Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese ianfu (慰安婦),which literally means "comforting,consoling woman". During World War II,Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Korea,the Philippines,Vietnam,China,and other countries into brothels where they were sexually enslaved and repeatedly raped. Many women died or committed suicide due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war,Japan's acknowledgment of the comfort women's plight was minimal,lacking a full apology and appropriate restitution,which damaged Japan's reputation in Asia for decades.
Diplomatic relations between South Korea and the United States commenced in 1950,when 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.
Lee Chun-jae is a South Korean serial killer known for committing the Hwaseong serial murders. Between 1986 and 1994,Lee murdered 15 women and young girls in addition to committing numerous sexual assaults predominantly in Hwaseong,Gyeonggi and the surrounding areas. The serial murders,which remained unsolved for 30 years,are considered to be the most infamous in South Korea's modern history. They are the inspiration for the 2003 film Memories of Murder.
Kenneth Allen McDuff was an American serial killer. He was convicted in 1966 of murdering 16-year-old Edna Sullivan,her boyfriend,17-year-old Robert Brand,and Brand's cousin,15-year-old Mark Dunnam,who was visiting from California. They were all strangers whom McDuff abducted after noticing Sullivan. McDuff repeatedly raped her before breaking her neck with a broomstick.
The 1995 Okinawa rape incident occurred on September 4,1995,when three U.S. servicemen,U.S. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and U.S. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet,all serving at Camp Hansen on Okinawa,rented a van and kidnapped a 12-year-old Okinawan girl. They beat her,duct-taped her eyes and mouth shut,and bound her hands. Gill and Harp then raped her,while Ledet claimed he only pretended to do so due to fear of Gill. The offenders were tried and convicted in Japanese court by Japanese law,in accordance with the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement. The families of the defendants initially claimed that Japanese officials had racially discriminated against the men because they were all African American and coerced confessions from them,but later retracted the claims. The incident led to further debate over the continued presence of U.S. forces in Japan among Okinawans.
Dongducheon Station is a metro station located in Dongducheon,South Korea. Seoul Subway Line 1 serves this station,and it is the station right before the northern terminus of Line 1,which is Soyosan. Camp Casey,a U.S. Army military base,is located nearby.
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 and Shim Mi-seon.
Dong Yi is a 2010 South Korean historical television series starring Han Hyo-joo in the title role,along with Ji Jin-hee,Lee So-yeon and Bae Soo-bin. The series centers on the love story between King Sukjong and Choe Suk-bin. It aired from 22 March to 12 October 2010 on MBC TV's Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 time slot for 60 episodes.
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 US 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.
U.S. soldiers committed rape against French women during and after the liberation of France in the later stages of World War II. The sociologist J. Robert Lilly of Northern Kentucky University estimates that U.S. servicemen committed around 4,500 rapes in France between June 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945.
Lee Youn-taek (Korean: 이윤택) is a poet,dramatist,and producer.
Hubert Geralds Jr. is a serial killer within the state of Illinois in the United States of America. 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,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 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. Working with women from diverse backgrounds—Korean-born,Russian,and Filipina women—Durebang challenges militarism and exploitation in the camp town sex industry. Durebang provides online counseling,community outreach,English classes,Hangul classes,and legal rights classes
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.
Rape during the Vietnam War, as well as other acts of wartime sexual violence,was committed against Vietnamese civilians by military personnel from the United States,South Korea,and other combatants. According to American academic Elisabeth Jean Wood,wartime rape was frequently committed by U.S. troops because their commanders tolerated them. Weaver stated that not only were documented crimes against Vietnamese women by United States military personnel ignored during the international legal discourse which occurred immediately after the war,modern feminists and other anti-war rape campaigners,as well as historians,have continued to dismiss them.
