Former Comfort Woman Lee Yong-soo makes brave criticism

Former Comfort Woman Lee Yong-soo makes brave criticism "I was used by the comfort women organization. I won't even attend the Wednesday rallies"

Lee Yong-soo (92 years old), a former Japanese Military comfort woman, held a press conference on May 7th at a cafe in Daegu. She asserted that the organizations related to the comfort women issue are not operated well at all, and that the "Wednesday rallies need to be abolished".

The Wednesday rallies are a gathering that take place every Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Korea. It is lead by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

Ms. Lee specifically pointed to the fact that the money raised for the organization, including through the donations raised during the Wednesday rallies, is not being used for the actual victims themselves, and raised questions regarding the organization's accountability.

"There's no way to tell what the donations by students are being used for," Ms. Lee said. "There's no knowing how much money came in, but what could be said for certain is that if donations and funds do come in, they should be used for the victims, and that has never happened."

"Starting next week, I will no longer attend the Wednesday rallies," continued Ms. Lee. "The rallies are an undue burden on students, taking away what little money they had to start with, and doesn't provide any meaningful education."

Regarding the book that summarizes the case studies of the comfort women's experiences, Ms. Lee said, "It is being published without any real review of the content."

"The comfort women issue needs to be solved by Ms. Yoon Mee-hyang, who was the leader of the Korean Council," Ms. Lee said, about Ms. Yoon who won the 21st election as a proportional representative from the Citizen’s Party of Korea. "Ms. Yoon cannot be a part of the National Assembly. She must first solve this problem."

Regarding Yoon Mee-hyang’s story that Ms. Lee supports Yoon and spoke with her recently, Ms. Lee says the story is "entirely fabricated by Ms. Yoon".

Repeating her previous sentiments, Ms. Lee continued. "I won't work with any other organization moving forward. I won't be attending the Wednesday rallies."