Professor Ryu Seok-chun's First Trial on 'Comfort Women Controversy' Declares "Simple Expression of Opinion"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Ryu Seok-chun (66), a former Yonsei University professor who was indicted for defamation after stating during a lecture that Japanese military comfort women were "a form of prostitution," claimed innocence at his first trial, arguing it was a "simple expression of opinion."

At the first hearing held on the 15th at the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 4 (Judge Park Yong-geun), Ryu's defense team stated, "We deny all charges and assert innocence."

Ryu was indicted for defaming the honor of comfort women victims by stating during a Development Sociology lecture in the Sociology Department at Yonsei University on September 19, 2019, that "the grandmothers who were victims of the Japanese military comfort women system voluntarily became comfort women to engage in prostitution."

He is also accused of defaming officials of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop, the predecessor of the Justice and Memory Foundation) by claiming that "the council educated the comfort women grandmothers to testify as if they were forcibly mobilized by the Japanese military," and that "the council's executives are cadres of the Unified Progressive Party, connected to North Korea, and follow North Korea."

Ryu's defense argued, "While it is true that such statements were made, they were merely expressions of opinion, the content was not false, and even if false, there was no awareness that it was false."

As Ryu's defense team objected to some evidence, the next trial scheduled for March 12 will include witness examination by the prosecution. The prosecution has requested a total of four witnesses, including the head of the civic group that filed the complaint against Ryu and officials from Jeongdaehyeop.

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