Yoon Mi-hyang, 1st trial fine of 15 million won
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Rep. Mi-hyang Yoon, fined 15 million won for embezzlement of donations (Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Sang-gyun Han = Rep. Mi-hyang Yoon answers questions from reporters following completing the first trial of the case of “embezzlement of donations by Jeong Eui-yeon” at the Western District Court on the 10th. 2023.2.10 [email protected] (end)
Yoon Mi-hyang, an independent lawmaker who was expelled from the Democratic Party of Korea, was sentenced to a fine of 15 million won in the first trial on the 10th for misappropriating donations from the Justice and Memory Solidarity for personal use. When the court sentenced Rep. Yoon to a fine, the sentence of loss of her seat was avoided.
Rep. Yoon, who was elected as a proportional representative of the Civic Party, a proportional satellite party of the Democratic Party in the last 21st general election, was expelled from the Democratic Party in June 2021. When he was under investigation for suspicion of real estate transactions rather than for harming comfort women victims, the Democratic Party expelled Rep. Yoon through a general meeting of lawmakers. He lost his Democratic Party affiliation, but retained his proportional representative seat.
Ahead of the presidential election, the ruling and opposition parties, conscious of public opinion, promised to expel members of the National Assembly, but it did not happen. In November 2021, a disciplinary bill once morest Rep. Yoon was submitted to the Special Committee on Ethics of the National Assembly for irregularities committed during his tenure at Jeongdaehyup and Jeonguiyeon. The Ethics Review Advisory Committee proposed the expulsion of Rep. Yoon. As it was right before the presidential election, Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil at the time said, “We will expedite the expulsion of Rep. Yoon and others,” but they did not.
Rep. Yoon is an independent, and whenever the Democratic Party is needed, he is virtually working with the Democratic Party as a ‘non-negotiation group’s share’. Rep. Yoon, a member of the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Marine, and Fisheries Committee of the National Assembly, contributed to the resolution of the Agenda Planning Committee and the direct vote at the plenary session in the process of the Democratic Party’s enforcement of the Grain Management Act last month. The Agenda Planning Committee is composed of three members of the Democratic Party, two members of the People’s Power, and one member of the non-opposition group, and the structure is such that Rep. Yoon, who was expelled from the Democratic Party, goes into the non-opposition group and in effect gets four votes from the Democratic Party.
On this day, the power of the people said through a commentary by chief spokesman Yang Geum-hee, “Compared to the damage and emotional scars suffered by the comfort women victims, Congressman Yoon’s sentence is as light as a feather.” Chief Spokesperson Yang pointed out, “Rep. Yoon, who must be punished for his crimes through a speedy judgment, took nearly two years and five months following the indictment until today’s first trial sentence came out, and he maintained his position as a member of parliament.” He continued to worry, “If the trial goes all the way to the Supreme Court, there is a very strong possibility that the remaining 21st members of the National Assembly will finish their terms.” The Democratic Party and the Justice Party did not make official comments on the results of Congressman Yoon’s first trial.
Rep. Yoon told reporters immediately following the sentence, “Most of the prosecution’s unreasonable prosecutions turned out to be innocent. The embezzlement amounting to regarding 17 million won was recognized as guilty, but that part was not embezzled,” he said. “We will fully explain it through the remaining appeal process.”
Reporter Son Ji-eun
