Lee Na-young, chair of the Justice and Memory Solidarity (Jeonguiyeon), attended the 1,747th ‘Wednesday Rally for Resolving the Issue of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery’ held on the 8th near the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and delivered a farewell address. She will retire on the 30th, concluding her six-year term.

At the rally site, she gave a weekly report that also served as a farewell address and stated her position on the so-called ‘Jeonguiyeon scandal’ that arose during her term.

She was elected to succeed former chair Yoon Mee-hyang, who resigned in April 2020 to run for the National Assembly as a proportional-representation candidate. Afterwards, allegations were raised that Yoon had misused Jeonguiyeon donations, and she was investigated by prosecutors and indicted. Although there was criticism that the investigation was excessive, in February 2023 Yoon was convicted on some charges. The incident became an opportunity for far-right groups to mount a full-scale attack on the ‘comfort women’ movement.

She said, “Upon taking office, what I faced was truly horrific,” adding, “We had to endure the prosecutors’ ruthless raids and fishing-expedition investigations, the media’s malicious fake news, and a concentrated barrage of society-wide witch hunts in Korea all at once.” She said, “It was not simply an attack on a single civic group, but a full-scale assault aimed at shaking the legitimacy of the movement to resolve the Japanese military sexual slavery issue, damaging the victims’ honor, and breaking civil society’s trust·solidarity.”

She said, “Amid the crisis, I came to realize that Jeonguiyeon is not merely a civic group but the very history accumulated by the courage of surviving victims and the solidarity of civil society at home and abroad,” adding, “Amid the surging waves of fierce attacks, we refined the meaning of the movement, reorganized the organization, expanded solidarity domestically and internationally, and achieved new results.” She concluded, “(In that process) I thank everyone who endured with us, fought with us, and protected us.”

As on the 1st, the Wednesday rally proceeded with the police barricades that had been installed near the ‘Statue of Peace’ removed. Citing concerns about possible damage by far-right groups, police had installed barricades around the statue since 2020. After Kim Byung-heon, head of the Movement to Abolish the Comfort Women Act, was recently detained, Jeonguiyeon pushed for the removal of the barricades near the statue, and the police decided to open the area around the statue temporarily during each Wednesday rally.

The host organization of the day’s rally, ‘Citizens’ Group Independence,’ decorated the statue with purple paper flowers and candles and held the assembly. A representative of the group explained, “(In the purple flowers) we imbued the meaning of not yielding to trials and suffering and not losing dignity.”