On Thursday, South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a suspended prison sentence for former lawmaker Yoon Meehyang, who was convicted of embezzling funds from her organization, which advocates for Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. The court confirmed an earlier lower court decision, sentencing Yoon to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years. Yoon, who was also found guilty of fraudulently receiving government subsidies and illegally collecting donations, did not attend the verdict.
Yoon led the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a group dedicated to supporting survivors and memorializing the atrocities committed against them. In response to the Supreme Court's decision, Yoon released a statement on social media, asserting her innocence and defending her management of the organization’s finances. She argued that her conviction was “unjust” and reiterated that she and her colleagues did not act for personal gain. The organization also announced plans to return government subsidies tied to the fraud charges, but expressed disappointment with the court's ruling, saying it failed to acknowledge “substantive truth.”
Allegations against Yoon and her organization began in 2020, when a prominent former victim of wartime sexual slavery, Lee Yong-soo, publicly accused Yoon of mishandling funds and diverting money away from victims. Yoon, who had recently started her term as a lawmaker for South Korea’s liberal Democratic Party, denied any wrongdoing and argued that Lee's claims were based on misunderstandings. Following the controversy, the Democratic Party expelled Yoon over separate allegations involving questionable real-estate investments, and she completed her term as an independent.
The Supreme Court’s ruling upheld a previous decision by the Seoul High Court, which found Yoon guilty of defrauding the government of 65.2 million won (around $46,300) by falsely reporting labor expenses between 2014 and 2020, as well as embezzling approximately 79 million won ($56,150) from the organization’s funds. The court also found her guilty of violating laws by collecting donations through unregistered accounts in 2019 while organizing the funeral for Kim Bok-dong, a well-known activist and survivor of sexual slavery.
The issue of Japanese wartime sexual slavery remains a contentious topic in South Korea, as many South Koreans view it as a painful reminder of Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Historians estimate that tens of thousands of women from Korea and other parts of Asia were forced into brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Hundreds of these victims were officially recognized by the South Korean government, but only eight are still alive today.
Yoon’s case highlights the sensitivities surrounding this dark chapter in Korean-Japanese history, as well as the delicate responsibility involved in advocating for and supporting victims of such abuses. Although Yoon’s organization has been influential in raising awareness and pressing for official recognition of wartime abuses, the conviction has cast a shadow over its work.
