sankaras:

veganismbyhankang:

“Songtan is one of as many as 180 camptowns in South Korea today. Within 400 yards of Osan Air Base’s main gate, there are some 92 bars—about one every 26 feet. In a 2007 count, there were 21 hotels in the area with rooms by the hour. […]

Youngnim explained that the women often “try to get out of the clubs” by finding a GI. It’s a hard life with a different client every day. So they go and live with GI boyfriends. But “practically 90 percent of the women are abandoned,” she said. Many get pregnant and have babies. Some get married, and then the soldier disappears without a word when his tour is done.
Since the 1970s, GIs have also been involved in sham marriages used to bring Korean women to the United States to perform sex work in Korean massage parlors. Korean divorcées from legitimate marriages have also been vulnerable to recruitment into the parlors. In fact, researchers and law enforcement officers suggest that most Korean women working in U.S. massage parlors were once married to GIs.”

@scarcity-of-cats