Ryu Seok-chun 'Comfort Women Prostitution' Remarks Acquitted in First Trial... Jeong Dae-hyeop Defamation Results in Fine

Former Yonsei University professor Ryu Seok-chun's remark during a university lecture that the "Japanese military comfort women" were "a form of prostitution" was deemed difficult to consider as defamation by the court.

Former Yonsei University Professor Ryu Seok-chun. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 24th, Judge Jung Geum-young of the Criminal Division 4 at the Seoul Western District Court ruled on former professor Ryu, who was indicted for defamation by stating false facts about comfort women, saying, "Considering the place and circumstances where the defendant made the statement, it does not specify individual victims but rather refers to a general abstract expression concerning all Korean Japanese military 'comfort women,'" and added, "Based on the evidence submitted, the defendant's statement is not recognized as defamation."

The court stated, "The defendant's remarks seem to imply that the comfort women became such through a form similar to employment fraud, which contradicts common perceptions and is an inappropriate analogy," but added, "The freedom of a professor forms the foundation of academic freedom, so even if the content of a professor's actions deviates from existing customs and order, it should not be recklessly judged as illegal conduct."

However, the court imposed a fine of 2 million won on former professor Ryu for his statement that the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop, currently Justice and Memory) educated comfort women to falsely testify that they were forcibly mobilized to Japan.

The court explained, "The defendant failed to submit objective evidence to support the claim that (Jeongdaehyeop) educated victims to give false testimony regarding forced mobilization."

In 2019, while teaching the major course "Development Sociology" in the Sociology Department at Yonsei University, former professor Ryu made remarks implying that "comfort women grandmothers voluntarily became comfort women to engage in prostitution," and also stated that Jeongdaehyeop educated the comfort women grandmothers to testify as if they had been forcibly mobilized by the Japanese military, leading to a defamation trial.