Far-right group leader who claimed "there are no comfort women victims" appears before police..."I will sue President Lee"

[Financial News] Byung-heon Kim, head of the National Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Act, who is accused of insulting survivors of the Japanese military’s comfort women system while calling for the removal of the Statue of Peace, appeared before police and repeated his earlier claim that "comfort women were sex workers who signed contracts with brothel owners."
Speaking to reporters after appearing as a suspect at Seoul Seocho Police Station at around 9:40 a.m. on the 3rd, Kim stated, "I plan to file a civil lawsuit in the future over President Lee Jae-myung’s expressions such as 'brainless defamation of the dead' and 'beast'," reiterating his position.
Kim faces charges including violations of the Assembly and Demonstration Act, the Child Welfare Act, and defamation of the deceased. He is accused of displaying banners reading phrases such as "You put a comfort woman statue on campus and guide students toward prostitution as a career?" in front of the main gates of Seocho High School (Seocho-go) in Seocho District and Muhak Girls’ High School (Muhak-yeogo) in Seongdong District last December without filing the required prior notification with the local police.
Even after police launched a compulsory investigation, Kim continued to file notifications for rallies near Seocho-go and Muhak-yeogo. Each time a rally was banned, he refiled, shortening the planned duration by one second at a time to 1 minute 59 seconds, 1 minute 58 seconds, and so on. In response, President Lee posted a strongly worded message on X (formerly Twitter) titled "A human face but the heart of a beast" criticizing Kim. Before his questioning, Kim also submitted a criminal complaint accusing President Lee of insult.
On this day as well, Kim flatly denied that comfort women survivors had been forcibly taken by the Japanese military, saying, "Those people (the comfort women) were sex workers," and, "There is no such thing as victims of the Japanese military’s comfort women system who were forcibly mobilized by imperial Japan." He added, "There are 240 people registered with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF). If even one of them was taken by force, they should present the evidence."
When asked whether the women knew they would be engaging in prostitution, he replied, "They signed contracts with brothel owners," and argued, "They may have been deceived by recruiters, or their parents may have sold them, but no one was taken away by the Japanese military."
Asked about the responsibility of the Japanese military, Kim answered, "The problem lies with the recruiters, not the Japanese military. From 1910, prostitution was legal in Joseon," thereby attempting to justify the sexual exploitation that took place in the comfort stations. Regarding the Statue of Peace, he claimed it is "a fraudulent tool used by agitators of the comfort women issue" and insisted, "MOGEF and the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (the Korean Council) used vulnerable elderly people to commit fraud."
Kim also said, "Citizens of the Republic of Korea have the freedom of assembly and demonstration, and blocking this restricts their basic rights," adding, "I will continue, by any means, to file notifications for rallies, receive police protection, and exercise my rights."
Police plan to focus their investigation on whether Kim’s unnotified rallies near Seocho-go and Muhak-yeogo, and his display of banners bearing slogans about comfort women, violated relevant laws.
yesji@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Ye-ji Reporter