Controversy Since July Last Year Over the Publication of 'Anti-Japanese Tribalism'
Claims of Colonial Modernization Theory... Debate with Cho Kuk, Then Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House
Also Claims "Comfort Women Were a Legal Industry Form Under the Public Prostitution System at the Time"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Lee Youngeun, the wife of former Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Boo-kyum, who is running for the Democratic Party leadership, has expressed that her husband is suffering because of her older brother, former Seoul National University Professor Emeritus Lee Younghoon, drawing attention to the professor.
Professor Lee is well-known as a co-author of the book "Anti-Japan Tribalism," which advocates the theory of colonial modernization. After publishing the book, he engaged in debates with figures such as former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk.
In "Anti-Japan Tribalism," published in July last year, he argued that Japan's colonial policy in Korea introduced a modern land ownership system, which ultimately had a positive impact on the modernization of the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, in subsequent works after the book's release, he controversially claimed that "the Japanese military did not forcibly abduct comfort women."
On May 11, at a publication meeting for "The Struggle Against Anti-Japan Tribalism" held at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Professor Lee stated, "The book criticizes the conventional theory that the Japanese military forcibly abducted innocent Korean maidens under the power and tacit approval of the Governor-General's office," adding, "While today’s common understanding is that it was kidnapping and abduction, at that time it was a legally sustained industrial system called the licensed prostitution system, which was underpinned by a long history of sexual exploitation and domination of weak women by men and pimps."
Former Minister Cho publicly criticized "Anti-Japan Tribalism" on August 5 last year while serving as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, leading to a heated exchange between the two.
In a Facebook post at the time, Cho strongly criticized, saying, "I do not know what else to call scholars who publicly raise such claims and some politicians and journalists who sympathize with them other than 'collaborators and pro-Japanese traitors.'"
In response, Professor Lee refuted on a video uploaded to the YouTube channel "Rhee Syngman TV," stating, "I was born in 1951 and have no connection whatsoever to the history of pro-Japanese collaborators," calling it "defamation."
Meanwhile, on the 4th, Lee’s younger sister posted a lengthy message on former lawmaker Kim’s Facebook, saying, "I heard that there are bad rumors about Kim Boo-kyum because of Professor Lee Younghoon," and appealed, "Please look at the path Kim Boo-kyum has walked and understand widely."
Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon also wrote on his Facebook the same day, "It seems that supporters of other candidates are launching negative attacks on candidate Kim Boo-kyum over this issue (that Lee Youngeun is Professor Lee’s sister)," and pointed out, "This is not the Joseon era when three generations were exterminated, so what exactly are they trying to do by reviving the guilt-by-association system from the Third and Fifth Republics in the 21st century?"
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