◇ Cambridge University journal “To modify Ramsay paper”
On the 17th (local time), Korean-American groups that participated in the urge to withdraw history-distorting thesis held in front of the New Jersey comfort women’s Girimbi are waving the Korean flag and the flag. 〈Photo = Yonhap News, Northeastern Korean American Association〉It was the editors of the academic journal at the University of Cambridge, UK who admitted the error in Professor Ramsey’s thesis. The journal is expected to publish Professor Ramsey’s thesis published in June 2019 in the journal to be published in August, and is embarrassed by unexpected circumstances.
This is because it was revealed that the paper titled’Vigilantes: Japanese Police, Korean Massacre and Private Security Company’, written by Professor Ramsay, contained the content that “Koreans showed violent tendencies during the Great Kanto Earthquake.” Professor Ramsey argued that “the Japanese responded (by massacre, etc.) because the Koreans committed arson and other crimes.”
Professor Alon Harrell, a law school professor at the Hebrew University of Israel, who is co-editor of the journal, said in an email interview with the local media, that Professor Ramsey’s paper was “a very regrettable mistake” and that “there will be nothing in the original journal.” Professor Harrell admitted the mistake that Professor Ramsey would be more aware of the history of the Japanese occupation.
In addition, when the editors delivered critical comments to Professor Ramsay, Professor Ramsay explained that “this is mostly just a rumor that I heard from Japanese sources.” Then he said that Professor Ramsey also announced his intention to revise the thesis’a significant part’.
◇ Professors at Harvard University also criticize Ramsay
Public opinion is also infested within Harvard. Prof. Carter Eckert of the Department of East Asian Languages and Culture at the school and Professor Andrew Gordon of the Department of History made a statement on the 17th and pointed out that there was a flaw in Professor Ramsey’s research that identified comfort women victims as prostitutes. Professor Ramsey wrote the thesis without confirming the contract actually signed by the comfort women victim.
They also criticized Professor Ramsey’s inability to present statements or oral testimony from a third party, as well as claiming that prostitution contracts were made in the region even before the Japanese fight in Myanmar. Their conclusion is that Professor Ramsey’s thesis was the worst violation of academic integrity.
Korean American organizations such as the New York Korean Parents Association and the Massachusetts Korean Association have also taken action. They are asking the president of Harvard University to immediately resign from Professor Ramsey, and plan to hold a condemnation rally in front of the school on the first day of next month on the third day of the month.
◇ Some Korean professors “Academic freedom should be recognized even by Ramsay”
On the other hand, some Korean professors stressed that academic freedom should be recognized for Professor Ramsey’s thesis. “The debate surrounding the thesis shows how limited the space for discussion on the comfort women issue is” I did.
They presuppose that “our purpose is not to support Professor Ramsey’s writing,” and then “attacking Ramsey’s academic integrity because of his personal connection with Japan sounds counterproductive and xenophobic.” “The research and debate related to comfort women have been constrained in Korea, which has fostered collective thinking in politics and society,” he argues.