Ryu Seok-chun's "Comfort Women Prostitution" Remarks: "South Korea Still Medieval Europe"...Prosecutors Seek Prison Sentence

Prosecution Seeks 1 Year 6 Months Imprisonment
Former Professor Ryu: "Prosecution's Unreasonable Indictment... Suffering Extreme Pain"
"Punishing for Different Academic Views Is Tyranny"

On the 23rd, the prosecution requested a prison sentence for Ryu Seok-chun, former professor of sociology at Yonsei University, who was indicted for referring to the Japanese military comfort women as "a form of prostitution" during a university lecture.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] The prosecution has requested a prison sentence for former Yonsei University sociology professor Ryu Seok-chun, who was indicted for referring to the Japanese military comfort women as "a form of prostitution" during a university lecture.

Judge Jeong Geum-young of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 4 held a trial session at 11:30 a.m. on the 23rd for former professor Ryu, who was charged with defamation.

On this day, the prosecution stated, "Academic freedom must be protected, but it cannot infringe upon the dignity of others," and requested the court to sentence former professor Ryu to 1 year and 6 months in prison, saying, "He made distorted statements that caused great pain to the victims."

In his final statement, former professor Ryu claimed innocence. He said, "Hearing the prosecution's demand that a professor's remarks made during a university debate should be punished with imprisonment made me wonder if South Korea is still an absurd country like medieval Europe."

He also said that the prosecution filed an excessive indictment by riding the wave of public opinion. Former professor Ryu claimed, "The prosecution, which should represent the public interest, criminally indicted me by joining the Moon Jae-in administration's domestic political anti-Japan campaign 'No Japan' after the problematic incident was reported in the media."

According to the prosecution, former professor Ryu is accused of defaming the honor of comfort women victims by stating during a Development Sociology lecture, a major course in the Yonsei University sociology department, on September 19, 2019, that "the Japanese military comfort women victims voluntarily applied to engage in prostitution." He is also accused of defaming members of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop) by stating that the council educated the comfort women grandmothers to testify as if they had been forcibly mobilized.