1987년 검찰수사 후 닫힌 형제복지원./경향신문 자료사진

"One of the things I worked hardest on in the 19th National Assembly was to find out the truth about the sibling support case. Why were the victims of fraternity houses taken to fraternity houses? They were suspected of being vagrants and were locked up because they were suspected of disrupting the social order. But they were just children playing in front of their homes or people from the countryside who came to the city and got lost."

The people who were taken in because they were suspected of being vagrants are still in the status of 'victims' because it is 'expensive'. Over the past three years, survivors and the office of Representative Jin Sun-mi (Democratic Party of Korea) have been engaged in various activities such as publicizing the truth through newspapers and broadcasting, proposing the Truth and Reconciliation Act, submitting data to the National Archives, fasting, shaving ceremonies, debates, painting exhibitions, interviews with foreign media, and press conferences, but it is expected that the 'Truth and Reconciliation Act' will be passed to the 20th National Assembly.

The Act, which was introduced twice in March and July 2014, has yet to cross the threshold of the standing committee. The Safety and Administration Subcommittee, a standing committee of the 19th National Assembly, has 11 days until the end of the session on March 29 to pass the 'Truth and Support for Victims of Fraternal Welfare Support Incidents'. Only if the bill is passed on that day will it have a chance to be considered by the full 19th session. With the bill having failed to move beyond the standing committee for the past two years and no ruling or opposition consensus to pass it, it is unlikely to make it to the plenary session, and even if it does, the administration is strongly opposed. An official from Rep. Jin Sun-mi's office told The Korea Times on June 6, "There is a meeting on the 11th, so there is still a chance. It's hard to say for sure yet. "Even if it doesn't pass, we will reintroduce the bill in the 20th National Assembly to push for the truth," she said.

The issue of the truth about the abuse of the Korean War is unlikely to be resolved in the 19th National Assembly, but it is showing signs of becoming an "international issue. The Associated Press reported in detail on the case of sibling support on March 19, titled "S. Korea covered up mass abuse, killings of vagrants." The Associated Press reported in an article titled "S. Korea covered up mass abuse, killings of vagrants. The Associated Press detailed the illegalities that occurred during the admission process and human rights abuses within the welfare centers, including the case of Choi Seung-woo, who was forcibly admitted to a welfare center as a second grader in Kaesong Middle School in Busan, South Korea, where he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by police while returning home late at night. Using documents from the city of Busan, the report found that the welfare center forced students into forced labor and failed to pay them $1.7 million (about 1.95 billion won) in wages.

The Associated Press noted, among other things, that the country has failed to address the human rights disasters that occurred under the authoritarian government. "A systematic cover-up at the highest levels of government has ensured that no one has been held accountable for sexual assaults and murders at the Brothers' Home. The current government has also blocked opposition calls for an investigation, saying the evidence is too old. Thousands of victims have yet to receive an apology, let alone compensation." "The victims of the sibling welfare cases should have submitted documents related to their cases to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sibling Welfare Cases, which was established in the mid-2000s," Stable Tae, head of the Social Integration Support Division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, told The Associated Press, adding, "It is not advisable to enact a separate law for each case as there were so many cases after the Korean War."

Yeo Jun-min, secretary-general of the Task Force, said, "Many of the survivors were young at the time of the incidents, and they were scattered after the facilities were closed, making it difficult for them to testify about the damage they suffered. The idea of the bill is for the state to take the lead in collecting evidence and establishing the truth, but they say it is difficult due to the lack of evidence." Following the Associated Press' detailed report, France's Le Monde, Britain's Daily Mail, and Germany's Tagesschriftung also reported on the fraternization case. CNN and a Spanish broadcaster also interviewed survivors of the fraternization earlier this month. In an interview with TBS Traffic Broadcasting on the 28th of the same month after the Associated Press report, Representative Jin said, "It's known all over the world, and people are saying it's a huge shock. They are expressing their surprise at how such an incident has not been investigated yet."

"Korea is becoming an increasingly advanced country, and we are raising questions about human rights atrocities in many countries, but it is too low in conviction and national dignity."

The Truth and Reconciliation Act was introduced in March and July 2014. On March 25 of that year, the National Assembly assigned the Health and Welfare Committee to oversee the bill, which was introduced by 54 opposition lawmakers, including Representative Jin Sun-mi. Survivors and human rights organizations reacted against the bill, saying that if it was handled by the Welfare Committee, the investigation would be limited to "facility irregularities" under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and that it would be difficult to investigate the ward and police officials who turned a blind eye to Park's illegal activities and even participated in the kidnapping for money. Representative Jin Sun-mi's office also said that the Ministry of the Interior, which is today's equivalent of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government, should be held accountable as it is responsible for the problem.

