World Bank Chief Criticizes "Ramseyer Paper" as Advocating Child Prostitution

Professor Mark Ramseyer, Harvard University

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] A professor at Yale University in the United States, who formerly served as the Chief Economist of the World Bank (WB), strongly criticized a paper by Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard Law School, for allegedly endorsing child prostitution.

Penelope Koujianou Goldberg, a professor in the Department of Economics at Yale University, stated in a press release on the 26th (local time), "The discussion surrounding Professor Ramseyer's paper 'Contracts of Sex in the Pacific War' has focused on the accuracy of historical records and the quality of scholarship," but emphasized, "There is a much more serious issue." She criticized, "The passage concerning the 10-year-old 'Osaki' blatantly supports child prostitution."

In the paper, Professor Ramseyer cited testimony from a Japanese girl named 'Osaki' to argue that wartime sex contracts were voluntary and legal. For example, he wrote, "When Osaki turned 10 years old, a comfort station recruiter offered an advance payment of 300 yen," and "Because Osaki knew what the job entailed, the recruiter did not try to deceive her."

However, regarding this, Ramseyer recently confessed to his colleague, Professor Jeok Ji-young, a tenured professor at Harvard Law School, that he had misquoted the case, according to an article by Professor Jeok in the weekly magazine The New Yorker on the same day. Ramseyer admitted to Professor Jeok that there are no contracts written by Korean comfort women victims and that his citation of the 'Osaki' case was a mistake.

Professor Goldberg pointed out that regardless of the factual accuracy of this case, it ethically justifies abhorrent acts such as child rape and human trafficking, which are strictly illegal in civilized societies. Meanwhile, Professor Goldberg served as the Chief Economist of the WB from November 2018 to March 2020.