Korean Policy toward US Camptowns in the 1970s: focusing on the ROK-US Joint Committee Minutes

Abstract

This study analyzes the minutes of the ROK-US SOFA Joint Committee, the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Civil-Military Relations and Civil Affairs Conference in the 1970s, which were released to the public by the Diplomatic Archives in 2013. Camptowns and camptown prostitutes were regulated and controlled by the Park Chung Hee administration in the 1970s. However, issues surrounding the camptowns have largely gone unacknowledged in the 70 years since the US military has been stationed in Korea. Therefore, the current study aims to explore the ROK governments perceptions of camptowns and camptown prostitutes, the policies implemented due to these perceptions, and the purpose of conducting such policies. The purpose of this study is to examine the camptown issues of the minutes from a microscopic view. According to Katharine Moon, the ROK government conducted the Camptown Clean-Up Campaign as a means of coping with the uncertainty of ROK-US relations due to US security policy change. This thesis attempts to uncover internal factors that led to the ROK governments policies on camptowns in the 1970s evident in the SOFA Joint Committee minutes and official documents of the ROK government. In order to analyze the characteristics of the policies the ROK government pursued regarding camptowns and camptown prostitutes, the main body of this thesis focuses on three areas: venereal disease (VD) control, the registration system and the economy. First of all, VD control was one of the key policies on camptowns, as previous studies have shown. However, the current study is doubtful of whether the VD infection problem was the top priority for the ROK government among all of the projects of the Camptown Clean-Up Campaign. Second, the ROK government emphasized the registration of camptown prostitutes as a control system at the SOFA Joint Committee meeting and the registration system facilitated coercive control on camptown prostitutes. President Park Chung Hee had utilized the resident registration system to control the entire nation, and this system was applied to camptown prostitutes with the same intention. Third, and most important, the ROK government perceived camptowns and camptown prostitutes as a potential economic threat and the policies on camptowns were implemented to exercise control for more economic benefits. Illegal economic activities in camptowns regarding imported cigarettes, Post Exchange (PX) goods and Military Payment Certificates (MPCs) were strictly controlled. Camptowns had to be under government surveillance since most of the illegal transactions which occurred there were against the economic strategy of the government. This paper determines the degree of concern of the ROK government with respect to illegal transactions in camptowns by reviewing its policies on camptowns. The policies reveal the ROK governments urgent need to collect more tax revenue and foreign currency, though in contradictory ways. The government stated it was in a crisis situation with regard to security, but on the contrary, it argued that the ROK was no longer in a state of war with regard to the economy. In addition, it cracked down on illegal actions occurring in camptowns, but at the same time, it tried to legalize certain illegal actions if those were considered to contribute to economic development.