Sexual Labor and Security???

"Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations

The article by Katherine H. S. Moon portrays a very innovative way of looking at the sex trade industry in South Korea as a product of and essential component to South Korea's security, specifically the security provided by U.S. forces.

To summarize the issue, essentially Moon explains the history of sex trade in Korea. It began in WWII with comfort women for the Japanese forces in Korea. This was a forced business for Korean women under the oppression of the Japanese soldiers. Then, it continued all the way through the Korean War when American forces established clubs and bars for servicemen to pick up women and meet their needs. The industry is still going even today.

The Korean economy was so bad at the time that most women did not have employment and needed some means for providing for themselves and their families. This is how the relationship started. Then, as time went along, it became a staple for troops in Korea and the women who needed work. They each depend upon the industry of sex, or at the very least expect it. This is an interesting, yet disturbing situation.

On one hand, allowing sexual labor greatly threatens the security of the Korean people, especially the women who work, on a personal, health, and cultural scale. These women are not safe in daily life (my simple definition of security) because their health is at risk, they can become depressed from the work, and society shuns them for violating deep-rooted, ancient cultural norms (such as racial purity and sexual purity). This is a security crisis for an old, priceless nation of people.

On the other hand, taking away the sex trade industry also threatens security. Sexual labor brings economic security to the women who work, the clubs who own them, and the bartenders who serve them and servicemen drinks. The sex trade industry is also being portrayed by Moon and other scholars as a key ingredient in maintaining U.S. troops to protect South Korea from North Korea, China, and other outside nations (actors) that threaten their security as a nation. The availability of sexual partners on a whim, for cheap, is seen as a desirable part of a soldier's stay in Korea and necessary to keep troops coming back.

However, as Moon also sees, I do not think this is the case any longer. Korean people are seeing the terrible effects of such a relationship. They could once overlook these because of the military-based security benefits reaped from sex trade. However, the definition of security has changed and so have the climate.

People now see security as not just militarily based but culturally, economically, and socially. The climate now involves a pan-Korean nationalist movement to reunite North and South Korea, thereby eliminating an enemy and the need for the U.S. troops that fuel the sex trade. Thus, the sex trade threatens security in today's world moreso than it protects security. With reunification becoming a topic of conversation and possibly a movement, I believe there is no longer room for sex trade and that the women who's personal security is threatened by it have the chance for a safer, better life someday.