Former prostitutes seek compensation from South Korean government

28 November 2014 - 15:18 By Times LIVE
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More then 120 former prostitutes who worked near a US military base in South Korea are seeking their government.

The BBC reports that in South Korea the 'camp towns' that housed the prostitutes reach right up to the walls of the US' bases.

The former prostitutes claim that by facilitating these ramshackle towns, the South Korean government facilitated their work in order to keep the American forces happy.

Some of the women were apparently recruited at employment placement centres.

"There was this talk going round about earning dollars by working in the clubs, and that that would would make you a patriot - somebody who was a hard-working Korean. We did earn a lot of dollars in the camp town," one woman said.

While the women weren't forced to become prostitutes, once they did they were trapped.

Dr Kathy Moon of the Brookings Institution, who wrote the study Sex Among Allies, says the women got trapped by debt to the bar owners, and were often raped.

"Once these women were there, they couldn't get out easily. They were raped continuously - raped by the manager," said Moon.

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