Ministry of Foreign Affairs Decides to Appeal Ruling on Yoon Mee-hyang's 'Record Disclosure' Related to Comfort Women Agreement

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to appeal a first-instance court ruling that ordered the disclosure of meeting records with Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and then-standing representative of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (hereafter Jeongdae-hyeop), during the 2015 comfort women agreement process with the Japanese government.

Choi Young-sam, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing on the 2nd, "After reviewing the first-instance ruling, we determined that it contains information that should be withheld under the Information Disclosure Act," explaining the decision.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to submit the appeal to the court by the deadline on the 3rd.

Previously, on the 10th of last month, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 11 ruled that four out of five pieces of information requested for disclosure by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea (Hanbyun), which had been denied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, must be disclosed. The disclosed documents include the "Jeongdae-hyeop Representative Meeting Results (Issue of Japanese Military Comfort Women)" and the "Meeting Results with Yoon Mi-hyang, Jeongdae-hyeop Representative," among others.