S Korean academic convicted of defaming 'comfort women'

I had to check it was South Korea and not the other one.

Mainstream historians...

Interesting notion.

The book also suggested some women forged emotional bonds with the soldiers they served, sparking an angry response from surviving victims.

What's it called now a days? The "Stockholm Syndrome"? A very real and plausible occurrence considering the time and situation of these women. Living in fear, in war, and looking for companionship and friendship.

I can understand their anger at the suggestion

It also seems to me that this woman who wrote the book tried to give an accurate account of the history, but like SK neighbor to the east, changing history is more important that accepting what happened.

They have decided there can only be 1 truth and anything else is unacceptable.

And along is trashed South Korea's credibility on the subject.

In South Korea, if anybody stands on the side of Japan, he or she will be lynched. Justice system is not an exception. They are extreme people and lack modesty despite we both learned Confucianism which teaches middle of the road.

And along is trashed South Korea's credibility on the subject.

Credibility with whom? Seems to me that outside of SK and Japan, there arent ALL that many that are listening or paying attention.

In South Korea, if anybody stands on the side of Japan, he or she will be lynched.

Really now? There are 5 MILLION tourists a year that come from SK to Japan, and nearly 500 flights per week between the countries.

Seems to me that if what you said is true there would be a literal blood bath!

It's the fringe folks on both sides, nationalist politicians, and conspiracy types that keep stirring the pot and give media types something to write about!

They are extreme people and lack modesty despite we both learned Confucianism which teaches middle of the road.

so not only are Koreans petulant children, they don't allow free speech either

The court fined Park to 10 million won ($8,848) -- a lighter punishment than a three-year jail term sought by prosecutors.

Were I she, I wouldn't pay it.

It is not well known, but these same women (Korean and Chinese) who had been brought to Japan were made to service US soldiers during occupation. That is why this news gets no coverage in the west. There is a concern that this story will come out.

Park Yu-Ha, of Sejong University in the South Korean capital, was found guilty of defamation for questioning the popular narrative that all so-called "comfort women" were dragged from their homes by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Reminds me of the laws they have in Europe against questioning their popular narrative.

That the Comfort Women system existed is a fact, and the J-gov does not deny it. But 200,000 women were NOT kidnapped by IJA troops. This story started with a FAKE article by the Asahi newspaper in the early 1990s which the newspaper has admitted was faked. But this has grown into a cottage industry, coining the term "sex slaves" for women identified solely as "military prostitutes" in every U.S. documentation on the subject going back to during WWII. Today it has grown into a religous cult, with followers worshiping these monuments. Honest historical study by scholars from any country would show that this narrative is false, and when a South Korean scholar has the courage to speak up she is wrongfully prosecuted. By the South Korean judicial system no less. Which shows why this issue will never be resolved. There has been far too much brainwashing of South Korean youths over the last 25-30 years including their education system. Hence an Agreement between the two nations ending this issue has not put it to rest, The previous President Park in fact was making an effort to change the South Korean educational bias before being ousted. If a Japanese scholar supported the false Korean narrative he or she would not be prosecuted. What does that say about South Korea's credibility as a nation? Or if South Korea has any real intention of resolving this issue when they refuse to accept historical evidence that contradicts their view?

nutty country that convicts people for having an unpopular opinion

In her 2013 book "The Comfort Women of the Empire", she suggested the reality was more complex, with some women volunteering -- though without necessarily knowing what their eventual fate would be. Many were told that they would get factory jobs.

Funny that in SK one can be accused of being 'too' measured & restrained and that even the most cautious position ('some', 'more complex', 'without necessarily knowing' etc) is considered to be slander when it doesn't fit the nation's desired narrative.

They clearly can't deal with unemotional opinions on the subject.

This is how all of Asia rolls; If you insult my ancestors, I will crush you. Japan is only slightly better because of protections in the postwar constitution, but this could change.

Professor Park Yuha 's opinion and research is below with lots of evidence

http://scholarsinenglish.blogspot.jp/2014/10/summary-of-professor-park-yuhas-book.html

South Korean people should be proud of her, not sending her to jail.

It's just like if someone defamed the hubakusha and jews for instance!

They're all in the same group of victims of war! And it's NOT OK to defame these people! Their hardships surpasses much of our own endeavours!!

Who is suggesting that she defamed anybody, Strikebreaker555?

There were Jews who worked for the Nazis inside the concentration camps, an unpleasant truth but historically accurate, and one which most educated Jews today will want to learn as part of the overall truth. If we point out that Koreans and Westerners were also vistims of the A bomb on Hiroshima, does that defame anyone or detract from anyone's suffering?

