Government 'Soothes' Japanese Forced Labor Group... Bereaved Families Association "Second Press Conference"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The government has begun efforts to appease the group of victims of forced labor under Japanese rule, who criticized the 'privatization of the comfort women movement' by the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeok) and Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. This group has announced plans for further revelations, claiming that government support has been concentrated on Jeonguiyeok, which led the comfort women movement.

On the 16th, according to the Pacific War Victims' Families Association (Victims' Association) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry will visit the Victims' Association office located in Ganghwa-do, Incheon on the 17th to meet with the victims' families. At this meeting, they plan to discuss government support for victim organizations during the Japanese colonial period, which the Victims' Association raised at a press conference earlier this month. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, "There were issues raised regarding the government's response at a recent press conference, so this meeting was arranged to provide an actual report and explanation," adding, "Since our ministry is the competent authority, but we had not created a separate opportunity for such discussions, we arranged this meeting."

The Victims' Association is an organization established in 1973 by Korean victims and their families who were forcibly taken as soldiers, laborers, female labor corps, and Japanese military comfort women before and after the Pacific War initiated by Japan. On the 1st, they held a press conference regarding allegations of accounting fraud by Jeonguiyeok, criticizing that Jeonguiyeok monopolized the Japanese military comfort women movement. At that time, the Victims' Association stated, "Yoon Mi-hyang, who has exploited the comfort women issue for the past 30 years, should resign from her parliamentary position and Jeonguiyeok should be disbanded," and "Jeongdaehyeop (Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, the predecessor of Jeonguiyeok) and Yoon Mi-hyang have fattened themselves as a power group rather than a victim-centered organization for the Japanese military comfort women grandmothers, and the government should not send support funds to this organization nor allow fundraising from the public."

The Victims' Association claims that Jeonguiyeok monopolized the comfort women movement and that the government has supported domestic comfort women organizations in a discriminatory manner. Yang Soon-im (76), president of the Victims' Association, said, "We requested 10 million won from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for the publication costs of the book ‘Stolen Years: Searching for Japanese Military Comfort Women,’ which contains materials on forced labor during the Pacific War, but it was rejected due to budget shortages," and added, "We recently learned that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has been supporting Jeongdaehyeop with 1 billion won annually, so how can the government discriminate against forced labor victim organizations?"

The Victims' Association plans to hold an additional press conference within this month regarding government support for forced labor victim organizations following their meeting with the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

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