[Reporter’s Notebook] Should Hate Speech Against Comfort Women Also Be Tolerated as "Freedom of Expression"?

Yonhap News Agency

"Comfort women are not victims of wartime sexual violence," "The Statue of Peace, a symbol of lies and hatred, must be removed immediately." These are the slogans pushed to the forefront by a conservative group that has been holding rallies since early this year insulting victims of the Japanese military sexual slavery system and the Statue of Peace that symbolizes them. In response, President Lee Jaemyung criticized them, saying, "Freedom of expression also has limits," and "Just as I have my own freedom, others have theirs as well, and in a community where we live together there are order, morality, and laws." This can be interpreted as underscoring the importance of the constitutional value of the right to pursue happiness. The idea is that possessing dignity and worth as a human being and having the right to pursue happiness must be protected on an equal footing with freedom of expression.

Bolstered by President Lee's strong criticism, a bill prohibiting defamation and the dissemination of false information targeting the comfort women victims passed the National Assembly Gender Equality and Family Committee on February 5, 2026. However, after negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, the content of the bill ended up being only a half measure. While it bans defamation, the penalty provisions were removed, and an exception clause was added regarding the dissemination of false information. Even if false information is spread, it will not be punished if it is for artistic, academic, research, or journalistic purposes, or for a similar purpose. The wording of the exception clause for punishment of false-information dissemination in the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement was copied and pasted without changing even a single particle, in the name of maintaining mechanical neutrality. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family explained, "We took into account harmony with constitutional fundamental rights by excluding legitimate freedom of expression from punishment." In a situation where the number of surviving comfort women victims is steadily declining, a provision to punish acts of damaging the Statue of Peace that symbolizes them was also dropped during the deliberation process.

There is concern that even after the amended law takes effect, hateful and insulting expressions that incite hatred against the comfort women victims or violate their human rights will continue to be repeated under the banner of freedom of expression. What is most worrisome is that a clear case of wartime victimization and a women's human rights issue sits at the very center of an ideological political dispute. Correcting a distorted view of history is a shared task that transcends both conservatives and progressives.

The government and the ruling party must not commit the folly of interpreting freedom of expression to suit their own political calculations. The government is pushing to revise the law by deleting the exception clause that excluded party banners from the scope of permit, notification, and regulation requirements. It is effectively seeking to repeal a law, enacted in 2022 under the leadership of the Democratic Party, that was meant to guarantee freedom of political expression and party activities. Yoon Hochung, Minister of the Interior and Safety, has been making a concerted effort to get this bill passed, including meeting with Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party. The value of freedom of expression appears to be buried under political gains and losses and treated as if it were a bargaining chip between the ruling and opposition parties. Clear principles and standards are needed to restrict freedom of expression when words and actions involving hatred and discrimination seriously undermine human dignity and destroy social order.