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| ▲ Sejong University professor Park Yu-ha holds a news conference on controversies surrounding her book "Comfort Women of the Empire," in a file photo taken in Seoul on Aug. 31, 2022. (Yonhap) |
comfort women-defamation case
Supreme Court acquits professor in 'comfort women' defamation case
SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a retrial by a lower court of a professor who was previously fined for defaming victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery with her book, saying she should not be punished for an academic argument.
Sejong University professor Park Yu-ha was ordered by the Seoul High Court to pay a 10 million-won (US$7,375) fine six years ago after being convicted of defaming sexual slavery victims, euphemistically called "comfort women," with her controversial book "Comfort Women of the Empire."
Victims and other critics claimed the book, published in 2013, disputes the coerciveness of the comfort women system, including portraying their ordeal as prostitution and saying victims had "comrade-like relations" with Japanese troops.
Park was indicted for defamation in November 2015, but a district court found her not guilty in January 2017. The Seoul High Court reversed the decision and fined her in October of the same year.
The professor argued that the book was written for public interest purposes to review Japan's behaviors and is not illegal because it is based on academic research. But the high court said she distorted historical facts and claimed false facts that contradicted reports from the United Nations and the Japanese government.
Sending the case back to the Seoul High Court, the Supreme Court said it is reasonable to view controversial expressions in Park's book as academic arguments or opinions and thus it is difficult to rule she should be punished for defamation due to such expressions.
Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during the war. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
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