조헌정목사의 '한국전쟁 깊이 톺아보기' < 통일시대 2406

조헌정목사의 '한국전쟁 깊이 톺아보기' < 한반도 정세 < 한반도정론 < 기사본문 - 통일시대

http://www.minplusnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=15043

조헌정목사의 '한국전쟁 깊이 톺아보기'
기자명 조헌정목사
입력 2024.06.25 

조헌정(전 향린교회 목사·615남측위공동상임대표)

[목차]

1. 들어가면서
2. 왜 6월 25일인가?
3. 군사1급기밀에 해당하는 에치슨선언은 왜 했던 것일까?
4. 왜 스탈린과 모택동은 처음부터 도와주지 않았는가?
5. 왜 인민군은 서울 점령 후 전쟁을 멈추었을까?
6. 또 하나의 가정
7. 정전협정 작성에 2년이나 걸린 이유
8. 결국 전쟁의 혜택은 누가 입었나?
9. 나가면서

(이 글은 소통과 혁신연구소 카페의 글을 함께 게재한 것입니다. 편집자)

조헌정목사

1. 들어가면서

올해 우리는 한국전쟁 발발 74년 그리고 휴전 71년째를 맞이하고 있다. 전쟁은 아직도 끝나지 않았다. 이는 인류 역사상 동족 간 가장 긴 전쟁일지도 모른다. 남한은 지난 10년 이상 세계 최고의 자살율 국가로 자리매김하고 있다. 이 수치는 OECD 국가 평균 두 배 이상임으로 앞으로 10년 동안은 이 지위가 변하지 않을 것이다. 여기에 세계 최저의 출산율과 최고의 소득 불평등지수를 가진 매우 열악한 국가이다. 동시에 남한은 세계 13위의 경제대국, 7위의 군사대국이다,

이 상반된 수치는 정상적인 국가로서는 이해할 수 없는 결과이다. 그 원인은 여러 가지로 설명될 수 있지만, 자살률 2위 국가가 또 하나의 분단국인 키프러스공화국임을 감안할 때, 가장 큰 요인으로 분단을 생각하지 않을 수 없다. 동족을 향한 극도의 적대감은 생명경시 현상을 낳고 이는 부메랑이 되어 자신에게로 돌아온다는 것이 필자의 주장이다.

오백만 명의 사상자와 천만 명의 이산가족을 낳은 3년간의 치열한 전쟁이 없었더라면 설사 미국의 동아시아 패권 지배정책(Divide and Conquer)에 의해 분단이 지속되었다 할지라도 남북 간 오늘날과 같은 뿌리 깊은 반목과 질시가 계속되지는 않았을 것이다. 비록 정권에 따라 약간의 부침은 있을망정 과거 서독과 동독이 그러했듯이 남북 교류는 끊어지지 않았을 것이다. 지구촌 세계화 시대를 맞아 지난 20년 동안 몇 번의 남북정상회담이 있었음에도 불구하고 현직 대통령이 북조선을 향해 주적이라는 단어를 공개적으로 사용할 수 있는 이유는 바로 전쟁으로 인한 증오심이 국민 마음속에 여전히 살아 움직이고 있기 때문이다.

냉정하게 말해 남북통일은 요원하다고 말할 수밖에 없다. 대화조차도 끊어진 상황에서 평화통일은 하나의 신기루에 불과한 얘기이고, 무력통일 또한 핵무기를 비롯한 가공할만한 수많은 신무기가 쌍방에 존재하는 이상 민족 전체의 죽음을 전제하지 않고서는 결코 가능하지 않다.

따라서 우리가 지금 통일을 위해 할 수 있는 일은 우리 마음속 분단의 장벽을 허무는 일 외에는 없고, 이 마음속 분단의 장벽을 허무는 일은 한국전쟁에 대한 바른 이해를 갖는 일에서부터 시작하여야 한다. 개인의 상처는 시간이 가면서 점차 잊혀가겠지만, 역사 인식이 잘못됨으로 인한 미움은 쉽게 사라지지 않고 오히려 집단 기억을 통해 더 증폭되어가기 때문이다. 작년 6월 25일에는 유치원생들이 국군묘지에 가서 ‘결코 잊지 않겠다’는 현수막 아래 헌화하는 사진을 언론을 통해 보았다. 철모르는 아이들에게조차 증오심을 키워주고 있는 것이 오늘의 현실이다.

