[Summary] Park Yuha, who defended Harvard professor, previously said "Comfort women recruitment occurred outside Japanese law"

2013 Book "Empire's Comfort Women" Uses "Voluntary Prostitutes" Term
Professor Park: "Relationship Between Comfort Women and Japanese Military Likely Not One-Sided Oppression"
"Both Prostitute and Sex Slave Discourses Have Issues"

Professor Park Yuha, Sejong University / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] It has recently come to light that Professor Park Yooha of Sejong University, who sparked social outrage by publishing the book The Empire of Comfort Women claiming that Japanese military comfort women were 'voluntary prostitutes,' has defended Harvard University Professor John Mark Ramseyer, who recently asserted that "Japanese military comfort women were prostitutes." In the past, Professor Park also stirred controversy by arguing that "the mobilization of comfort women was carried out outside the law of Japan."

On February 2, Professor Park wrote on his Facebook, "I have not yet read the Harvard professor's paper, so I cannot speak precisely, but it does not seem appropriate to dismiss it outright as nonsense or to label him as a professor of a war criminal company," adding, "Based on the reports alone, his claims may not be significantly wrong in terms of historical details."

However, he added, "That does not mean there is no problem with the claim that 'comfort women = prostitutes,'" and pointed out, "Both the prostitute and sex slave discourses have issues."

As evidence that Japanese military comfort women were not simply victims, Professor Park referred to the 'Comfort Women Memorial' located in China.

He stated, "The Comfort Women Memorial is, so to speak, a monument erected to console souls," and argued, "Why did the Japanese military console the comfort women? Of course, there is no law forbidding the consolation of slaves who were forcibly brought and forced into labor, but what this memorial signifies is that in the relationship between comfort women and the military, the comfort women were not only unilaterally oppressed."

The Statue of Peace installed in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul / Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "Of course, receiving consolation does not mean they were not victims. It is true that they were mobilized like conscription or forced labor, but compared to male victims, female victims were mobilized outside the coercive framework of 'law,'" explaining, "In that sense, both the prostitute and sex slave discourses have problems."

This is not the first time Professor Park's remarks have sparked controversy. Earlier, he criticized the ruling in a lawsuit filed by Japanese military comfort women against the Japanese government for damages, which resulted in a first-instance victory on the 8th of last month, stating, "There are already many problems with the court's perception of comfort women."

On that day, Professor Park wrote on Facebook, "Perhaps because the court simply adopted the plaintiffs' claims, it reflects the 'limitations of historical courts' that must rely on scholarship," and argued, "The perpetrators of the abduction or kidnapping of comfort women were the kidnappers or the proprietors. Japan issued guidelines to crack down on such acts, and the police actually arrested kidnappers."

He emphasized, "If you want to criticize the mobilization of comfort women, you should rather focus on the fact that it was carried out outside the 'law.'" This is interpreted as implying that the Japanese government has no legal responsibility for the comfort women victims.

Additionally, in his book The Empire of Comfort Women, published in August 2013, Professor Park described comfort women victims with expressions such as "spiritual comforters," "basically comrades with soldiers despite being enslaved," "patriotic young women who helped soldiers carry out the war," and "prostitutes who went voluntarily," which sparked controversy.

Professor Park Yuha's book "Comfort Women of the Empire," published in 2013 / Photo by Yonhap News

In response, nine comfort women victims, including grandmother Lee Okseon, filed a lawsuit against Professor Park for damages. Although Professor Park was acquitted in the first trial, the appellate court ordered him to pay a fine of 10 million won each to the plaintiffs, totaling 90 million won.

The court explained, "When historical figures are still alive, protection of personality rights can be relatively prioritized over academic freedom," and added, "Because the author was a university professor whom readers could trust, greater responsibility and caution than usual academic research results were required."

Meanwhile, the Japanese media outlet Sankei Shimbun reported on the 1st that Professor Ramseyer plans to publish a paper in an academic journal that defines Japanese military comfort women as 'prostitutes.'

In the paper, Professor Ramseyer argues that both Korean and Japanese comfort women were officially recognized prostitutes and cannot be seen as 'sex slaves' who were kidnapped and forced into prostitution by Japan.

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