South Korea court convicts 'comfort women' activist of embezzling donations

FILE PHOTO: A statue symbolising former South Korean 'comfort women' is seen during an anti-Japan rally on the day of the 98th anniversary of the Independence Movement Day in Seoul, South Korea, March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court on Friday convicted a lawmaker who led an activist group for victims of Japanese wartime sexual exploitation of embezzling group funds and fined her nearly $12,000, while clearing her of other charges.

Yoon Mee-hyang was indicted in 2020 on several charges of fraud and embezzlement during her days as head of the group, which advocates for surviving "comfort women" - a Japanese euphemism for those forced to work in its wartime brothels during its 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula.