Yoon Meehyang, Likely to Receive Special Pardon, Claims Innocence Over Guilty Verdict: "Those Who Insult Me Are Truly Pitiful"

"The prosecution is attacking me again today"
"I will steadfastly continue to do what I must"

Yoon Meehyang, former lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is reportedly included in this year's Liberation Day special pardon list, expressed her frustration regarding the Supreme Court's guilty verdict on August 8, stating, "I will steadfastly continue to do what I must."

On her Facebook page that day, Yoon said, "Legally, the Korea Council for Justice and Remembrance (Jeonguiyeon) was the heir to Kim Bokdong. In other words, Jeonguiyeon should have received everything, but the issue is that it was donated elsewhere. With this unreasonable verdict, the not-guilty ruling of the first trial was overturned to guilty in the second trial."

Previously, in November of last year, the Supreme Court found Yoon guilty of collecting 129.67 million won in condolence money for the late Kim Bokdong, a victim of the comfort women system, into her personal account and using it for other purposes.

Yoon argued that the condolence money for Kim was the legitimate inheritance of Jeonguiyeon and that, although it was used as a donation, the appellate court found her guilty. She stated that the Supreme Court upheld the appellate court's guilty verdict.

Yoon also expressed her frustration regarding the charge of embezzling government subsidies from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. She said, "After ten years of investigation, the prosecution indicted me for embezzling 100 million won," and added, "The court copied the prosecution's indictment in its verdict, and the prosecution went so far that I wondered why they were doing this."

She continued, "The prosecution gathered up strange things to indict me after all the allegations reported en masse by the media were found to be groundless or resulted in non-prosecution," adding, "Even today, they are attacking me." Yoon added, "Those who insult me are truly pitiful," and emphasized, "I will not waver even a bit on the path I must walk in the future."

It has been reported that the Ministry of Justice's Pardon Review Committee included Yoon in the list of candidates recommended to President Lee Jaemyung for a pardon. In November of last year, the Supreme Court finalized the appellate court's sentence of one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for Yoon, who had been indicted for fraud and violations of the Subsidy Act.