"Jeong Dae-hyeop's Statement on 'Comfort Women Education' Deemed Guilty"
Former Yonsei University professor Ryu Seok-chun (69), who was indicted for defaming the honor of comfort women victims by describing Japanese military comfort women as "a form of prostitution" during a university lecture, was acquitted again in the appellate court.
Former Yonsei University Professor Ryu Seok-chun speaking after the appellate court ruling [Photo by Yonhap News]
The Criminal Appeals Division 2-3 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judges Lim Ki-hwan, Lee Joo-hyun, Lee Hyun-woo) delivered the same judgment as the first trial on the morning of the 24th in the case against former professor Ryu, who was tried for defamation by false facts.
The court explained, "Although the first trial acknowledged that the defendant's remarks deviated from common sense and the analogy was inappropriate, it considered that these remarks occurred during a Q&A session with students in a university lecture, and were made generally and abstractly about the entire group rather than targeting individual victims. Therefore, it was difficult to regard them as statements of fact, and this judgment is justified."
However, the court found former professor Ryu guilty of defamation for his remarks implying that the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop) educated comfort women grandmothers to testify as if they had been forcibly mobilized by the Japanese military, and imposed a fine of 2 million won, the same as in the first trial. Regarding other charges of defaming executives of Jeongdaehyeop, the court ruled not guilty, consistent with the first trial.
Former professor Ryu was brought to trial on charges of defaming comfort women victims during a Development Sociology lecture in the Department of Sociology at Yonsei University on September 19, 2019.
Earlier, the first trial court acquitted Ryu in January, ruling that his "comfort women prostitution" remarks were protected under the constitutional academic freedom and freedom of professors, and were personal opinions expressed during a discussion. Some remarks about Jeongdaehyeop were found guilty, and a fine of 2 million won was imposed.
After the verdict on this day, former professor Ryu said as he left the courtroom, "Being prosecuted for making statements in a university lecture room that differ from social conventions but align with historical truth shows that the Republic of Korea still lives in a backward society akin to the Middle Ages." He added that he would appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the guilty verdict.
Kang Kyung-ran, Director of Solidarity Movement at the Justice and Memory Foundation, criticized, "The court’s failure to impose any restraint on such anti-human rights and anti-historical remarks made under the name of academic freedom and freedom of professors is a ruling that condones these anti-human rights and anti-history views."
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