Installation view of 《The Day After We Are Gone》 (Seven Sisters Museum, 2021) ©Seven Sisters Museum

Camptown Women, Forgotten Voices

Following the Korean War, U.S. military bases were established across the country, and “camptowns” formed around them. These areas were not merely residential spaces but functioned as centers of the sex industry catering to U.S. soldiers. Women who worked there were labeled with derogatory terms such as “Yanggongju” or “Yangsaksi,” becoming targets of severe social stigma and contempt.

Joo Yongseong, Boknam Kim, Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 2021, Pigment print, 53.3x40cm ©Joo Yongseong

Contrary to the social gaze directed at them, the government at times praised these women as “industrial workers” who earned foreign currency. In reality, camptown women functioned as de facto “comfort women for U.S. forces,” becoming tools for maintaining the state and military alliance. Many women were forcibly drawn into camptowns through employment fraud or human trafficking. Although their presence may appear voluntary on the surface, structurally it was a complex reality deeply intertwined with coercion and exploitation.

In the 1970s, the United States demanded improvements to camptown environments as a condition for the continued stationing of U.S. forces in Korea. In response, the Korean government implemented the so-called “camptown cleanup project.” During this process, camptown women were subjected to even stricter management and control. The government enforced regular venereal disease tests and provided training for entertaining U.S. soldiers, effectively operating an institutionalized system of sexual exploitation.

Joo Yongseong, Eunja Jo, Pyeongtaek, South Korea, 2021, Pigment print, 90x120cm ©Joo Yongseong

For a long time, camptown women were forced into silence. Social stigma made it nearly impossible for them to claim even the right to speak. Recently, however, they have begun to raise their voices one by one. Some may argue that their lives were a matter of “individual choice,” but history often pushes people into particular lives regardless of their will.

They are not merely figures of the past. They are still alive today and wish to tell their stories. Now is the time for us to listen.

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