Court “Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Comfort Women Should disclose interview records at the time of agreement”

Input 2021.02.10 17:58

A court ruling was issued for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to disclose the records of interviews with the Democratic Party lawmaker Yun Mi-hyang, who was the standing representative of the Korean Council for Countermeasures against Mental Problems, during the 2015 settlement process for comfort women with the Japanese government.

The 11th administrative division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Deputy Judge Park Hyung-soon) ruled on the 10th that some of the plaintiffs were won in a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a lawsuit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Han Byeon asked for disclosure to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked to disclose most of the rest, except for one of the five cases that were denied.

The judge explained that “the documents determined to be disclosed are the result of an interview between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Representative Chung Dae-hyup, such as the date and time, the location, and the subject of the interview,” and “We have excluded all sensitive matters such as specific diplomatic consultations.”

Last year, Han Byeon requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to disclose information on the ‘2015 interview record with Yun Mi-hyang. The purpose is that the public has the right to know whether Rep. Yoon was aware of the contents of the comfort women agreement and whether Rep. Yun’s opinion was reflected in the agreement.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided that if the information requested by Han Byeon at the time is disclosed, it is the subject of non-disclosure prescribed by the Act on Information Disclosure of Public Institutions, saying that it corresponds to information that is likely to harm the national interest.