Yonsei University Suspends Professor Ryu Seok-chun's Lectures Over 'Japanese Comfort Women Prostitution Remarks'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-gi] Yonsei University has decided to suspend lectures by Professor Ryu Seok-chun of the Department of Sociology, who has been embroiled in controversy over remarks related to Japanese military comfort women.

On the 21st, Yonsei University announced that it decided to suspend lectures for the courses Professor Ryu hoped to offer in the first semester of the 2020 academic year, following a resolution by the Faculty Personnel Committee on the 20th.

Professor Ryu was scheduled to teach 'Economic Sociology,' a major course in the Department of Sociology, and 'Industrialization and Democratization of the Republic of Korea,' a liberal arts course, in the first semester of this year. With the suspension of Professor Ryu's lectures, a substitute instructor will be assigned to the Department of Sociology.

Earlier this month, Yonsei University decided to withhold the assignment of Professor Ryu as the course instructor, and his name was removed from the course catalog for the first semester of this year.

Meanwhile, the case involving Professor Ryu is currently under review by the Faculty Disciplinary Committee. Yonsei University's faculty disciplinary process proceeds through the Ethics and Human Rights Committee and the Faculty Personnel Committee before the Disciplinary Committee makes the final decision.

Last September, Professor Ryu was criticized for remarks made during a lecture, suggesting that the victims of the Japanese military comfort women system 'voluntarily engaged in prostitution.' He also sparked a sexual harassment controversy by asking students, "If you're curious, would you try it once?"

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