Father with Stomach Cancer Managing Anseong Shelter? ... Flood of Suspicion Despite Yoon Mi-hyang's Facebook Explanation

On the 29th, Yoon Mi-hyang, a member-elect of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is suspected of accounting fraud related to the Justice Memory Solidarity, held a press conference to explain the matter at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who is under suspicion of misappropriating donations during her time with the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeokdae), has repeatedly issued clarifications through social networking services (SNS), but the suspicions have not easily subsided. This time, another controversy arose as Yoon’s biological father, who was the manager of a shelter in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, was revealed through Yoon’s own Facebook records to have undergone cancer surgery at the time.

Yoon’s biological father was employed as the manager of the Jeonguiyeokdae Anseong shelter, which was embroiled in controversy over high-priced purchases and low-priced sales, and received 75.8 million won over six years under the name of management fees and labor costs. In response, Jeonguiyeokdae explained on the 16th through a statement, "We requested building management from Yoon’s father, who had experience managing a church parsonage."

However, it was confirmed that Yoon had disclosed on her Facebook in the past that her father was battling stage 3 stomach cancer. The post was published in October 2015, overlapping with the period when Yoon’s father worked as the shelter manager. This has raised questions about the plausibility of a cancer patient managing a house and living in a container space.

Yoon has been actively clarifying the allegations raised so far through her Facebook daily. On the night of the 1st, regarding the donation account under her personal name, she stated, "On March 8, 2012, grandmothers Kim Bok-dong and Gil Won-ok declared that if the Japanese government legally compensated, the entire compensation would be donated to victims of wartime sexual violence. With that intention, Jeongdaehyeop (the predecessor of Jeonguiyeokdae) announced the creation of the ‘Nabi Fund’ and initially created a temporary Yoon Mi-hyang (Nabi Fund) account to raise funds." She added, "Although it was opened under a personal name, it was an account used exclusively for the Nabi Fund. It is not a ‘mixed-use’ account."

Yoon further explained, "The mixed-use accounts started from 2014 with other fundraising activities, so it is completely different in timing from the apartment purchase in 2012." This means that the Nabi Fund account created in 2012 was not a mixed-use account, while the fundraising activities from 2014 onward involved mixed-use accounts.

Yoon’s Facebook clarifications came within two days. On the 30th of last month, she explained the controversy over the scholarship received by her daughter as "not a scholarship but a concept of pocket money." After the initial suspicions arose, Yoon remained silent except for some media interviews, but held a press conference on the 29th of last month, one day before the start of the 21st National Assembly term, to refute and clarify related suspicions. She has continued to actively clarify through SNS even after the National Assembly convened.