Justice Network, Accounting Transparency Improved but Much Remains to Be Done

Allegations of Accounting Fraud Raised for 1 Year
2020 Business Report Published
Disclosure of Donation Usage and Donor List
Victim Support Projects Increased by 8%

Lee Na-young, Chairperson of the Justice Memory Solidarity, is speaking at the '1460th Regular Wednesday Demonstration for the Resolution of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Issue' held on October 7 last year in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] It has been one year as of the 7th since the ‘accounting fraud allegations’ raised following the press conference criticizing the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeon) by grandmother Lee Yong-soo, a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery. Jeonguiyeon, which aims to restore the honor and human rights of the comfort women victims, has pledged reform during this period and is contemplating the direction of the comfort women civic movement.

Jeonguiyeon revealed several suspicions and issues in the management of donations and the establishment process of the victims’ shelter (House Where Peace and Healing Meet). The first to raise the issue was grandmother Lee Yong-soo (93), a comfort women victim who had participated in the Wednesday Demonstrations. On May 7 last year, she exposed that “Jeonguiyeon’s accounting is opaque” and that the (Wednesday) demonstrations “only teach hatred and wounds.” As the main figure who ignited the comfort women movement suffered social damage, concerns arose that the momentum of related movements such as the Wednesday Demonstrations would weaken. Since then, Jeonguiyeon has pledged to improve its accounting system and reform itself.

Evaluating the past year can be summarized as ‘some achievements but still a long way to go.’ Last month, Jeonguiyeon published the ‘2020 Business Report’ containing income and expenditure details and project contents. This was intended to improve transparency in the use of donations and inform citizens and donors about the support details. The report included the inflow routes and amounts of donations, usage details, and donor lists. According to this report, the amount used for victim support projects was 16.83 million KRW, an 8.2% increase compared to 15.55 million KRW in 2019.

Han Kyung-hee, Secretary General of Jeonguiyeon, said, “Annual activity reports have been continuously disclosed in various forms such as newspapers, but this time we supplemented and improved the format and content to increase accessibility for donors and citizens and to convey activities and support details more thoroughly.” Lee Na-young, Chairperson of Jeonguiyeon, also said, “Despite difficult circumstances, Jeonguiyeon activists sincerely revealed the truth and did their best to correct false allegations. We will continue to do our best to become a strong foundation with efficiency, systematization, and stability.”

These improvement efforts by Jeonguiyeon have received positive evaluations both inside and outside. However, it is also a time to consider the direction of a comfort women organization without comfort women victims. After the accounting fraud allegations surfaced last year, grandmother Gil Won-ok (93), a comfort women victim who lived in the shelter operated by Jeonguiyeon in Mapo-gu, Seoul, passed away. Grandmother Gil was the only Japanese military comfort woman residing in the Mapo shelter. With weakened ties to the grandmothers, Jeonguiyeon’s direction for a comfort women movement without victims inevitably becomes ambiguous.

The trial of Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who is accused of embezzling and misusing donations while serving as chairperson of Jeonguiyeon, has been stalled for eight months. The pretrial hearings have been extended to the fifth session at the end of this month due to disputes between Yoon’s side and the prosecution over some specifics of the indictment, such as the appraisal value of the ‘House Where Peace and Healing Meet’ (Anseong shelter). The formal trial is expected to begin in the second half of this year.

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