According to Yonhap News Agency, the Western District Court in Seoul, South Korea made a first-instance verdict on the 24th in the case of former Yonsei University professor Yoo Seok-chun for damaging the reputation of victims of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system, and sentenced Yoo Seok-chun not guilty. Previously, Yoo Seok-chun claimed during the sociology course at Yonsei University in 2019 that "Japanese military comfort women" can be called "a type of prostitute."
reported that the Seoul Western District Court in South Korea stated on the 24th that it was difficult to regard the defendant's remarks ("Comfort women can be called a type of prostitute") as a crime of defamation based on the evidence submitted by the prosecutor alone. Although the relevant speech goes against traditional concepts and the metaphor is inappropriate, given that the Constitution highly guarantees the academic freedom of universities and the freedom of professors, professors’ freedom should be restricted to the minimum, even if the content and methods seem to violate existing practices and order. This should not be lightly viewed as illegal.
The Korean court also stated that the defendant’s relevant statements did not target individual victims of the “comfort women” system, but were “abstract statements” about the group of victims of the Japanese military’s “comfort women” system.
reported that the court made a verdict on Liu Xichun’s four suspects that day. In the end, the court only found that Yoo Seok-choon's previous assertion that "the Korea Council for Countermeasures against the Self-Defense Forces Issue (Council for short) induced victims of the 'comfort women' system to provide false confessions about the issue of forced recruitment" had caused damage to the reputation of the Council. Liu Xichun was sentenced to a fine of 2 million won (approximately RMB 10,700). After the news of
was reported by Korean media, it immediately aroused verbal and written criticism from Korean netizens. Some netizens said, "Such remarks are simply treason!" "It's shocking that such a person is a university professor... The court's decision also chilled the people."
Some netizens questioned, "This is Which country's court is it?" Some netizens said, "The country is really getting more and more chaotic."
