Seoul Yonhap News] On September 20, the Seoul High Court heard the appeal of National Assembly member Yoon Mi-hyang (independent), the former president of a Korean citizens’ group that supports the victims of the former Japanese military comfort women, who was accused of misappropriating donations for his personal use to the group. The first trial was held at the Seoul High Court on February 2 and 3. The first trial court sentenced him to a fine of 15 million won (approximately 1.62 million yen), but the prosecutors asked for a five-year prison sentence. The verdict will be handed down on the 20th of next month. The prosecutor asked for a five-year sentence, the same as the first trial, because he wanted the court to calmly determine whether it was legal for him to use donations collected from many people as he wished and whether it was legal for him to receive money from an elderly person suffering from severe dementia.
Yun was indicted at home in September 2008 on a charge of embezzlement in the course of his duties for arbitrarily using 137 million won (about US$1.5 million) in the corporate and personal accounts of the Council on the Issue of the Korean Para-Troops, the predecessor to the Japan Federation for Justice (JFK), between 2011 and 2008.
He was also charged with quasi-fraud for having Kil Wonok, a comfort women victim with severe dementia, donate 50 million won out of the 100 million won prize money for the Women’s Human Rights Award she received from the Korea Federation of Justice in 2005 to the Federation.
In February of this year, the first trial court found Yoon guilty only of embezzlement of approximately 17 million won and sentenced him to a fine of 15 million won, and acquitted him of all other charges. Subsequently, both the defendant and the prosecution appealed against the judgment.
