Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Conducts English Translation Project of Japanese Comfort Women Testimony Collection Without Original Authors' Permission

Board of Audit and Inspection Announces Regular Audit Results of Ministry of Gender Equality and Family... "Cannot Be Used for Overseas Publication After Translation Completion"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] The Board of Audit and Inspection has released a report stating that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has been unable to utilize the English translation project of the Korean testimonies of Japanese military comfort women victims for overseas publication, as it proceeded without obtaining permission from the original copyright holders.

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of its regular audit of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 30th. According to the Board, in July 2018, the Ministry selected the Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute as the operating organization for the Comfort Women Issue Research Institute.

The Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute undertook a project (45 million KRW) to translate the Korean testimonies of comfort women victims into English, while the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was responsible for managing and supervising the execution of the subsidized project. The detailed plan of the project was to publish the translated work as a standalone book to widely publicize the actual conditions of Japanese military comfort women victims.

According to Article 46 of the Copyright Act and related provisions, in order to utilize the English testimony collection for overseas publication, permission for use must be obtained from the original copyright holder (the copyright holder of the Korean testimony collection).

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "It is reasonable to obtain permission from the original copyright holder for overseas publication and other uses of the English testimony collection as a prerequisite before carrying out the translation project." However, "the Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute did not request permission for overseas publication from the original copyright holder by the time the translation was completed in March 2019, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family neither confirmed nor instructed to review the permission status from the original copyright holder."

The Board pointed out, "Even after the translation was completed in March 2019, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family did not prepare plans for utilizing the English testimony collection for overseas publication or other purposes, resulting in the English testimony collection remaining unused and shelved until the audit period."

The Board of Audit and Inspection instructed the Minister of Gender Equality and Family to prepare measures for utilizing the English testimony collection of Japanese military comfort women victims for overseas publication and other uses. It also urged thorough management of related tasks to ensure that necessary matters such as obtaining permission from the original copyright holder are not omitted and that translated works are effectively utilized rather than left unpublished despite completion of the translation project.

The Board also cautioned the President of the Korea Women’s Human Rights Institute to strictly adhere to necessary procedures such as obtaining prior permission for publication use from the original copyright holders when undertaking future translation projects, to ensure that projects funded by national budgets achieve their intended purposes without failure.

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