Court Orders "Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Disclose Records of Yoon Mi-hyang Meeting During Comfort Women Agreement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] A court ruling has ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to disclose records of a meeting with Yoon Mee-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and former executive representative of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdae-hyeop), during the 2015 Korea-Japan comfort women agreement.

On the 10th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 11 (Presiding Judge Park Hyung-soon) ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the lawyer group "Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea" (Hanbyun) against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seeking cancellation of the refusal to disclose information.

Earlier, in June of last year, Hanbyun filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding the disclosure of records of meetings with Representative Yoon. This action was taken following allegations that Yoon was aware of the agreement details in advance but did not inform the surviving victims.

On this day, the court ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to disclose most of the five pieces of information that Hanbyun had requested but were initially refused, except for one. The court explained, "The documents ordered for disclosure are the results of meetings between Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and the representative of Jeongdae-hyeop, including the date, location, and meeting topics," adding, "All sensitive matters such as specific diplomatic negotiations were excluded from disclosure."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs judged that the information requested by Hanbyun at the time falls under non-disclosure categories stipulated by the Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies, as its disclosure could harm significant national interests.

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