Current:Home > InvestSouth Korean scholar acquitted of defaming sexual slavery victims during Japan colonial rule-LoTradeCoin
South Korean scholar acquitted of defaming sexual slavery victims during Japan colonial rule
View Date:2024-12-23 22:30:02
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s top court on Thursday cleared a scholar of charges of defaming the Korean victims of sexual slavery during Japanese colonial rule, in a contentious book published in 2013.
Thursday’s ruling in the criminal case of Park Yu-ha isn’t the end of her long-running legal battle, as she faces a separate civil suit. She’s suffered harsh public criticism over her book “Comfort Women of the Empire,” triggering debates over the scope of freedom of speech in South Korea.
In 2017, the Seoul High Court fined Park, an emeritus professor at Seoul’s Sejong University, 10 million won ($7,360) over some of the expressions she used in her book to describe Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan’s troops during the first half of the 20th century.
But the Supreme Court ruled Thursday it was difficult to determine those expressions constituted criminal defamation, saying it was more appropriate to assess them as Park’s academic arguments or expression of her personal opinions.
The court said that “restrictions on the freedom of academic expressions must be minimal.” It still said that when scholars publicize their studies, they must strive to protect others’ privacy and dignity and to respect their freedom and rights to self-determination.
Prosecutors and Park’s critics earlier accused her of defaming ex-sex slaves by writing that they were proud of their jobs and had comrade-like relationships with Japanese soldiers while the Japanese military wasn’t officially involved in the forceful mobilization of sex slaves.
The Supreme Court said it sent Park’s case back to the Seoul High Court to make a new ruling on her. The procedure means that Park will be declared not guilty at the high court unless new evidence against her come out, according to Supreme Court officials.
Park welcomed the ruling. “I think today’s verdict is a ruling that determines whether the freedom of thought exists in Republic of Korea,” she wrote on Facebook.
In a separate civil suit, a Seoul district court in 2016 ordered Park to pay 10 million won ($7,360) each to nine of the ex-Korean sex slaves who sued her. An appellate trial on that case is still under way, according to media reports.
Sexual slavery is a highly emotional issue in South Korea, where many still harbor strong resentment against the 1910-45 Japanese colonial occupation.
Historians say tens of thousands of women from around Asia, many of them Korean, were sent to front-line military brothels to provide sex to Japanese soldiers. The term “comfort women,” which was used in the title of Park’s book, is an euphemism for the sex slaves.
Japan issued an apolog y in 1993 after a government investigation concluded many women were taken against their will and “lived in misery under a coercive atmosphere.” However, there has been a strong backlash from South Korea and elsewhere to comments by Japanese politicians who speak about a lack of documentary proof the women were forcibly recruited, in an apparent attempt to gloss over Tokyo’s wartime atrocities.
veryGood! (5461)
Related
- DWTS' Gleb Savchenko Shares Why He Ended Brooks Nader Romance Through Text Message
- Australian Sailor Tim Shaddock and Dog Bella Rescued After 2 Months Stranded at Sea
- Sharna Burgess Deserves a 10 for Her Birthday Tribute to Fine AF Brian Austin Green
- Reneé Rapp and More Stars Who Have Left Their Fame-Making TV Series
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- The UN Wants the World Court to Address Nations’ Climate Obligations. Here’s What Could Happen Next
- Residents Oppose a Planned Lithium Battery Storage System Next to Their Homes in Maryland’s Prince George’s County
- Arizona Announces Phoenix Area Can’t Grow Further on Groundwater
- Wildfires burn from coast-to-coast; red flag warnings issued for Northeast
- Students and Faculty at Ohio State Respond to a Bill That Would Restrict College Discussions of Climate Policies
Ranking
- Gun groups sue to overturn Maine’s new three-day waiting period to buy firearms
- In the Crossroads State of Illinois, Nearly 2 Million People Live Near Warehouses Shrouded by Truck Pollution
- RHONY's Bethenny Frankel and Jill Zarin Have Epic Reunion 13 Years After Feud
- Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian Says Bye Bye to Haters While Blocking Negative Accounts
- Taylor Swift touches down in Kansas City as Chiefs take on Denver Broncos
- Botched's Dr. Terry Dubrow Issues Warning on Weight Loss Surgeries After Lisa Marie Presley Death
- As Water Levels Drop, the Risk of Arsenic Rises
- Environmental Justice Advocates Urge California to Stop Issuing New Drilling Permits in Neighborhoods
Recommendation
-
Arbitrator upholds 5-year bans of Bad Bunny baseball agency leaders, cuts agent penalty to 3 years
-
Chicago, HUD Settle Environmental Racism Case as Lori Lightfoot Leaves Office
-
Washington’s Treasured Cherry Blossoms Prompt Reflection on Local Climate Change
-
The UN Wants the World Court to Address Nations’ Climate Obligations. Here’s What Could Happen Next
-
‘Heretic’ and Hugh Grant debut with $11 million, but ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ tops box office again
-
Determined to Forge Ahead With Canal Expansion, Army Corps Unveils Testing Plan for Contaminants in Matagorda Bay in Texas
-
Botched's Dr. Terry Dubrow Issues Warning on Weight Loss Surgeries After Lisa Marie Presley Death
-
Federal Hydrogen Program Is Cutting Out Local Groups, Threatening Climate Goals, Advocates Say