Park Yuha: Controversy Over Harvard Professor's Claim "Comfort Women = Prostitutes" Not Historically Inaccurate

Professor Park Yuha, Sejong University

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Professor Park Yoo-ha of the School of International Studies at Sejong University has sparked controversy by stating that John Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard University who claimed that "Japanese military comfort women were prostitutes," said, "If we only look at the reports, his claim may not be significantly wrong in terms of historical details. Both the prostitute and sex slave discourses have problems."

On the 2nd, Professor Park posted on her Facebook, "I have not yet read the Harvard professor's article claiming comfort women were 'prostitutes,' so I cannot speak precisely," adding, "If we only look at the reports, his claim may not be significantly wrong in terms of historical details."

She continued, "However, that does not mean there is no problem with the claim 'comfort women = prostitutes,'" and said, "Why did the Japanese military comfort the comfort women? Of course, there is no law that forbids comforting slaves who were forcibly brought and made to do forced labor."

A part of the post by Professor Park Yuha of the Department of International Studies at Sejong University. Photo by Professor Park Yuha of the Department of International Studies at Sejong University, Facebook capture.

Professor Park attached a photo of a memorial altar for comfort women and explained, "What this memorial altar signifies is that the relationship between comfort women and the military was not one-sidedly oppressive," adding, "A similar story appears in , which I once borrowed on DVD and screened at a gathering."

She also said, "The reason they collected and comforted the remains of comfort women was because the comfort women were like 'quasi-military personnel,'" and added, "Of course, receiving comfort does not mean they were not victims. It is true that they were mobilized like conscription or forced labor, but compared to male victims, female victims were mobilized outside the framework of 'law,' which was a form of coercion (sometimes functioning as a safety net when they died or were injured)."

Finally, Professor Park said, "In that sense, both the prostitute and sex slave discourses have problems," and added, "For 30 years, we have been swayed by the extreme claims on both sides, but now it is time to move beyond that confrontation."

She further stated, "Scholars who have spread, disseminated, and established the 'sex slave' theory will probably be embarrassed and will again resort to condemnation and criticism rather than debate, but what must be remembered is that it was they themselves who caused even American scholars to enter this fight."

John Mark Ramseyer, Professor at Harvard Law School. Photo by Harvard Law School 공개 동영상 캡쳐

Earlier, on the 1st, Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported that John Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard Law School, planned to publish a paper in an academic journal defining Japanese military comfort women victims as 'prostitutes.'

In his paper, Professor Ramseyer argued that both Korean and Japanese comfort women were officially recognized prostitutes and were not 'sex slaves' who were kidnapped and forced into prostitution by Japan.

He also claimed that the problem lay with recruiters in Korea who deceived women into working in prostitution facilities over decades, and that neither the Japanese government nor the Governor-General of Korea forced women into prostitution, nor did the Japanese military cooperate with corrupt recruiters, sparking controversy.