News compilation in The Multiplural World, Sept 10, 2025 (with related, background readings)
Report by Agence France presse, Sept 9, 2025 (with related analysis further below):
117 South Korean women who were coerced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country from the 1950s to 1989s have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers announced on Tuesday, September 9. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked [sic] for state-sanctioned brothels during and following the Korean War waged by the United States from 1950 to 1953 and for decades.
In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the U.S. military, ordering it to pay compensation to around 120 plaintiffs. Last week, 117 victims filed a fresh lawsuit, this time officially accusing – and seeking an apology from – the U.S. military for the first time. The lawsuit seeks 10 million won ($7,200) in compensation per victim.
Unlike the better-known “comfort women” used by Japanese soldiers until the end of World War II, those who were exploited by U.S. troops have received relatively limited attention, largely due to Washington being Seoul’s key and longtime security ally.
The economy surrounding military brothels in U.S. base towns, including restaurants, barbershops and bars catering to American GIs, made up about 25% of South Korea’s GDP during the 1960s and 70s, according to historians.
“I still cannot forget being beaten by U.S. soldiers – slapped for lowering my head while pouring drinks, for not smiling, or for no reason at all,” one of the plaintiffs, in her 60s and who did not wish to give her name, said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). She said she was only 17 when she was tricked into the job – she thought she was going to be a bartender, but was forced into sex work and told she could not leave due to her “debt.”
‘I couldn’t walk’
“Every night we were dragged to U.S. soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests. If there was the slightest abnormality, we were locked in a small room and injected with a thick needle of strong penicillin,” she said. “The shots were so harsh that my legs gave out and I couldn’t even walk.”
In a joint statement, women’s rights activists supporting the victims said the U.S. military “ignored the South Korean Constitution” and stripped the women of their personal freedom and “destroyed their lives.”
The suit names the South Korean government as the defendant, since under existing laws Seoul must compensate victims of illegal acts committed by U.S. soldiers on duty and later seek reimbursement from Washington, lawyers said. “This lawsuit seeks to hold both the South Korean government and the US military authorities jointly liable for the unlawful acts,” lawyer Ha Ju-hee told AFP.
The United States still stations around 28,500 troops in South Korea. The United States Forces Korea (USFK) told AFP it was “aware of the reports regarding the issue,” adding “we will not comment while legal proceedings are ongoing… We affirm that we do not condone any behavior that violates Republic of Korea laws, rules, or directives, and we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of good order and discipline,” the USFK said.
Related readings:
* United States military and prostitution in South Korea, large entry in Wikipedia
* ‘Harbin’ is a must-see Korean film depicting Korea’s anti-colonial struggle against imperialist Japan, film review by Cary Darling (staff writer), in Houston Chronicle, Jan 3, 2025 At the start of the 20th century, Japan annexed Korea, lighting the fire of an independence movement that would see the movement’s goal partially achieved in 1945. This bit of history might seem distant, but director Woo Min-ho’s moody, handsomely wrought political thriller ‘Harbin’ comes to life in his hands… (‘Harbin’ screened worldwide beginning in early 2025.)
* Television documentary in Japan on atrocities of wartime ‘Unit 731’ triggers public outrage, calls for reflection, report in Global Times, Aug 16, 2017 A documentary recently released by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK has triggered heated discussions and calls for reflection upon the war history in Japanese society. Titled ‘The Truth of Harbin Unit 731’, the documentary reveals the outrageous crimes committed by ‘Unit 731’, a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II…
* [Unmentioned in Western news media accounts and by most ‘historians’ of the subject is that the U.S.-waged Korean War created ‘South Korea’ as a dictatorship. Its military rulers governed for decades and were responsible for abominable crimes and human rights violations. Today, ‘South Korea’ remains an outpost of imperialist dominance and has arguably risen into the exclusive league of imperialist countries , closely allied to U.S. imperialism and thereby tied into an uneasy alliance with Japanese imperialism.
[Joint participants in the Korean War war included Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. Today, those Anglo countries continue to celebrate their role in the genocidal war they helped to wage. In other words, tragically, there is little that is new in their present-day support to the genocidal war being waged by Apartheid Israel against the Palestinian people. How do the citizens of the uncivilized West live with their support to today’s U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine against the people of Russia? The answer: because they willingly accept living in a world of ignorance and prejudice. For a history of the Korean War, read The Korean War: A History, by Bruce Cumings, published in July 2011, 320 pages. [‘Daddy, did grandad sexually assault and abuse Korean girls when he fought in the Korean War? You don’t know? Ok. My daughter’s school here in Canada teaches that the Korean War where granddad fought and lived amidst officially sanctioned brothels was a great war for democracy, but the brothels and the genocidal bombings of the people there have been known for a long time. Why does my school continue to teach such lies, the same lies that I was taught decades ago? Did you and mommy do anything to stop these lies from being taught decades ago?. No? You say you didn’t know the story at the time? Now that you and mommy do know about the raping of Korean girls by U.S. and Anglo soldiers during the West’s genocidal war against the people of Korea, will you join with me in having the school stop teaching that the Korea War was a great war? And can you and mommy join with me in doing what we can to stop the genocide taking place today in Palestine, beginning with boycotting and shunning all things Israeli?’]