It's just like if someone defamed the hubakusha and jews for instance

Nope. Not the same, at all. And she's not defaming anyone. Everybody who have been following these events know that this whole sex slaves thing is nothing but political and brainwashing. Whatever true meaning and reason was behind it to help those who suffered in the past is long gone. If they were to really mean anything nowadays, they would at least be linked to other groups or governments trying to fight human trafficking for sex, etc. And dare you say something that goes against their opinion and well, this.

ever been to a war? there are no rules. but if you rape women and don't kill them, then the truth will eventually come out. so i believe the victims.

never read her book, so just going by this summary. during the cambodian war, i met many woman, and girls, who were tricked into prostitution to save their families. they are promised office jobs, before being raped and forced into brothels. then they were shamed by their communities. happens all over the world.

So she was convicted only for implying the obvious. Reality is way more complex than "all of them were kidnapped by Japanese soldiers". Some of these women probably were also sold by their parents. Others were kidnapped by Korean collaborators of Imperial Japan, and there was plenty of them, like their ex-president Park Chung Hee, lieutenant into the Manchukuo Imperial Army, but paradoxically acclaimed for the Korean economic miracle (such a double standard). For sure, some of these women fell in love with Japanese soldiers. In war these things happen all the time, and these events don't change or deny also the fact that many women were kidnapped, raped, and never in love with a soldier of the enemy's army. South Korea doesn't want to accept reality's complexity. I am sorry for this woman, whose freedom of speech was violated this way. She insulted nobody, only tried to tell the whole story.

Note that this incident does not necessarily give the popular Japanese narrative credibility, nor does it justify petty racism

Petty racism? Japanese are not a "race"

NasubiToday 10:54 am JSTKazuaki

And along is trashed South Korea's credibility on the subject.

Schopenhauer

They are extreme people and lack modesty despite we both learned Confucianism which teaches middle of the road.

Note that this incident does not necessarily give the popular Japanese narrative credibility, nor does it justify petty racism

Actually, it does. When South Korea takes the position that a scholar that contradicts their own narrative should persecuted, rather than accepting her view for debate, then it becomes clear that the South Korean narrative is solely emotionally driven. In contrast the Japanese narrative is supported by all existing documentation. I think it's rather obvious to the world that "racism" exists on the Korean side as evidenced by this article.

Strikebreaker555Today 11:09 am JSTIt's just like if someone defamed the hubakusha and jews for instance!

They're all in the same group of victims of war! And it's NOT OK to defame these people! Their hardships surpasses much of our own endeavours!!

Wrong. The Holocaust victims and A-Bomb victims are all well documented and facts agreed by everyone. The Comfort Women system, as far as documentation goes runs counter to the South Korean narrative, In other words, 200,000 kidnapped by Japanese troops is an outright lie, a hoax perpetrated on the word. And when a South Korean scholar points this out, she is persecuted. Please don't dishonor real victims of WWII by putting a hoax on the same level,

GoodlucktoyouToday 01:49 pm JSTever been to a war? there are no rules. but if you rape women and don't kill them, then the truth will eventually come out. so i believe the victims.

In the 1990s Prof Ahn of Seoul University interrogated 50 surviving Comfort Women and found their testimony "not credible". Prof Sarah Soh also found contradictory testimony, one survivor stating that she was sold by her parents to Koreans, and then testifying that she was thrown into a truck by Japanese soldiers.

And does the truth always come out? What about the rapes of Vietnamese women by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War? How about the Military prostitution systems run by Germany and France? How about the South Korean "Comfort Women System" setup to serve US troops?

In the 1990s Prof Ahn of Seoul University interrogated 50 surviving Comfort Women and found their testimony "

No doubt, if I was interrogated I would tend to think that someone has already come to a conclusion and the interrogation was just a formality.

one survivor stating that she was sold by her parents to Koreans, and then testifying that she was thrown into a truck by Japanese soldiers.

This by itself is not contradictory, it very well could have happened after the Korean's who "purchased" her sold her off to the Japanese.

YubaruToday 07:27 am JSTIn the 1990s Prof Ahn of Seoul University interrogated 50 surviving Comfort Women and found their testimony "

No doubt, if I was interrogated I would tend to think that someone has already come to a conclusion and the interrogation was just a formality.

They weren't "interrogated" like criminal suspects. These are old women.

one survivor stating that she was sold by her parents to Koreans, and then testifying that she was thrown into a truck by Japanese soldiers.

This by itself is not contradictory, it very well could have happened after the Korean's who "purchased" her sold her off to the Japanese.

