Yoon agrees to extend work of state reconciliation panel by 1 year

SEOUL, President Yoon Suk Yeol has agreed to extend the work of a state reconciliation panel by a year to allow it to look into more cases of human rights abuses during and after Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, the presidential office said Monday. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an independent state investigation panel, has been tasked with uncovering the truth behind the deaths of civilians and the unjust exercise of government authority during Japan's colonial rule, and before and after the 1950-53 Korean War. Under a relevant law, the commission's three-year mandate is set to expire May 26. "The president readily agreed to an extension," Hwang Sang-moo, senior presidential secretary for civil and social agenda, said during a press briefing. Yoon was quoted as saying it was necessary to restore the honor of those who suffered unfairly and sacrificed themselves for the nation for the sake of establishing the state's legitimacy and building national unity toward the future. Of the more than 21,000 cases filed, the commission has so far investigated about 53 percent of them but is expected to complete nearly all of them with the extension, according to a presidential official. An extension can be finalized at a plenary meeting of the panel. Source: Yonhap News Agency