Disir
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On Jan. 20, the Seoul Central District Court partially affirmed the claims of Korean women who had been sex workers in “camp towns” adjacent to U.S. military bases in the 1960s and ’70s. The New York Times called it a “landmark ruling” because it was the first official acknowledgement that the legal rights of the women who supplied sexual services to U.S. base personnel were violated.
The court pointedly referred to the plaintiffs as “comfort women,” drawing a parallel with Japan’s more notorious system of wartime sexual servitude. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued it was hypocritical of the state to provide comfort women for U.S. soldiers while excoriating Japan for its corresponding system.
The court ordered the state to pay 5 million won (about ¥450,000) in damages each to 57 of the 122 plaintiffs, ruling that the government had no legal basis for forcibly detaining them to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the 1960s and 1970s prior to enacting a law allowing this in 1977. At that time there were approximately 20,000 comfort women serving 60,000 soldiers.
University of Oslo scholar Elisabeth Schober, author of “Base Encounters: The U.S. Armed Forces in South Korea,” suggests that government officials understood that U.S. soldiers’ access to women was part of the deal and as such “silently exempted” the camp towns from the legal ban on prostitution and cooperated extensively with the U.S. military to manage STDs. Officials even gave motivational speeches and arranged English classes for the sex workers.
Interestingly, the court rejected the state’s claim that the case should be dismissed because the five-year statute of limitations had expired. The court argued that the plaintiffs “cannot be seen as having neglected to assert their rights in view of the authoritarian rule, exclusionary public sentiments toward U.S. military comfort women, and the male-dominated and patriarchal society and culture at that time.”
'Comfort women' in South Korea who serviced U.S. forces seek justice | The Japan Times
Could people stop using the comfort women for their own agenda? That'd be great.
The court pointedly referred to the plaintiffs as “comfort women,” drawing a parallel with Japan’s more notorious system of wartime sexual servitude. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued it was hypocritical of the state to provide comfort women for U.S. soldiers while excoriating Japan for its corresponding system.
The court ordered the state to pay 5 million won (about ¥450,000) in damages each to 57 of the 122 plaintiffs, ruling that the government had no legal basis for forcibly detaining them to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the 1960s and 1970s prior to enacting a law allowing this in 1977. At that time there were approximately 20,000 comfort women serving 60,000 soldiers.
University of Oslo scholar Elisabeth Schober, author of “Base Encounters: The U.S. Armed Forces in South Korea,” suggests that government officials understood that U.S. soldiers’ access to women was part of the deal and as such “silently exempted” the camp towns from the legal ban on prostitution and cooperated extensively with the U.S. military to manage STDs. Officials even gave motivational speeches and arranged English classes for the sex workers.
Interestingly, the court rejected the state’s claim that the case should be dismissed because the five-year statute of limitations had expired. The court argued that the plaintiffs “cannot be seen as having neglected to assert their rights in view of the authoritarian rule, exclusionary public sentiments toward U.S. military comfort women, and the male-dominated and patriarchal society and culture at that time.”
'Comfort women' in South Korea who serviced U.S. forces seek justice | The Japan Times
Could people stop using the comfort women for their own agenda? That'd be great.
