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Fri, March 24, 2023 | 05:47
-------------------------
Author ordered to compensate comfort women
法 "'제국의 위안부' 저자, 피해자에 9천만원 배상하라"
Posted : 2016-01-13 16:51
Updated : 2016-01-14 14:26
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By Lee Kyung-min

Park Yu-ha
Park Yu-ha
A district court ordered Park Yu-ha, 59, the writer of the controversial book "Comfort Women of the Empire," to pay 90 million won ($74,000) in compensation to nine survivors of sexual slavery under the Japanese occupation, Wednesday.

The Seoul Eastern District Court ruled in favor of the nine victims, recognizing that Park's book published in 2013 inflicted emotional distress on them.

The nine, including Lee Ok-seon, 87, filed a suit last year against Park seeking 270 million won — 3 million won each — claiming that they were subject to emotional suffering due to her degrading depiction of them as "voluntary prostitutes," as well as characterizing the relationship between some of the former sex slaves and Japanese soldiers as "comrade-like."

The court recognized that Park defamed the victims by depicting them in a degrading manner with false facts.

"Park indicated in her book that the victims not only voluntarily become prostitutes, but added that they actually enjoyed it, thereby incurring enormous emotional distress," the court said.

The court said that the facts regarding the victims' plight during wartime atrocities are well established by a number of U.N. reports and academic journals as well as Japan's 1993 landmark Kono Statement.

It said many of their conclusions reached the consensus that the victims suffered deplorable conditions with their human rights irrevocably violated.

The court dismissed Park's claim that her work as an academic piece should be immune from criminal prosecution.

"Considering the fact that the victims are still alive, her right to academic freedom does not supersede that of the victims' basic right to dignity," the court added.

Earlier, Park said that she had no intention to degrade the women involved, and that she was unfairly accused of being a sympathizer of Japanese wartime atrocities.

"The use of the phrase that was the subject of contention at the trial was intended to position them in a larger context of history. Readers are entitled to make their own judgments, but my intention was to introduce an alternative to the socially dominant view," she said.

The same court in February ordered the publisher to revise 38 such sections which it recognized as defamatory against the women. The newer version of the book was published with such revisions in place.

Separately, the nine victims filed criminal defamation charges against Park. The first hearing will begin at the Seoul Eastern District Court on Jan. 20.

The Japanese literature professor at Sejong University in Seoul has been taking constant public criticism over the book, in which she claimed that there was no evidence to show the Japanese military was involved in the recruitment of women for forced sexual slavery — the same claim made by the Japanese government.

She also wrote that many Koreans collaborating with the Japanese government lured the women into sexual slavery.

Park said that her view, regarded as unconventional or outrageous here, was to suggest a more comprehensive or alternative approach toward resolving the comfort women issue, which remains a symbol of irreconcilable strife between the two countries.

Former sex slaves and civic groups said that Park has helped the Japanese government exempt itself from responsibility for the atrocity.


Mixed responses

Earlier last month, 190 scholars and cultural pundits here issued a statement denouncing the indictment and the district court ruling, calling them an "anachronistic move" against the principles of democracy.

"Freedom of study and the press are severely restricted due to the judiciary measure," they said in the statement.

But 380 scholars and activists from Korea, Japan and the U.S. criticized Park for aiding the Japanese government in dodging its culpability. They said that academic discussions regarding the comfort women issue should be dealt with delicately, keeping in mind the fact that some survivors are still alive.

Nine scholars and activists said the prosecution indictment to hold a scholar criminally accountable for her academic work was improper.

They also noted that Park made claims without proper legal understanding or supporting facts, saying considering the sensitivity and gravity of the issue, such a provocative viewpoint requires a painstaking process before being presented to the public.


法 "'제국의 위안부' 저자, 피해자에 9천만원 배상하라"

'생존한 피해자 인격권, 학문의 자유 보호보다 중시돼야'
''정신적 위안자' '자발적 매춘부' 등 표현 명예훼손·인격권 침해 인정'

일본군 위안부 피해자를 '자발적 매춘부' 등으로 표현해 논란이 된 책 '제국의 위안부'를 쓴 박유하(59) 세종대 교수가 위안부 피해 할머니들에게 9천만원의 배상금을 물게 됐다.

서울동부지법 민사14부(박창렬 부장판사)는 13일 이옥선(90)씨 등 위안부 할머니 9명이 '제국의 위안부'로 정신적 고통을 줬다며 박 교수를 상대로 낸 손해배상 소송에서 '원고에게 1천만원씩 총 9천만원을 배상하라'며 원고 일부 승소 판결했다.

박 교수는 2013년 8월 위안부 문제를 제국주의 욕망에 동원된 '개인의 희생'으로 보는 내용을 담은 이 책을 출간했다.

박 교수는 책에서 위안부 할머니들을 '정신적 위안자', '군인의 전쟁 수행을 도운 애국처녀', '자발적 매춘부' 등으로 표현했다. 이 할머니 등 9명은 이 같은 문구 34개가 명예를 훼손했다며 1인당 총 3천만원을 배상하라는 소송을 2014년 냈다.

재판부는 '일본 정부와 군이 위안부 모집에 직간접적으로 개입한 사실은 유엔의 각종 보고서와 고노 담화, 국내 학술 연구 결과로 인정되며 위안부들은 최소한의 인간적인 생활과 신체의 자유를 보장받지 못한 채 성적 서비스를 강요당해 인간으로서의 존엄을 말살당했다'고 전제했다.

그러면서 '이 책에서 '가라유키상의 후예', '오히려 즐기기 위한 것으로 봐야 한다' 등 10개 부분은 (위안부 할머니들이) 매춘임을 인지한 상태에서 본인의 선택에 의해 매춘업에 종사한 사람임을 암시해 허위사실임이 인정된다'고 밝혔다.

재판부는 또 ''일본 제국에 대한 애국의 의미를 지니고 있었다'는 등 32개 부분은 인격권을 침해하는 의견표명에 해당한다'고 판시했다.

이 책에 쓴 표현이 '학문의 자유'에 해당해 제재받아서는 안 된다는 박 교수의 주장은 인정하지 않았다.

재판부는 '피해자들이 생존하는 경우라면 피해자들의 인격권이 학문의 자유에 대한 보호보다 상대적으로 중시될 수 있다'면서 '일반적인 학문 발표보다 신중함이 요구됨에도 박 교수는 부정적이고 충격적인 표현으로 원고의 명예를 심각하게 침해했다'고 밝혔다.

이 할머니 등 3명은 선고가 끝난 뒤 법원 앞에서 기자회견을 열고 '우리는 '한국인'으로서 '강제로' 끌려간 것'이라면서 '다시는 이런 일이 벌어지지 않기를 대한민국에 요구한다'고 말했다. (연합뉴스)
Emaillkm@ktimes.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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