한국전쟁에 대한 가장 큰 오해는 

• 첫째, CNN, BBC 등등의 방송에서 코리아 관련 뉴스를 보도할 때, 한국전쟁이 남북분단으로 인해 생겨난 전쟁이 아닌, 한국전쟁으로 인해 남북분단이 생겨났다고 하는 전제를 갖고 논평을 할 때가 많다. 
• 둘째, 1945년 8월 15일 일제의 패망과 함께 일어난 남북분단을 미소 냉전의 결과라고 교과서에서는 말하지만, 정확하게 말해 미국이 제안한 것을 소련이 받아들인 것이다. 소련은 본래 일본을 분할 점령하기를 원했다. 
• 셋째, 남한사람들의 친미/종미적인 경향은 한국전쟁시에 목숨을 걸고 남한을 지켜주었다고 하는 고마운 생각에서 출발한다.

그러나 이는 병 주고 약 주기식의 제국의 교활함을 전혀 고려하지 않는 몰역사성에 있다. 미국이 남한사람을 좋아해서 지켜준 것이 아니라, 당시 소련 공산주의 진영과의 대결 과정에서 코리아반도에서의 패배는 미국의 세계 패권 전략에 결정적인 타격이 되기 때문이다. 코리아반도가 소련의 영향권에 들어간다면 일본이 이에 들어가는 것은 시간문제요 그렇게 되면 미국은 태평양과 인도양의 통제권을 상실하기 때문이다. 미국에게 있어 코리아반도는 세계패권유지에 있어 결정적인 요충지가 되는 것이다.

• 넷째, 한국전쟁은 1950년 6월 25일 일요일 새벽 4시 김일성정권에 의해 일방적으로 시작되었다는 것이 남한사람 절대 다수의 생각이다. 그래서 남한에서는 6.25전쟁이라고 부른다. 6월 25일 새벽 김일성정권이 남침을 시작하였다는 것은 맞는 이야기이지만, 삼 일 전인 6월 22일 서부전선에서 국군의 해주 침공이 있었고, 멀리는 1948년 8월 15일과 9월 9일 남과 북에 각각의 단독정부가 수립된 이후 1950년 6월 25일까지 약 1년 반이라는 기간 38선을 사이에 두고 남북 간에는 400번 이상의 크고 작은 전투가 있었음을 기억해야 한다. 

이 기간 남한에서만 10만 명 이상의 사람들이 분단으로 인해 희생이 되었다.
38선은 물론이요 제주와 여수, 순천, 대구 등등 여러 지역에서 일어난 수많은 분쟁으로 말미암아 엄청난 생명이 희생되었던 것이다. 한국전쟁의 시작을 단순히 1950년 6월 25일로 보는 견해는 너무나도 안이한 역사 인식이다.

해방분단 이후 지난 79년 동안 남북은 서로에 대한 비난만을 일삼아 왔으며 이로 인한 역사 왜곡은 심각한 문제를 불러일으키고 있다. 오늘도 남한 국민들은 새벽 잠을 자고 있는 동안 남한정부가 보낸 비상문자를 모두 받았다. 북에서 오물풍선을 보냈다는 문자였다. 이 또한 남쪽에서 먼저 삐라풍선을 보냈기 때문에 북에서 보복차원에서 일어난 것임을 언론은 감추고 있다. 또 하나의 예를 들면 남한 대부분의 사람들은 14년 전 천안함침몰사건을 북조선의 어뢰공격으로 알고 있지만, 당시 민주당 추천 조사위원으로 참가했던 신상철대표는 처음부터 북한의 어뢰공격이 아닌 좌초에 의한 침몰을 주장해 왔고, 이 때문에 조사위원 박탈은 물론 12년간의 재판을 받았지만, 2022년 대법원에서 무죄선고를 받았다. 어뢰설을 부정하지는 않았지만, 침몰설에 하자가 없다는 판결을 내린 것이다. 그러나 언론은 이에 대해 보도를 전혀 하지 않았다. 곧 남북문제에는 언제나 두 개의 진리가 존재하는 모순된 사회에서 우리는 살아가고 있는 것이다.

