[Statement ] The prosecution against Professor Ryu Seok-chun for the defamation of the comfort women, violates the freedom of study and expression.

On the 29th of October in 2020, former Yonsei University professor Ryu Seok-chun was charged with defamation against the comfort women by the Seoul West District Prosecutor's Office (Director Park Hyun-chul). The main reason behind this action was because Prof. Ryu said, "The Japanese military comfort women voluntarily became comfort women in order to engage in sex industry," during a lecture on September, 19th, 2019. The lecture was in Developmental Sociology, which is one of majors in the Sociology Department at Yonsei University.

Let's take a look at the part related to “voluntarily becoming a comfort woman.” We will examine the transcript (discussion with female student "A", during the Q&A session) to accurately check the facts about the remarks.

○ Yonsei University female student A:

When you talked about comfort women earlier, You did not finish it, I am asking you , were you saying that the women who were taken as comfort women went voluntarily? You said the Japanese military didn't force them ?..

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu

There is so much sex industry right now. The sex industry is very large right now, in Korea. Don't you know? Young students don't know much about it, but there is a lot of sex industry in Gangnam. There are a lot of massages, blah blah, room salons today. Did all of the women, who are working there right now, go by themselves? Did their parents sell them? How did they go?

○ Yonsei University female student A

... are you saying that you see the sex workers and comfort women in the same class now? So I understand...you are saying...

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu:

It's similar to that

(There are female students who say'Yes?')

○ Yonsei University female student A:

From then until now?

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu

Because it is difficult for them to live, they enter the brothel. Life is difficult. There are a lot of women now in sex industry Why did those people engage in sex industry ? It’s hard to survive, difficult to earn enough money to have a house and food. So now, they are tempted by sex industry, and then they are told, “If you come here and work a little, you can get a lot of pay, come and work”. If you are in that situation, you will do it.

○ Yonsei University female student A:

nevertheless...

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu:

Is it not still the same now?

○ Yonsei University female student A:

But now...

○ Professor Seokchun Ryu, Yonsei University

Now, however, they are trying to say that they didn't do it in the past, but that's not true. It was the same in the past.

○ Yonsei University female student A:

Then, if I properly understand what you are saying, all the women who previously worked as comfort women under the Japanese colonial rule would voluntarily go by their own choice to be sex workers...

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu:

Are the sex workers voluntarily working now? It's because they have a self determination to survive and because of poverty. It's still the self-determined and the ones in poverty, it's desperation to survive.

○ Yonsei University female student A

As far as I know...

○ Yonsei University Professor Seokchun Ryu:

It’s because life is difficult, it’s not because they want it.

(Source: Media Watch “[Professional] Yonsei University Professor Ryu Seok-chun's “Comfort Women's Remarks” Revealed”)

In the transcript, Prof. Ryu re-emphasized that poverty is the cause, saying, "It's because it's difficult to live" or "It's because it's difficult to live, it's not because they want it."

And, from the beginning, the past and the present are explained in a continuous line. When female student A asked again, “All the women who worked as comfort women under Japanese colonial rule in the past (as it is now) all voluntarily went to become sex workets ..." It's a self-determined class and an impoverished class. Even now, it's a self-determined class and an impoverished class.”

It is well known that Japan had implemented and operated a system for legalizing the sex industry in colonial Joseon from 1916 until the end of World War II. Therefore, Imperial Japan had legally permitted sex workers in its home country, colonies, occupied areas, territories, etc., and implemented a policy to tacitly permit Yegi and Jakbu (helpers of the sex work industry, such as bartenders, dancers, entertainers, etc.)

The number of sex workers, Yegi and Gakbu (helpers of the sex work industry, such as bartenders, dancers, entertainers, etc.) of Joseon, according to ('In the Niche of Nationalism' 2012), surveyed by Lee Yeo-sung, in 1910, the number of Korean sex workers, including Yegi and Gakbu, registered with the Joseon Governor-General at that time was 1,762 (4,942 Japanese). In 1942, the total increased to 14,472 (7,229 Japanese), an increase of more than eight times.

Therefore, it would have been several times larger if unregistered business houses were included, but it is highly likely that many of the “poor” women had moved to battlefields with comfort stations, in order to earn money for survival. And it can be confirmed through newspaper reports at the time that illegal situations, such as “employment fraud” were rampant.

Therefore, in order to refute Professor Ryu's logic, above all, it must be proven that the cause of sex industry was not “poverty”. However, according to the data that has been excavated so far, it is known that no case of a Joseon woman from “a wealthy class” worked at a comfort station.

In addition, former Seoul National University professor Lee Young-hoon estimated the number to be approximately 3,500 Korean comfort women,. This was a calculation based on the number of condoms provided to the soldiers by the Japanese military in 1942. If we only look at the social phenomenon of sex industry, in the historical perspective, as we are told to believe, we are engaged in sex trafficking today. It is possible to understand the true reasons for sex industry, by the analysis of the approximately 270,000 women involved in the sex trade today. (the 2013 survey on prostitution by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family).

In conclusion, in the transcript, Professor Ryu did not say nor implied that "the Japanese military comfort women voluntarily became comfort women to engage in sex work" the accusation can not be found, and since there is nothing specific, it c an not be defamation.

Another problem is allowing recording during class. If transcripts are made in the classroom, for the purpose of using the contents of the lecture for accusation, it will be difficult to find and keep quality teachers, not only in universities but also in schools at various levels. In particular, we are astonished that even at the university education level, which is called the Hall of Academics and Truth, debate of a subject to promote individual thinking, can be termed defamation, and be recorded as was done during the class of the “Social Science Department”.

Colleges where free discussions cannot be held are merely vocational schools, not a field of intelligence. We recall the secret police system, the specter of a totalitarian state, taking the subject of discussion from the past period to court through the use of transcripts. This amounts to censorship of thought, and stifling the process of creative, individual thought. The situation of former Yonsei University professor Ryu Seok-chun, has become a benchmark in the determination of whether the constitutional value of “freedom of study and expression” can be preserved beyond the issues of anti-Japanese and pro-Japanese. I hope for the strong solidarity of intellectuals and citizens who want to protect the democracy of this land.

10. 30th .2020

The Committee for Truthful Investigation of Anti-Japanese Statues