By Park Si-soo
An appellate court has upheld the conviction of a former professor who was accused of defaming Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.
Gwangju Provincial Court made the ruling on Thursday, upholding a lower court's six-month jail term imposed on the former professor at Sunchon National University.
The scholar, whose name was withheld, was charged with defaming victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery system, collectively called "comfort women," during a lecture on April 26, 2017.
According to court documents, the ex-professor claimed some women joined the system "voluntarily in pursuit of their sexual pleasure."
He claimed the accuser, a Sunchon-based human rights group, misunderstood the point of his remark. But the court did not agree.
"The accused, as a national university professor, committed a crime tarnishing the name of comfort women seriously," Judge Im joo-hyuk wrote in a ruling statement. "In addition, the accused did nothing to recover the damage to the victims."
The university sacked the professor in October.
An appellate court has upheld the conviction of a former professor who was accused of defaming Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II.
Gwangju Provincial Court made the ruling on Thursday, upholding a lower court's six-month jail term imposed on the former professor at Sunchon National University.
The scholar, whose name was withheld, was charged with defaming victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery system, collectively called "comfort women," during a lecture on April 26, 2017.
According to court documents, the ex-professor claimed some women joined the system "voluntarily in pursuit of their sexual pleasure."
He claimed the accuser, a Sunchon-based human rights group, misunderstood the point of his remark. But the court did not agree.
"The accused, as a national university professor, committed a crime tarnishing the name of comfort women seriously," Judge Im joo-hyuk wrote in a ruling statement. "In addition, the accused did nothing to recover the damage to the victims."
The university sacked the professor in October.
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