Protesting Korean teenagers for the Japanese Imperial sexual slavery victims in front of the Statue of Peace
The sexual slavery victims of the Japanese Imperial army issue has persisted as international conflicts between Korea and Japan for an extended period. Meanwhile, the professor of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School, Ramseyer, who has been backed by Mitsubishi, a multi-billion dollar corporation in Japan, published a paper titled, ‘Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War,’ on 1 December 2020. The paper argues that sexual slavery victims of Japan were volunteered for high wages by using a contract based on consent to prostitution. His paper denies all of the national intervention by the Japanese Imperial military, compulsory mobilization, human trafficking, or sexual exploitation.
The official position title of Ramseyer at Harvard, who claimed the comfort women victims as 'prostitutes,’ is ' Mitsubishi Professor of Japanese Legal Studies.’ Mitsubishi was a corporation that helped the Japanese Imperial wage war during World War II. In September 1972, Mitsubishi received the position of a chair-professor who studied Japan by donating $1 million and a letter to the president of Harvard and was promoted to an official professorship in 1998. The first beneficiary was known to be Ramseyer, and it was also reported in the New York Times at the time. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measurement method used by the U.S. government, more than $18 million has been sent to Harvard from Mitsubishi, after the first donation. Considering that the recent donation status has not been disclosed, it is very likely that such supports have been continued until now. Ramseyer emailed The Harvard Crimson claiming that his relationship with the Japanese government had no impact on his paper. However, in 2018, he won the Japanese government medal, ‘Order of the Rising Sun,’ which was due to his contribution to Japanese studies and the promotion of Japanese culture. After being awarded, he published a historical paper on the right-wing views of Japan, including justifying the Kantō Massacre and discrimination against Koreans.
However, Ramseyer’s claims in his paper were not based on any factual evidence, ignoring the presence of its victims and testimonies of countless survivors. Most of the Japanese military sexual slavery victims were teenage girls, and as many as 70 percent of Korean women were illiterate. Therefore, they were not able to read the words written in the contract. Numerous scholars argue that what Ramseyer's paper states includes many academic violations and unacceptable for such papers to remain in historical journals. It should be made entirely as an academic error. Further, that Ramseyer posted false information about them in public journals is a distortion of history, and defamation against the affected countries and its victims during World War II and survivors of Japan's anti-humanitarian activities at the time.
The thesis published by Ramseyer at the end of the last year has massive issues, such as historical, academic, and ethical problems. Mitsubishi's decades of sponsorship of Harvard and placing Ramseyer as a professor eventually affected the entire academic community. It has been revealed that a corporation can use capital to have a great impact on academia and society and give people an improper perception. The scholars and people worldwide have started to protest with their indignation, demanding a sincere apology from Ramseyer, a recantation of his paper, and incapacitation of his scholar status. However, some analysts say that the controversy over historical distortions triggered by his thesis has served as an opportunity to shed light on the tragedy of comfort women.
Yu Bin Kwon, Staff Writer
Comments