Prosecutors did not indict a former Kyunghee University professor who, during a university lecture, spoke to the effect that victims of the Japanese military's comfort women system engaged in "voluntary prostitution."
The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Eun-ha) said on the 26th that on the 21st it decided not to indict Choi Jeong-sik, a former professor in the Department of Philosophy at Kyunghee University, who had been referred on charges of defamation.
Prosecutors were said to have concluded that Choi's remarks did not specify particular facts but were closer to an opinion or evaluation emphasizing a personal judgment about social phenomena. Accordingly, it was reported that they determined the elements of defamation were not met.
Choi was accused of making remarks damaging the honor of victims of the Japanese military's comfort women during a "Basics of Western Philosophy" lecture in Mar. 2023.
At the time, Choi was found to have said phrases such as "people who followed the Japanese military and engaged in prostitution" and "they were not taken by force but went voluntarily."
In Feb. last year, the Dongdaemun Police Station, which investigated the case following a complaint by the Committee for People's Livelihood Measures (Seominwi), sent Choi to the prosecution without detention on defamation charges. Comfort woman victim Lee Yong-su also submitted a handwritten statement asking that Choi be punished.
Choi, who received a three-month pay cut as a disciplinary measure from Kyung Hee Academy, the school foundation, was reported to have retired at the mandatory retirement age in Feb. last year.