Yoon Mee-hyang (Korean : 윤미향;born 1964) is a South Korean human rights activist,politician,and author. She was the former head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan,an organization dedicated to advocacy for former comfort women,who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. She is the author of 25 Years of Wednesdays:The Story of the "Comfort Women" and the Wednesday Demonstrations.
In April 2020,Yoon was elected to National Assembly of the Republic of Korea,in a seat allocated by proportional representation. [1]
In September 2020 Yoon was suspended from the Democratic Party after being indicted by the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on eight charges including fraud,embezzlement and breach of trust for misappropriating donations and government subsidies from the comfort women advocacy organization she was leading. [2]
Yoon was born in Namhae,South Gyeongsang Province,in 1964. [3] She graduated from Hanshin University in 1987 and earned a master's degree in social welfare from Ewha Womans University in 2007. [4] [5]
Since the 1990s,Yoon has been a leader of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan,now called the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. [6] [7] [8] [9] The organization was established in 1990 to advocate for the rights of former comfort women. [6] Since January 1992,the council has organized over 1000 weekly rallies in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul to raise awareness of the issue of war violence against women. [6] [10] [11] The group has called upon the Japanese government to issue a formal apology and compensation to former comfort women. [12]
Yoon's book on the subject,20 Years of Wednesdays:The Unshakable Hope of the Halmoni - Former Japanese Military Comfort Women (20년간의수요일 :일본군'위안부' 할머니들이외치는당당한희망),was published in 2010 in Korean,and translated into Japanese the following year. [13] [14] A 2016 follow-up,25 Years of Wednesdays (25 년간의수요일),included information on the new agreement between the Korean and Japanese governments to peacefully resolve the issue. [15] An English translation by Koeun Lee was published in 2019. [16]
Yoon established the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in Seoul in 2012. [6] [10] She has also served as a founding member of the Korea Women's Foundation and as executive director of the Women's Subcommittee of the National Reunification Movement. [5] Yoon appears in The Apology ,a documentary film directed by Tiffany Hsiung and featuring former comfort women Gil Won-Ok,Adela Reyes Barroquillo,and Cao Hei Mao. [17]
On April 15,2020,Yoon was elected to a proportional representation National Assembly seat as a candidate of the Platform Party,a satellite party of the Democratic Party of Korea. [18]
In May 2020,Lee Yong-soo,a 91 year old comfort woman survivor,accused Yoon of not using the public donations to benefit the comfort women victims. [19] In a press conference,Lee Yong-soo accused Yoon and her organization of financially and politically exploiting the survivors for 30 years. [20] Lee also stated that Yoon "must not become a member of the National Assembly. She must first solve this problem." Lee stated she did not support Yoon's parliamentary candidacy and accused Yoon of lying about having her support during the election. [21]
The Democratic Party of Korea suspended the party membership of Yoon,who became a proportional lawmaker based on her career of supporting comfort women survivors. [22] In 2024,Yoon was convicted of fraudulently receiving government subsidies and unlawfully collecting donations and was sentenced to 1.5 years imprisonment,suspended for three years. [23]
In 2012,Yoon was awarded the 9th annual Seoul Women's Award. [24]
In 2013,Yoon was awarded the Late Spring Unification Award,given to individuals who have contributed to national reconciliation and reunification. [4] The same year,she was named a co-winner of Hanshin University's Hanshin Prize,given to individuals for their outstanding contributions to society. [10]
There have been a number of significant disputes between various Koreanic and Japonic states. The two regions have a long history of relations as immediate neighbors that has been marked with conflict. One of the most significant issues is the Japanese colonization of Korea that began with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 and ended with the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II.
Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu,a euphemism that literally means "comforting,consoling woman". During World War II,Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Australia,Burma,China,the Netherlands,the Philippines,Japan,Korea,Indonesia,East Timor,New Guinea and other countries into sexual enslavement for Japanese troops;however,the majority of the women were from Korea. Many women died due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war,Japan denied the existence of comfort women,refusing to provide an apology or appropriate restitution,which damaged Japan's reputation in Asia for decades. Only in the 1990s did the Japanese government begin to officially apologize and offer compensation. However,apologies from Japanese officials have been criticized as insincere,and Japanese government officials have continued to deny the existence of comfort women.
Lee Seung-yeon is a South Korean actress,television host and beauty pageant titleholder.
Oh Yoon-ah is a South Korean actress and a former racing model.
Wednesday demonstration,officially named Wednesday Demonstration demanding Japan to redress the Comfort Women problems,is a weekly protest in South Korea which aims at obtaining justice from the Japanese government regarding the large scale sexual slavery system established under Imperial Japan rule during World War II. The weekly protest is held in the presence of surviving comfort women on every Wednesday at noon in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul.
