Donors filed a lawsuit seeking the return of comfort woman donations from the civic group Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance (Jeonguiyeon) and former lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang, but the court dismissed the case. It has been about 5 years and 8 months since the suit was filed.
According to legal sources on the 28th, Presiding Judge Joo Han-gil of the Seoul Western District Court's Civil Division 36 dismissed donors' claims in a suit seeking the return of donations against Jeonguiyeon, its predecessor the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, and former lawmaker Yoon, who served as Jeonguiyeon's chair. The court ordered each party to bear its own expense.
Two donors filed suit in Sept. 2020 seeking the return of 1.2 million won they had donated to support comfort woman survivors. The civil trial was halted in consideration of the progress of Yoon's criminal case on charges including embezzling donations while serving as Jeonguiyeon chair, and resumed after the Supreme Court in Nov. 2024 finalized a sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison, suspended for 3 years.
In January this year, the court recommended a settlement effectively ordering the former Korean Council and former lawmaker Yoon to return the donations, but the case continued after Yoon appealed.
The court also dismissed on the same day a separate suit filed by three donors seeking the return of 3.65 million won in donations from House of Sharing, a facility supporting comfort woman survivors.