Except that she was describing the first time she left her parent's home so it is contradictory. Furthermore, even if her parents had sold her off to Korean agents, tjey wouldn't have handed her over to troops in a truck. There was a Comfort Women recruitment office which ran advertisements in the local newspapers.

They weren't "interrogated" like criminal suspects. These are old women.

Then pray tell why YOU used the word? Ah copy-paste perhaps? Just replying to what you wrote.

OssanAmericaOct. 28  10:04 pm JST

In the 1990s Prof Ahn of Seoul University interrogated 50 surviving Comfort Women 

Except that she was describing the first time she left her parent's home so it is contradictory. 

You keep adding important details AFTER the fact. Write that the first time and it would be better understood. However that still does not necessarily make her statement contradictory either.

Furthermore, even if her parents had sold her off to Korean agents, tjey wouldn't have handed her over to troops in a truck. There was a Comfort Women recruitment office which ran advertisements in the local newspapers.

Not all of the women were taken to recruitment stations, if if she were, does not mean she didnt end up in the back of a truck. Who is to say she DIDNT get thrown in the back of a truck at some point, even when she first was "sold"?

Your memory is obviously not perfect, and yet you consider the responses of an old woman's recollections of the horror she went through to be contradictory?

YubaruToday 10:59 am JSTThey weren't "interrogated" like criminal suspects. These are old women.

Then pray tell why YOU used the word? Ah copy-paste perhaps? Just replying to what you wrote.

No you're assuming "interrogation" means your image of a bad crime drama. A historical scholar interrogating witnesses is not the same thing. They arem't criminals. But that escaped you.

OssanAmericaOct. 28  10:04 pm JST

In the 1990s Prof Ahn of Seoul University interrogated 50 surviving Comfort Women 

Except that she was describing the first time she left her parent's home so it is contradictory. 

You keep adding important details AFTER the fact. Write that the first time and it would be better understood. However that still does not necessarily make her statement contradictory either.

Why do I have to write a book for you If you doubt me go READ the book..

Furthermore, even if her parents had sold her off to Korean agents, tjey wouldn't have handed her over to troops in a truck. There was a Comfort Women recruitment office which ran advertisements in the local newspapers.

Not all of the women were taken to recruitment stations, if if she were, does not mean she didnt end up in the back of a truck. Who is to say she DIDNT get thrown in the back of a truck at some point, even when she first was "sold"?

Yes not all were taken to recruiting stations. Some where transported directly by Koreans who actually managed and ran some Comfort Stations.

Your memory is obviously not perfect, and yet you consider the responses of an old woman's recollections of the horror she went through to be contradictory?

Go READ the book. South Korean historians are the ones who found their testimony and statements contradictory and questionable. The fact is the Comfort Women system is pretty well documented not just by Japan but by the WWII Allied victors as well. And the narrative held by South Korea does not conform to the evidence. Tearful emotion drawing "testimony" by old women coached by the Chong Dae Hyup, that contradicts their previous statements, and runs counter to documented evidence is not convincing, as much as you want to believe it.

Read "The Comfort Women of the Empire", by Park Yu-Ha first before commenting. Otherwse you're just like the biased South Korean judiciary that prosecuted her.

Professor Jun BongGwan's review of the book "Comfort Women of the Empire." (Professor of Korean Literature at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The review was published on July 20, 2014 in ChosunIlbo.)

After reading the book, I was a little bit disappointed because there was nothing in the book that I didn't know. We all knew that Korean comfort women were not coercively taken away by the Japanese military. Korean comfort station owners recruited women in the Korean Peninsula and operated comfort stations in the battlefields. The Japanese military was busy fighting all over Asia, and it certainly didn't have time to be in Korea recruiting women.

Although Professor Park Yuha recognizes that Japan's imperialism was the root cause of women's suffering, she claims that Korean comfort station owners were legally responsible as well. I disagree with her logic because the Japanese military did allow Korean owners to recruit women. So the Japanese military was the one legally responsible in my opinion.

Korean fathers and brothers who sold their daughters and sisters, Korean comfort station owners who deceived women, Korean town chiefs who encouraged those acts. They all should be held accountable someday. But now is not the time. We must make Japan apologize and compensate again before we admit our responsibility.

If one reads the book carefully, it is clear that Professor Park had no intent to defame former comfort women. But it was not smart for her to suggest that Korea and Japan should both admit responsibility.

Source: http://scholarsinenglish.blogspot.com/2014/10/comfort-women-of-empire-reviewed-by.html

. We must make Japan apologize and compensate again before we admit our responsibility.

Ah so you admit that Japan DID in fact provide monetary compensation for the for the issue and now you seek to blackmail the Japanese government for more?

 But now is not the time

There will NEVER be a time for folks like you.

