The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was criticized during a parliamentary inspection Wednesday for its poor maintenance of websites on the experiences of Korean wartime sex slaves during World War II.
Lawmaker Nam Yoon In-soon pointed out that although 140 million won ($130,000) was spent every year to maintain the websites, most of the statistics, such as the number of surviving victims in South Korea, haven’t been updated since August last year.
While there are currently 50 surviving victims residing in Korea and five living in overseas, the website says there are 52 survivors in the country, the lawmaker said.
A specific Web page that features the history of Japan’s wartime slavery, also run by the ministry, does not have any information or statements released by the U.N. Human Rights Council since 2007, Nam Yoon said.
“The budget for the history Web page was increased from 48 million won from last year to 80 million won this year,” the lawmaker said during the audit session. “It is problematic that the website is poorly managed in spite of the budget increase.”
By Claire Lee (
dyc@heraldcorp.com)