Testimony Conference of Survivors of the Brothers' Welfare Center at the National Assembly in August 2014. / Reporter Park Min-gyu

According to a 1987 survey by the New Democratic Party of Korea, 3,755 of the 3,948 inmates of the Brothers' Welfare Center in 1985 were taken by the police and 193 by the district office. In 1987, when Park In-geun, the director of the Brothers' Welfare Center, was detained, the mayor of Busan personally called Kim Yong-won, the investigating prosecutor, and told him, "You must release Park In-geun." The ties between the welfare foundation, the city of Busan, the district office, and the police are an essential part of the investigation. On July 18, the bill to investigate the sibling welfare support was reintroduced and assigned to the Committee on Safety and Security.

The administration has consistently expressed its opposition. The administration has consistently opposed the bill, saying it would be costly to investigate alleged corruption links between the Busan political and business circles and the Park family 30 years ago, and that it would raise issues of equity with other similar cases. The lawmakers' office tried to reach an agreement, but the discussions went back to square one when the minister and other key officials changed. Survivors of the sibling support program held a shaved head protest in May last year and a hunger strike in November to demand the bill's passage, but it was not an issue. They also organized an exhibition of paintings by Han Jong-sun denouncing the horrors of the Brotherhood at the Liberation Village in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, but the National Assembly remained unmoved. "There was a constant blockage at the Ministry of Safety and Security (now the Ministry of Administration) when the issue was being discussed," Jin said in an interview with TBS traffic broadcasting on March 28. "Initially, the minister at the time of Yoo Jung-bok was active, but with four ministerial changes, they are going back to the drawing board." The ruling Saenuri Party continued to delay the review, claiming that there was no inter-ministerial consultation. A transcript of a Nov. 27, 2015, meeting of the Safety and Security Administration Subcommittee shows Minister of Public Administration and Security Chung Jong-seop saying, "We will discuss it as much as possible."

An official from the Democratic Party of Korea said, "The sibling support case was a hot topic of public interest right after it was aired on the program, but it's not easy to follow up on it. Not many politicians are interested because it's in the past. There is also strong opposition in the ministries. This is an issue that will be resolved only if there is a strong will at the government level." "If the first-term lawmakers in Busan are more interested, it might be easier in the 20th National Assembly," the official said.

The basis for housing vagrants at the Brotherhood was the Ministry of the Interior (now the Ministry of the Interior and Self-Government) Decree No. 410, promulgated in 1975, and a business agreement with Busan in 1971. Decree 410 of the Ministry of the Interior (now the Ministry of Public Administration and Self-Government), issued in 1975, broadly defined the urban poor as vagrants, including prostitutes and gum sellers, and allowed ward and police officials to forcibly place them in institutions without their consent. These measures became more vigorously enforced in the 1980s during Chun Doo-hwan's regime. The purpose was to keep the vagrants in one place to reduce the city's crime rate and make it appear cleaner to foreigners ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The Brotherhood Boksuwon investigation began in early December 1986 when Kim Yong-won, then a prosecutor at the Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office in Busan (now a lawyer at Han Byul Law Firm), became suspicious of large-scale ranching work in a pasture in Ulju County. Little by little, allegations emerged that Park In-geun, the director, had illegally detained residents at the construction site and forced them to work, committing serious human rights abuses in the process. There were also allegations of shady dealings with hospitals. According to internal documents, 180 people died between 1985 and 1986. Of these, 55 death certificates were issued by a doctor, Mr. Chung Myung Kuk (deceased). Jung was indicted on charges of issuing false certificates.

The young prosecutor Kim's investigation quickly ran into external pressure. When Kim detained Park on Jan. 17, 1997, he received a phone call from then-Busan Mayor Kim Joo-ho the next day, saying, "You should release him as soon as possible." There was also pressure from within the prosecution. In March 1987, the case of the torture death of Seoul National University student Park Jong-chul broke, and the regime wanted to cover it up as much as possible to avoid stirring up public opinion. Kim's prosecution revealed that more than 3,000 prisoners were imprisoned and used to build ranches and embezzled government subsidies. Charges of ties to Busan city officials and key political figures were untouched. The first court sentenced Park to 10 years in prison and a fine of 681.78 million won, but the Supreme Court did not recognize the illegal confinement, so Park was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for embezzlement only. As the June protests flared up, the "Brothers' Welfare Center" case was paradoxically pushed to the back burner."

The closure of the center in 1988 scattered more than 4,000 students. The issue resurfaced in 2012, when survivor Han Jong-sun, who was 9 years old when she was released from prison, held a one-person protest in front of the National Assembly and published her book, "Surviving Children." The task force, which was formed in 2013, has put the number of known fraternization deaths at 551, according to its own research.