Japan–South Korea relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. As the Sea of Japan and the Korea Strait geographically separate the two nations,political interactions date back from the 6th century when the kingdom of Baekje officially established relations with the Yamato Kingship of Japan. During the ancient era,the southern region of the Korean Peninsula often served as the closest port for economic trade and cultural exchange between the Japanese archipelago and mainland Asia. Such relations would continue by the late 19th century when both Japan and Korea undergo modernization from Western powers up until 1910,when Korea became a colony of Japan.
Inspiring Generation is a 2014 South Korean television series starring Kim Hyun-joong,Im Soo-hyang and Jin Se-yeon. It aired on KBS2 from January 15 to April 3,2014 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 24 episodes.
The Democratic Party,formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy,is a centrist-liberal South Korean political party. The DPK and its rival,the People Power Party (PPP),form the two major political parties of South Korea.
Namoo Actors Co. Ltd. (Korean: 나무엑터스),founded in 2004,is a talent management agency based in Seoul,South Korea. The founder and president of the company is Kim Jong-do.
Lee Yong-soo is a former comfort woman from South Korea. Lee was forced to serve as a comfort woman during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Army. She is one of the youngest comfort women still living.
The House of Sharing is a nursing home for living comfort women in Seoul,South Korea. The House of Sharing was founded in June 1992 through funds raised by Buddhist organizations and various socio-civic groups. The original location was a dilapidated,more traditional Korean-style rental house in Hyehwa-dong in Seoul. With continued private funding and a notable donation of private land from prominent Buddhist businesswoman Cho Yong-ja,a spacious,modern compound was completed in December 1995. The 'comfort women' were relocated to the new building located in Gwangju,Gyeonggi,on the outskirts of Seoul,in February 1996. The House of Sharing includes “The Museum of Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military”to spread the truth about the Japanese military's brutal abuse of comfort women and to educate descendants and the public.
The Statue of Peace,often shortened to Sonyeosang in Korean or Shōjo-zō in Japanese and sometimes called the Comfort Woman Statue,is a symbol of the victims of sexual slavery,known euphemistically as comfort women,by the Japanese military during World War II,specifically,the period from the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War until the end of the Pacific War. The Statue of Peace was first erected in Seoul to urge the Japanese government to apologize to and honour the victims. However,it has since become a site of representational battles among different parties.
The Apology is a 2016 documentary film by Tiffany Hsiung about three former “comfort women”who were among the 200,000 girls and young women kidnapped and forced into military sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The film is produced by Anita Lee for the National Film Board of Canada.
Lee Nak-yon,also known as Lee Nak-yeon,is a South Korean politician who served as the 45th prime minister of South Korea from 2017 to 2020. A member of the New Reform Party,he is the longest-serving prime minister since the Constitution of South Korea was last revised in 1987. Lee previously held the governorship of South Jeolla Province province from 2014 to 2017,a stronghold of his party. Before serving as governor,he worked as a journalist for over 20 years and served as a member of the National Assembly for four terms.
Wednesday 3:30 PM is a South Korean mini television series starring Lee Hong-bin,Jin Ki-joo,Ahn Bo-hyun and Cha Jung-won. The drama first aired on Oksusu,a mobile app,on May 31,2017. It first aired on Oksusu,then aired on SBS Plus every Wednesday at 15:30 (KST) starting from June 7,2017.
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan is a Korean non-governmental organization advocating the rights of the surviving comfort women and lobbying the Japanese government to take actions of a full apology and compensation.
Kim Bok-dong was a human rights activist that campaigned against sexual slavery and war rape. She was a young woman who was put into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army;a military that recruited girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years of age from colonized and occupied countries from the 1930s until the end of World War II. From age 14,she was put into comfort stations for eight years across different countries in Asia. Her experiences led her to become an activist;advocating the end of war-time sexual violence,anti-imperialism,workers' rights,and inter-Korean reconciliation. Along with the other "comfort women",she made the three-fold demand from the Japanese government:a formal state-level apology,reparations,and correction of Japanese history. In addition,Kim Bok-dong herself also supported other "comfort women" to step forward,and was a spokesperson in the "comfort women" movement. Kim Bok-dong died in Seoul,South Korea,in a hospital on January 28,2019.
Kim Soon-duk (1921–2004),also known as Kim Tŏk-chin,was a Korean comfort woman who became one of the best-known survivors due to her vivid paintings that depicted life as 'comfort women.' She participated in movements against sex slavery including the Wednesday Demonstration. She also travelled abroad to attend exhibits that displayed her paintings,participated in international speaking tours,and testified about her experiences.
Innocent Witness is a 2019 South Korean legal drama film directed by Lee Han,starring Jung Woo-sung and Kim Hyang-gi. The film was released in South Korea on February 13,2019.
The following lists events in the year 2023 in South Korea.
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