(LEAD) Former activist for wartime sex slavery victims to hold press conference over allegations

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SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- Lawmaker-elect Yoon Mee-hyang, a longtime activist for wartime sexual slavery victims, is set to hold a press conference this week to clarify her position over allegations of financial misdeeds involving her and her civic group.

"Lawmaker-elect Yoon has decided to hold a press conference on Friday ... (She) will deliberate on the schedule and venue and let the party know," an official of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) said Thursday.

A key party official, meanwhile, told Yonhap News Agency that Yoon is likely to clarify her position over the allegations rather than addressing any plans in relation to her parliamentary seat.

Yoon, former head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, was elected in the April 16 general elections.

The controversy surfaced after Lee Yong-soo, a 92-year-old victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, accused Yoon and her organization of accounting malpractices and other wrongdoings in a May 7 press conference.

Friday's scheduled press conference would mark Yoon's first appearance in more than a week. She has remained out of the public eye, not showing up for a plenary meeting of DP lawmakers-elect on Wednesday.

It also comes just one day before the new parliamentary term begins on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the wartime sexual slavery issue was briefly discussed during a meeting between President Moon Jae-in and party floor leaders earlier in the day, the presidential office said.

At the meeting, Moon mentioned an agreement which the two countries signed in December 2015 to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue that has long remained a thorn in their relations. Moon later scrapped the deal signed by the previous Park Geun-hye administration.

"There was anticipation that the issue would be resolved, but it did not because the victims could not accept (the agreement)," Moon said, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok.

The deal included Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's indirect apology and Tokyo's 1 billion-yen (US$9.3 million) donation to a foundation dedicated to supporting surviving victims. But it came under fire here for not securing Japan's legal responsibility and leaving out the victims in reaching the deal.

Moon said resolving the issue would be a "task" going forward, Kang said, while stressing that the president did not directly address the controversy over Yoon during the meeting.
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