Professor gets prison for insulting comfort women

Gwangju District Court on Thursday issued a six-month prison sentence to a former Sunchon National University professor for defaming the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, overturning the defendant’s appeal and reinforcing the original sentence once again.

The court ruled that the professor insulted the sex slaves with remarks such as, “(The comfort women) were taken for sexual slavery, or they voluntarily followed, because they were ‘seductive.’ In my opinion, they probably had a clear idea what they had to do.” The professor reportedly made the controversial remarks during a university lecture on April 26, 2017. 

A few months after the incident on Sept. 26 of the same year, human rights group Sunchon Nabi accused the professor of spreading false information and defaming the comfort women.

After the first court ruling the professor appealed, saying that his words were not ill-intended. The defendant said that “considering the overall context of the class, I did not intend to say that the victims voluntarily participated in sexual slavery.”

The Gwangju High Court dismissed the appeal Thursday and issued a six-month prison term. The court said, “In spite of his position as a national university professor, the defendant committed a serious crime of spreading false information and defaming the comfort women. Also, there had been no attempt to repair the damage.”

After the incident, Sunchon National University officially expelled the professor from his position on Oct. 12, 2017.

By Lee Tae-hee (taeheelee@heraldcorp.com)