Former lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang (61) has rejected the court’s recommendation for settlement to return donations received by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance (Jeongdaehyeop), the predecessor of the Korean Comfort Women Issue Solutions Council. According to the legal community on the 6th, Yoon’s side filed an objection on January 31 against the settlement recommendation made by Judge Joo Han-gil of the Seoul Western District Court’s Civil Division 36. The first trial date is set for April 24.
Settlement recommendation is an act in which disputing parties make concessions to resolve their conflict. It is a decision where the court encourages both parties to reach an agreement before a ruling is made. If a legal settlement is reached, it has the effect of a final judgment. If the court accepts the objection to the settlement recommendation, the litigation process will proceed in earnest.
Previously, in September 2020, some sponsors filed a lawsuit to claim back donations of 4.85 million won against Yoon, Jeongdaehyeop, and the Justice and Memory Solidarity. In November 2022, the Supreme Court finalized a 1 year and 6 months prison sentence with a 3-year suspension for Yoon in a case involving charges of embezzlement. The court explained that there were no errors in the legal judgment of guilt or innocence in the lower court’s ruling.
Yoon had been on trial since September 2020 for allegedly misusing 103.5 million won in funds raised to help comfort women victims between 2011 and 2020. She was also accused of improperly using 129.67 million won, which was collected in memory of Kim Bok-dong, a comfort woman victim who passed away in 2019.
The first trial court imposed a fine of 15 million won on Yoon, recognizing only the embezzlement of Jeongdaehyeop funds worth 17.18 million won held in her personal account as guilt, and acquitting her of other charges. The appeals court (second trial) increased the recognized embezzled amount to 79.58 million won, sentencing her to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension. It added expenditures lacking objective evidence or justification as embezzlement and overturned her acquittal regarding the misuse of condolence money.
Additionally, Yoon was found guilty of charges relating to using 65.2 million won of personnel expenses, funded by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s state subsidies, for operational costs. This was deemed “a deceitful act to create a false appearance” as the funds were transferred to an employee and then returned as a donation. The court criticized Yoon for betraying trust, stating that she should have known to manage and utilize such funds meticulously and appropriately, harming both the citizens who supported Jeongdaehyeop and the integrity of the organization.
Following the court ruling, the Justice and Memory Solidarity expressed its intention to seriously consider the Supreme Court’s decision and implement the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family state subsidy refunds.
When Yoon’s conviction was finalized last year, the Seoul Western District Court ordered her on January 15 to return all the donations requested by the plaintiffs. Meanwhile, Yoon completed her tenure as a member of the 21st National Assembly, having shifted between the Democratic Party and independent status, over the 4 years and 2 months from her prosecution to the Supreme Court’s final ruling.