The police have launched an investigation into independent lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang, who was accused of violating the National Security Act and other charges after attending a memorial ceremony for the massacre of Koreans during the Kanto Earthquake, hosted by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).
According to the police on the 7th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency assigned Yoon’s case, in which she was accused of violating the National Security Act, the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, forging and using false official documents, fraud, obstruction of official duties by deception, violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, and abuse of authority, to the Third Division of Security Investigation.
The police plan to summon Lee Jong-bae, a Seoul city council member from the People Power Party, as a complainant for questioning at 10 a.m. the following day. Lee submitted a complaint to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 5th, alleging that Yoon met with Chongryon members without prior notification. Conservative civic groups Momma Budae and the Comfort Women Fraud Eradication Coalition filed a complaint against Yoon through the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office on the 4th. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is expected to take over this case soon and conduct a joint investigation.
Yoon is accused of attending the memorial ceremony for the massacre of Koreans during the Kanto Earthquake held in Tokyo, Japan, on the 1st without prior notification. Chongryon is an organization of Koreans residing in Japan, established in 1955. According to a 1970 Supreme Court precedent in Korea, Chongryon is recognized as an anti-state organization, and prior notification to the Ministry of Unification or other relevant authorities is required to have contact with it.
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