Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu,a euphemism that literally means "comforting,consoling woman". During World War II,Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Australia,Burma,China,the Netherlands,the Philippines,Japan,Korea,Indonesia,East Timor,New Guinea and other countries into sexual enslavement for Japanese soldiers;however,the majority of the women were from Korea. Many women died due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war,Japan denied the existence of comfort women,refusing to provide an apology or appropriate restitution. After numerous demands for an apology and the revelation of official records showing the Japanese government's culpability,the Japanese government began to offer an official apology and compensation in the 1990s. However,apologies from Japanese officials have been criticized as insincere,and Japanese government officials have continued to deny the existence of comfort women.
A status of forces agreement (SOFA) is an agreement between a host country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. SOFAs are often included,along with other types of military agreements,as part of a comprehensive security arrangement. A SOFA does not constitute a security arrangement;it establishes the rights and privileges of foreign personnel present in a host country in support of the larger security arrangement. Under international law a status of forces agreement differs from military occupation.
Lady Vengeance is a 2005 South Korean neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook. The film is the third and final installment in Park's Vengeance Trilogy,following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003). It stars Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja,a woman released from prison after serving the sentence for a murder she did not commit. The film tells her story of revenge against the real murderer.
Diplomatic relations between South Korea and the United States commenced in 1949. The United States helped establish the modern state of South Korea,officially the Republic of Korea,and fought on its UN-sponsored side in the Korean War (1950–1953). During the subsequent decades,South Korea experienced tremendous economic,political and military growth.
Donald Henry "Pee Wee" Gaskins Jr. was an American serial killer and rapist from South Carolina who stabbed,shot,drowned,and poisoned more than a dozen people. Before his convictions for murder,Gaskins had a long history of criminal activities resulting in prison sentences for assault,burglary,and statutory rape. His last arrest was for contributing to the delinquency of a minor,13-year-old Kim Gehlken,who had gone missing in September 1975. During their search for the missing girl,police discovered eight bodies buried in shallow graves near Gaskins' home in Prospect,South Carolina.
Lee Choon-jae,also known as the Hwaesong Murderer,is a South Korean serial killer known for committing the Hwaseong serial murders. Between 1986 and 1994,Lee murdered fifteen women and girls in addition to committing numerous sexual assaults,predominantly in Hwaseong,Gyeonggi Province,and the surrounding areas. The murders,which remained unsolved for thirty years,are considered to be the most infamous in modern South Korean history and were the inspiration for the 2003 film Memories of Murder.
Kenneth Allen McDuff was an American serial killer from Texas. In 1966,McDuff and an accomplice kidnapped and murdered three teenagers who were visiting from California. He was given three death sentences for these crimes but avoided execution after the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Furman v. Georgia. He was resentenced to life and was paroled in 1989. Between October 1989 and March 1992,McDuff raped and killed at least six women,receiving another death sentence and was later executed in 1998.
Anti-American sentiment in Korea began with the earliest contact between the two nations and continued after the division of Korea and Korean War. Despite this,as of 2011,74% of South Koreans have a favorable view of the U.S.,making it one of the most pro-American countries in the world.
The Yangju highway incident,also known as the Yangju training accident or Highway 56 Accident,occurred on June 13,2002,in Yangju,Gyeonggi-do,South Korea. A United States Army armored vehicle-launched bridge,returning to base in Uijeongbu on a public road after training maneuvers in the countryside,struck and killed two 14-year-old South Korean schoolgirls,Shin Hyo-sun (Korean: 신효순) and Shim Mi-seon (심미선).
Gina Kim is a filmmaker and academic. Kim's five feature-length films and short films have garnered acclaim through screenings at most major film festivals and at venues such as the MOMA,Centre Pompidou and the Smithsonian. According to Film Comment,Kim has "a terrific eye,a gift for near-wordless storytelling,a knack for generating a tense gliding rhythm between images and sounds,shots and scenes,and for yielding a quality of radiance in her actors". Between 2004–2007 and 2013–2014,Kim taught film production and theory classes at Harvard University,being the first Asian woman teaching in her department. Kim was also a member of the Jury for the 66th Venice Film Festival and the Asian Pacific Screen Awards in 2009. Currently,Kim is a professor at the UCLA School of Theater,Film,and Television.
