'Partial Guilty Verdict for Embezzlement in First Trial' Yoon Mi-hyang Appeal Trial Sentencing Scheduled for September 20

The second trial result for Yoon Mi-hyang, an independent lawmaker indicted on charges including the private embezzlement of donations from the Justice Memory Solidarity (Jeong-ui-yeon), will be announced on September 20.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 1-3 (Presiding Judges Seo Kyung-hwan, Han Chang-hoon, Kim Woo-jin) stated on the 24th during Yoon's appeal trial that "the sentencing date has been tentatively set considering the Chuseok holiday."

Yoon was indicted without detention in September 2020 on charges including embezzlement of 103.5 million KRW, which she arbitrarily used from the corporate and personal accounts of Jeongdae-hyeop (Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, the predecessor of Jeong-ui-yeon) between 2011 and 2020.

The first trial court, after 2 years and 5 months of proceedings, recognized only the embezzlement of 17.18 million KRW as guilty and sentenced her to a fine of 15 million KRW.

The prosecution also indicted Yoon on charges of collecting more than 10 million KRW from unspecified individuals without registration with the competent authority and coercing the late Gil Won-ok grandmother, who had mental and physical disabilities, to donate 50 million KRW out of the 100 million KRW Women’s Human Rights Award prize money, but she was acquitted.

At the trial that day, Yoon’s defense attorney denied all charges, stating, "She devoted her life to Jeongdae-hyeop and had no motive for embezzlement, as she donated any additional income," and added, "The first trial judged embezzlement guilty only based on suspicious circumstances."

The prosecution rebutted by presenting account usage details at the time, saying, "The defendant collected donations for a long period without any control, spent funds in an advance payment and reimbursement manner, and also used them for personal purposes," and argued, "Jeongdae-hyeop’s structure was vulnerable to embezzlement crimes by the executive director Yoon Mi-hyang, and the original trial clearly misinterpreted the facts."