"Most Yakuza in Japan Are Korean"... Another Ramseyer Paper Found

2018 Paper... "Most Men in Criminal Organizations Are Actually Burakumin or Koreans"
Credibility Controversy Over Quoting an Unverified Blogger Post

Professor Mark Ramseyer of Harvard University, known for his controversial remarks on 'comfort women'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-ju] It was confirmed on the 4th that Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard Law School in the United States who has caused public outrage by claiming that Japanese military comfort women were prostitutes, also previously claimed that many members of the Japanese Yakuza are Korean.

In February 2018, Professor Ramseyer, along with Indiana University’s Professor Eric B. Rasmussen, made this claim in a paper titled "Japan’s Politics of Social Exclusion and Organized Crime: The Effects of Ending Ethnic Subsidies," published in the academic journal Empirical Legal Studies.

The paper analyzed the impact of the large-scale Burakumin subsidy program initiated by Japan in 1969 under the "Special Measures Law for Assimilation Policy Projects," which ended in 2002.

The Burakumin were the lowest social class in premodern Japan, and discrimination against them still remains in modern Japan.

In the paper, Professors Ramseyer and Rasmussen quoted the statement of Nobuhiko Kadooka, a journalist from the Burakumin community, saying, "While the majority of the minority group earn an honest living, many male members of criminal organizations are actually Burakumin or Korean."

They further claimed, "A senior member of the Kudo-kai, one of the major Yakuza organizations in Fukuoka, stated in a documentary that 70% of the members are Burakumin or Korean."

They also cited another Burakumin journalist’s statement that 90% of gangsters are 'minorities,' clarifying that these minorities refer to Burakumin and Koreans.

However, the source of the claim that 70% of the Yakuza members are Burakumin or Korean?a statement by a senior Yakuza member?was revealed to be a blogger’s post based on watching a documentary featuring that member, raising questions about its credibility.

Meanwhile, Professor Rasmussen, co-author of the paper, is reportedly under investigation by university authorities after posting hateful tweets including sexist remarks such as "Geniuses are overwhelmingly male," "Sexual minorities should not be admitted to universities," and "Black people are inferior to white students."