Oh and if the following is true...

We all knew that Korean comfort women were not coercively taken away by the Japanese military. 

Then YOU have a duty to stop those that are saying otherwise. Otherwise you are morally bankrupt.

To my mind, denying that the comfort women thing happened is like denying that the Holocaust happened. By now there is overwhelming proof on both subjects. We can disagree about what governmental policies should be, but I do not see the point in an academic denying reality.

WatermelonToday 01:54 pm JSTProfessor Jun BongGwan's review of the book "Comfort Women of the Empire." (Professor of Korean Literature at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The review was published on July 20, 2014 in ChosunIlbo.)

The only part of this review that raises a question is this;

The author Professor Jun BongGwan clearly agrees with the contents of the book by Prof Park Yuha. Yet he ends with; "But it was not smart for her to suggest that Korea and Japan should both admit responsibility."

This is in complete contradiction with the rest of his article. Clearly, there exists a shared responsibility and it is the very fact that this denied and rejected by South Korea that this issue is perpetuated. I suspect that Prof Jun is protecting himself from the angry mobs who fueled Prof Park's persecution. It is truly sad that in a purported democracy a scholar must resort to self defense like this.

1glennToday 11:37 pm JST To my mind, denying that the comfort women thing happened is like denying that the Holocaust happened. By now there is overwhelming proof on both subjects. We can disagree about what governmental policies should be, but I do not see the point in an academic denying reality.

Nobody denies that the Comfort Women System existed, not the J-govt, not anybody. It was a military prostitution system,. something that is hardly unique to WWII Japan. There is absolutely no basis of comparison to the Holocaust. The dispute is over HOW these women were recruited.

South Korea and it's anti-japan activists like the Chong Dae Hyup have tried to convince the world that 200,000 girls were kidnapped by Japanese troops and forced to become "sex slaves". This narrative was based on a FALSE STORY published by the Asahi newspaper in the early 1990s, and Asahi has admitted that it was a FALSE STORY.

The Comfort Women System was well documented and the overwhelming evidence shows that 200,000 girls were NOT kidnapped by Japanese troops. The only "evidence" in support of the South Korean narrative comes from questionable testimony by some survivors, which has been brought to light by a number of South Korean scholars.

– In an interview with Professor Chunghee Sarah Soh of San Francisco State University, a former Korean comfort woman Kim Sun-ok said that she was sold by her parents four times. Yet she testified before UN Special Rapporteur Radhika Coomaraswamy that she was abducted by the Japanese military.

– In an interview with Professor Park Yuha of Sejong University in South Korea, a former Korean comfort woman Bae Chun-hee said she hated her father who sold her. She said that men who recruited Korean women and operated comfort stations were all Korean, and that Korean women who testified before UN Special Rapporteur lied on behalf of Chong Dae Hyup. 

– In 1993 a former Korean comfort woman Kim Gun-ja told Professor Ahn Byong Jik of Seoul University, “I was sold by my foster father.” Yet she testified before UN Special Rapporteur Radhika Coomaraswamy that she was abducted by the Japanese military.

Source: http://scholarsinenglish.bl...

Korean Newspaper Reports from 1930's

--1939.03.28 동아일보 50여 처녀가 조선인 인신매매단에 걸려서 북지, 만주에 창기로 팔림. 일본경찰이 구해줌.

March 28, 1939 Donga Ilbo Over 50 women were deceived by a Korean trafficker (Bae Jang-eon 배장언) and sent to Northern China & Manchuria. He was arrested and the women were rescued by Japanese policemen.

-- 1939.08.31 동아일보 악덕소개업자가 발호, 이들이 유괴한 농촌부녀자의 수가 무려 100명 이상. 모두 일본경찰님들이 구출해내심.

 August 31, 1939 Donga Ilbo Over 100 women from farming villages were deceived by Korean traffickers (Kim Ok-man 김옥만 & his family) They were arrested and the women were rescued by Japanese policemen.

--1935.03.07 동아일보 중국 상해 암흑굴에 조선여성 2천여명. 이들 원정녀들 때문에 조선인의 체면이 손상됨. 그녀들의 참담한 생활에도 불구하고 대책이 막연. 왜냐하면 경제적 문제로 인한 자발적인 근로라서 대책을 세울 수 없음을 안타까워하는 내용.

March 7, 1935 Donga Ilbo About 2,000 Korean women work in the Shanghai slum. These prostitutes tarnish our reputation. But we can't stop them because they voluntarily stay there for economic reasons.

Source: http://scholarsinenglish.blogspot.com/2014/10/korean-newspaper-articles-from-1930s.html (The copies of the original newspaper articles are posted here.)