as former Japanese military comfort women, it was not disclosed due to concerns about identifying the victims. The main role of the committee is to decide on victim registration.

Regarding allegations of poor accounting in the National Subsidy by the Justice and Memory Foundation, the Ministry stated that it will not take measures to recover subsidies until the prosecution's investigation results are released. A Ministry official said, "If any issues are found, we plan to handle them immediately according to laws and principles," and added, "We are carefully reviewing specific evidence."

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