The prosecutors said there is a misunderstanding of the law in interpreting the charges, including the partial conviction for violation of the Donations and Contributions Solicitation Act.
On April 26, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office appealed to the Supreme Court against the ruling against Yun Mi-hyang, an independent member of the National Assembly who was indicted for embezzling patronage money for the comfort women victims’ support group, Justice Memory Solidarity (Justice Federation), and sentenced to imprisonment at the second trial.
Table】Yun Mi-hyang’s “Embezzlement of Donations” Case with a Fine in the First Instance → Background of the Suspension of Execution in the Second Instance
On the 20th of this month, the Seoul High Court sentenced Yun to one year and six months in prison, with a three-year suspended sentence. The first trial sentence was a fine of 15 million won. On appeal, the prosecution cited a misunderstanding of the legal theory as the reason.
At the second trial, a substantial portion of the prosecution’s grounds for appeal were accepted. The Seoul High Court found that Councilor Yun had embezzled approximately 80 million won (approximately 8.8 million yen) from funds related to Memory of Justice Solidarity, and that he had improperly donated 130 million won, including funeral expenses for comfort women victim Kim Bok-dong. The court also found her guilty of window dressing her labor costs and illegally receiving 65.2 million won in government subsidies from the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs.
The prosecutor explained the reason for the appeal, saying, “After analyzing the judgment, there is a misunderstanding of the law in the interpretation of the donation and goods solicitation law, quasi-fraud, and breach of trust in business. The charges include a part of the charge of violation of the Subsidy Control Law, which was found not guilty in the first trial and was also found not guilty in the appeal, and a charge of violation of the Donation and Goods Solicitation Law, of which only the part related to Kim Bok-dong’s funeral expenses was found guilty.
The prosecutors initially argued that Councilor Yun’s side had falsely registered the museum without a curator and fraudulently received government subsidies by receiving museum-related subsidies, but the court ruled that since the museum registration itself was not invalid or canceled, receiving subsidies on the premise of registration was allowed. The court ruled that since the museum registration itself was not invalidated or revoked, it was allowed to receive subsidies based on the registration.
In relation to the violation of the Donation and Goods Solicitation Act, the court found Kim guilty of illegally collecting 130 million won in condolence money for Bok-dong Kim under his personal name, but acquitted him of other donations collected in an account for patronage money after publicizing it to an unspecified number of people. A prosecutor’s official stated, “He raised more than 10 million won from an unspecified number of people who do not belong to any organization, so he does not fall under any of the exceptions.
After the second trial, Councilor Yun stated, “I did not embezzle any money, and I cannot accept violations of the Donation Law and the Subsidy Law,” and has given notice of his appeal. An active member of the National Assembly who is sentenced to imprisonment (including probation) is disqualified from office under the provisions of the National Assembly Law and the Public Office Election Law.
Reporter Kim Ye-ran
Chosun Ilbo / Chosun Ilbo Japanese Edition
