Song Young-gil to File Complaints Against Ryu Seok-chun and Lee Young-hoon with Families of Comfort Women and Forced Labor Victims

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Song Young-gil, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, has decided to sue Professor Ryu Seok-chun of Yonsei University’s Department of Sociology and former Seoul National University Economics Professor Lee Young-hoon, who have caused controversy with their historical distortion remarks regarding Japanese military comfort women and forced labor victims. The charges are for defamation of the victims' honor. Human rights activists and grandmother Lee Yong-soo will also participate as plaintiffs.

On the morning of the 2nd, Song held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office and stated, “Strict punishment is necessary for acts that defame the honor of victims who have suffered lifelong pain due to Japanese imperialist war crimes.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He emphasized, “The historical distortion remarks by Professor Ryu and former Professor Lee are becoming increasingly severe. Anti-Japan tribalism has now been translated into Japanese and is read like a standard textbook by Japanese right-wingers,” adding, “Many Japanese right-wing media outlets, including the Sankei Shimbun, are exploiting this.”

He continued, “I urge judicial authorities to make a strict judgment on actions that cause tremendous damage to the Republic of Korea, which was regained through blood, showing not even the minimum pride and conscience expected of scholars.”

Yang Tae-jung, a lawyer from Good Lawyers Public Interest Whistleblower Center representing the victims’ families in the lawsuit, also emphasized at the press conference, “This has pushed the victims and their families, who have lived through extreme suffering for over half a century, back into despair,” and added, “We sincerely hope for a wise judgment from the judicial authorities handling this case.”

Relatives of comfort women and forced labor victims attended the press conference. Grandmother Lee was hospitalized due to deteriorating health and did not participate in the conference. Song stated, “Although Grandmother Lee was hospitalized and could not attend the press conference, she agreed with the purpose and authorized participation as a plaintiff.” Song’s office plans to submit the complaint to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office early next week.

After the press conference, Song told reporters, “Democratic Party lawmakers from Yonsei University, including Woo Won-shik, are urging President Seo Seung-hwan to take strong disciplinary action against Professor Ryu, but it seems insufficient,” and added, “We will once again deliver a letter urging the dismissal of Professor Ryu to Yonsei University.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.