During and following the Korean War,the United States military used regulated prostitution services in South Korean military camptowns. Despite prostitution being illegal since 1948,women in South Korea were the fundamental source of sexual services for the U.S. military and a component of Korean-American relations. The women in South Korea who served as prostitutes are known as kijichon (기지촌) women,also called as "Korean Military Comfort Women",and were visited by the US military,Korean soldiers,and Korean civilians. The prostitutes were from Korea,Philippines,China,Vietnam,Thailand,Sri Lanka,Nepal,Indonesia,and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Ahn Hee-jung,also known as An Hee-jung,is a former South Korean politician and convicted felon. He served as the 36th and 37th Governor of South Chungcheong Province. He stepped down from his role as governor and announced his retirement from public life after acknowledging accusations that he sexually assaulted his aide Kim Ji-eun on multiple occasions. In February 2019,he was sentenced to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for sexual assault.
Progressivism in South Korea is a left-leaning political ideology,broadly associated with social democracy,cultural progressivism,and left-wing nationalism. It advocates for the promotion of social equality and welfare,economic justice,the protection of human rights and minority groups,peace and the reunification of the Korean Peninsula,as well as environmental sustainability.
Hubert Geralds Jr. is an American serial killer who murdered five women between 1994 and 1995. He is serving his prison sentence,life without parole,in Menard Correctional Center,which is operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections. During his spree of murders,he was known as the Englewood Strangler. Geralds is in custody under the identification number B39967. He was admitted to the Menard Correctional Center on January 16,1998.
Capital punishment in Hawaii ended in 1957 when it was still an organized incorporated territory of the United States. About 75 people were executed by the government,all for the crime of murder,and all by hanging. Additionally,during and after World War II,at least seven U.S. servicemen were executed by the United States Armed Forces by order of a general court martial.
Kijichon (Korean: 기지촌),literally camptown,refers to the towns surrounding military bases of the United States Forces Korea (USFK). They are generally located in more rural areas,many of which are near the Korean demilitarized zone. The inhabitants often do not interact with Korean society at large due to the stigma associated with living and working in kijichon. In terms of Korean citizens,kijichon are primarily populated by the poor and otherwise marginalized. The towns exist mainly to provide prostitution to American soldiers,which was deemed as "necessary for soldiers to continue protecting South Korea,and was beneficial for economic development" in kijichon. All of the businesses in these towns that explicitly cater to "U.S. military personnel must be licensed by the Korea Special Tourist Association." This cooperation with the government and the fact that many bases are located near the demilitarized zone makes it easier to conceal the sex work and G.I. crime from the general population.
My Sister's Place is an advocacy and counseling group founded in March 1986 in Uijeongbu,South Korea. The group is a non-profit government organization that supports women involved and affected by prostitution in military camp towns. It focuses on improving the lives of women who have entered the sex industry in and around U.S. military base camp towns in Korea. Durebang work with women from diverse backgrounds—Korean-born,Russian,and Filipina women—challenging the militarism and exploitation in the camp town sex industry. The group provides online counseling,community outreach,English classes,Hangul classes,and legal rights classes to women.
The Women Outside:Korean Women and the U.S. Military is a 60 minute 1995 documentary film created by film/video makers Hye Jung Park and J.T. Takagi. The film details the experiences of South Korean women who work in U.S. military camptown brothels,bars,or clubs,exposing how the South Korean government and U.S. military mutually benefit from the sexual exploitation of women.
Sex trafficking in South Korea is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Republic of Korea. South Korea is a country of origin,destination,and transit for sexually trafficked persons. Sex trafficking victims in the country are from South Korea and foreigners.
The main island of Okinawa accounts for 0.6% of Japan's land mass,though about 75% of United States forces in Japan are stationed in the Okinawa prefecture,encompassing about 18% of the main island of Okinawa. Following the ratification of the revised U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960,massive protests of US military presence in Okinawa followed across Japan with an estimated 30 million Japanese citizens participating,known in Japan as the Anpo protest movement. With such a strong focus of United States Forces Japan in Okinawa,residents face economic problems of the highest unemployment in Japan as well as struggle for investment from outside businesses. Immense public opposition in Okinawa is still met with difficulty to create change for Okinawan citizens,while 25,000 American troops remain in Okinawa.
