[Photo] Seungro Lee, Seongbuk-gu Mayor, and Gyeseong High School Students Picketing to Condemn Professor Ramseyer

Picketing with Messages Condemning Harvard Professor Ramseyer's Controversial Paper Claiming 'Comfort Women Were Prostitutes' at the Relocation Site of the Statue of Peace in Seongbuk-gu, Funsu Maru (Exit 2, Hansung University Station Line 4) on the 25th at 11 AM

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Lee Seung-ro, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, and Seongbuk-gu youth recently held a picketing protest condemning Harvard Professor Ramseyer, who published a controversial paper claiming that "comfort women were prostitutes."

The picketing held on the 25th at Seongbuk-gu Bunsu Maru was arranged when five current students of Gyeseong High School located in Gireum New Town (Kwon Woo-ryeong, Moon Song-hyun, Lee Kyung-min, Cho Soo-bin, Han Chae-eun, all third-year students) proposed the idea and Mayor Lee Seung-ro of Seongbuk-gu readily accepted it.

The Gyeseong High School students conveyed five messages: ▲ Mr. John Mark Ramseyer, are you a 21st-century Harvard Law School professor or a professor from a Japanese imperial university 100 years ago? ▲ We criticize Professor Ramseyer’s inhumane research stemming from ignorance or intentional tacit approval ▲ We demand that Professor Ramseyer reflect on and retract his research that acts as a puppet of the Japanese government, denying Japan’s invasion and perpetration history ▲ We demand that the International Review of Law and Economics retract Professor Ramseyer’s paper ▲ We demand that the Dean of Harvard Law School and the President of Harvard University discipline Professor Ramseyer, who has dishonored Harvard Law School’s reputation by abandoning scholarly ethics and conscience.

To deliver the message more effectively, they collaborated with the cyber diplomatic mission VANK.

Representative student Moon Song-hyun said, “After attending classes about the situation of the Peace Statue of the Girl established overseas, we started club activities to explore various ways to take action from a student’s perspective. Upon seeing the news about Professor Ramseyer’s controversial paper, we discussed it with club friends, prepared the condemnation picketing, and proposed participation to Mayor Lee Seung-ro, who always supports and joins our activities.”

In November 2020, Gyeseong High School students played a decisive role in leading public opinion for the permanent preservation of the Berlin Peace Statue of the Girl, which was facing demolition, by launching a campaign to write handwritten letters to German citizens. At that time, Mayor Lee Seung-ro actively supported the students’ activities by collecting a total of 3,600 handwritten letters from Seongbuk-gu children and youth, general citizens, and public officials, and sending them to German civic groups, receiving a positive response.

Mayor Lee Seung-ro of Seongbuk-gu shouted the message: ▲ Restoring the honor and human rights of victims of Japanese military sexual slavery is essential for a peaceful world! We demand the retraction of Harvard Professor Ramseyer’s paper that denies Japan’s invasion and perpetration history!

The event was especially meaningful as it was held alongside the relocation ceremony of the Seongbuk-gu Korea-China Peace Statue of the Girl. The Korea-China Peace Statue of the Girl, the world’s first statue featuring Korean and Chinese girls together, was installed in 2015 at Dongso-mun-dong Street Park but was temporarily relocated due to the construction of a creative theater support facility. Seongbuk-gu decided to relocate the statue to Bunsu Maru to share its significance with more citizens.

On the day, Mayor Lee Seung-ro and Gyeseong High School students welcomed the newly relocated Korea-China Peace Statue of the Girl by cleaning it and solemnly demanded the retraction of Professor Ramseyer’s paper.

Meanwhile, cooperation between Mayor Lee Seung-ro and Seongbuk-gu children and youth regarding the Peace Statue of the Girl is not limited to this occasion.

When the mayor of Glendale, California, the first overseas city to install a Peace Statue of the Girl and a sister city of Seongbuk-gu, visited Seongbuk-gu in 2019, he informed about the persistent demands from Japanese right-wing groups to remove the statue. Mayor Lee immediately visited all elementary, middle, and high schools in the district to urge education about Korea’s history and the situation of the statue for future generations.

Seongbuk-gu children and youth wrote 1,500 handwritten letters supporting Glendale officials and citizens, and Mayor Lee personally delivered these letters to the Glendale City Council, moving them deeply.

The 'Overseas Cities Supporting the Peace Statue of the Girl Challenge' was also carried out through cooperation between Seongbuk-gu youth and Mayor Lee, sending a meaningful message to society.

Mayor Lee Seung-ro of Seongbuk-gu expressed his thoughts: “As Seongbuk, the city of independence activists where Manhae Han Yong-un and many independence fighters were active, I will do my best to ensure that the 450,000 residents of Seongbuk-gu and future generations actively work to correct Japan’s historical distortion and protect world peace and human rights.”

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