국제법에 따르면 대한민국과 조선민주주의인민공화국은 별개의 독립된 국가이지만, 남한 국내법에 따르면 북조선은 남한의 영토를 불법으로 차지하고 있는 <반국가단체>에 불과하다. 이에 따라 국내 언론은 물론 해외 언론 또한 객관적인 보도를 하지 않고 미국이 조종하는 북 악마화에 열심을 내고 있을 따름이다.

지난 79년 동안 남한에서는 조금이라도 북조선에 대한 긍정적인 발언을 하는 순간 그는 빨갱이로 낙인이 찍혀 국가보안법에 의해 피해를 당해 왔다. 이영희교수나 강정구교수와 같이 학문에 기초한 객관적인 사실 이야기를 하더라도 ‘북한찬양’이라고 하는 올가미에 씌워 온갖 핍박을 가하고 있는 것이 남한의 정치 현실이다.

• 다섯째, 북조선에서는 한국전쟁을 ‘조선해방전쟁’으로 부르고 있다. 북조선(NK)에서는 국가의 출발을 1932년 김일성의 게릴라 항일투쟁에 두고 있다. 따라서 북조선(NK)에서는 일본을 대신한 미국이라는 외세를 코리아의 영토에서 몰아내는 일을 최우선 과제로 삼을 수밖에 없다. 항일투쟁이 항미투쟁으로 그 이름만 바뀐 것이다. 바로 이 이유 때문에 남한과는 달리 북조선에서는 종전선언에 그렇게 적극적인 태도를 보이지 않았다. 한국전쟁에 대한 이러한 입장 차이를 이해하지 못하는 한, 남북대화는 언제나 제자리에서 맴돌 수밖에 없다!

그리하여 필자는 역사학자가 아님에도 불구하고 남북화해와 통일을 위해 힘써 온 목사로서 한국전쟁에 관해 그간 잘 알려지지 않았던 이야기를 중심으로 글을 써야겠다는 생각을 갖게 되었다. 신학에서 역사적 예수에 대한 새로운 책들이 계속 나오면서 성서를 새롭게 읽게 되었고, 예수에 대한 생각이 근본적으로 바뀌게 되었다.

마찬가지로 다음의 책들이 나에게 새로운 시각을 제공하였다. 

• 1. 『부르스 커밍스의 한국전쟁: 전쟁의 기억과 분단의 미래』 (The Korean War: A History, 현실문화, 2010. 이하‘Cummings’) 
• 2. 아브람스(A.B.Abrams)의 『끝나지 않은 전쟁: 북-미 대결 70년사 I, II』 (Immovable Object: North Korea’s 70 Years at War With American Power, 민플러스. 2022. 이하 ‘Abrams’) 
• 3. 오로지의 『두 얼굴의 미국과 한국전쟁』 (휴엔스토리, 2021. 이하 ‘오로지’) 
• 저자 오로지는 역사가는 아니지만, 필자와 같은 시각에서 한국전쟁에 관한 풀리지 않는 문제에 대해 여러 학자들의 자료를 인용하고 있다.

이중 그가 자주 인용한 죤 메릴(John Merill) 교수는 미국무성에서 30년을 일한 사람으로 제주43항쟁을 주제로 석사논문을 한국전쟁을 주제로 박사논문을 쓴 학자이다. 

7년 전 워싱톤에서 한국기독교교회협의회(NCCK) 대표 20여 명의 목사들과 대담을 한 적이 있는데, 이때 그는 ‘미국 의회에 와서 증언하는 탈북자들은 모두 거짓말을 하고 있다. 

증언을 확인해 보면, 맞는 게 하나도 없다.’라고 발언을 하기도 했으며, 1949년 말 남한의 해군이 해주 인근의 북조선 해안중대를 기습하여 초토화시킨 사실을 은퇴한 남한 해군장성을 캘리포니아의 집까지 직접 찾아가서 확인한 바 있다고 우리에게 말한 바 있다.



2. 왜 6월 25일인가?

필자는 철책선에서 졸병으로 군생활을 했는데, 하루는 군사학 장교가 이런 말을 했다. ‘북한이 6.25전쟁에서 패배한 이유 중의 하나는 그 시기를 잘못 정했기 때문이다. 왜냐하면 6월 말은 아직 들판에 곡식이나 열매가 무르익지 않았을 때이기에 식량 조달에 어려움이 있고 보병전 위주의 재래식 전투에서 6월 말은 더위는 물론 장마가 시작하는 시기이기 때문이다.’ 그렇다! 이건 일반인이 생각해도 전쟁을 시작하기에 적절한 시기가 아니다. 굳이 해야 한다면 가을철이 적기이다. 그래서 남한에서는 6월 25일이 선택된 이유로 군인들의 외출이 많은 ‘일요일’이었음을 강조하고 있는데, 일요일은 일 년에 50번이 넘는다.

당시 남과 북은 상대의 정보를 캐내기 위해 많은 첩보원들을 보냈는데, 1950년 5월이 되면 북조선은 군대를 전방으로 이동한 상태였기에 남한 군부에서는 촉각을 곤두세우고 있었고, 북조선 또한 침략을 위한 그 시기를 고려하고 있었다. 이미 4월에는 구체적인 날짜와 함께 남침에 대한 미정보부의 경고도 한 차례 있었다. 6월 25일 당시 북조선 후방에 있던 전 인민군의 3분지 1의 군인들은 전쟁이 시작되었다는 사실조차 모르고 있었다. 이는 6월 25일은 예정된 날이 아니라 급작스럽게 잡힌 날이었음을 뜻한다. 그렇다면 이렇게 급한 결정을 내리게 된 이유는 무엇이었을까?

필자 또한 자라면서 여러 경로로 6월 25일 며칠 전에 서부전선에서 국군이 38선을 넘어 해주를 공격했다는 이야기는 몇 차례 들은 바가 있었지만, 워낙 6월 25일 새벽 4시 남침을 굳건히 믿고 있었기에 이런 이야기에 별로 귀를 기우지 않고 있었다. 그러다 10여 년 전 김종필전총리(당시 육군본부 정보장교, 국가정보원의 전신인 초대 정보부장 역임)가 신동아에서 같은 주장을 한 것을 직접 읽어본 적이 있었다. 당시에는 언론에도 대서 특별 되었었다. 그래서 정확한 날짜를 확인코자 인터넷을 뒤져보니 이런 인터뷰가 아예 없었다는 주장부터 이 주장을 ‘치매’로 돌리는 등 가짜뉴스로 도배가 되어 있는 것을 발견했다.

필자 또한 당시에는 커밍스의 책을 읽기 전이었기에 이 인터뷰 기사를 읽으면서 이 분이 치매가 걸린 것은 아닌가 하는 의심을 하기도 했었다. 그러나 커밍스 또한 이런 전투가 있었다고 말하고 있고(39-40쪽), 아브람스(Abrams)는 보다 정확한 자료를 제시하고 있는데, 6월 25일 북조선방송에서 남한군이 해주를 침략했음을 보도했고, 같은 날 남한 방송 또한 같은 내용을 방송했다.(98쪽 이하) 물론 지금 남한 당국이나 언론은 이런 사실을 모두 부정하고 있다.

당시 38분단선은 도로에는 금이 그어져 있고 양쪽 군인들이 경계를 서고 있어 그 경계가 분명했지만, 그 외 들판과 산, 강, 바다는 그 경계가 분명치 않았고, 설사 도로라 하더라도 부분 전투를 통해 금을 새로 그으면 그게 바로 새로운 38분단선이 되었다. 그리고 서로 싸워서 분단이 된 것이 아니라 외세에 의해 분단이 되었기에 양 정부는 모두 통일을 국시(國是)로 선택할 수밖에 없었으며, 각각 미국과 소련의 지원 속에서 서로 다른 정치사회경제 체제를 갖고 있었기에 무력으로 상대를 점령하는 길 외에 통일의 다른 가능성은 전혀 없었다. 그리고 원론적으로 말하면 무력에 의한 통일 시도는 김일성정권 보다는 이승만정권이 훨씬 더 절실했다.

“이승만은 협상의 가능성을 ‘양보’라거나 ‘재앙으로 가는 길’이라며 일축하고 무력통일을 강하게 주장했다. 1950년 6월 7일 김일성은 8월에 전국적인 선거를 실시하자며 이를 논의하기 위해 6월 15일에서 17일까지 해주에서 회의를 개최하자고 요구했다. 이 요구는 이승만과 미국이 모두 강경하게 반대하여 거부되었다. 그러자 나흘 후 북조선 정부는 통일에 관한 회의를 시작하자는 평화 의식으로 대표 3인을 남측에 파견했지만, 이 또한 이승만에 의해 즉각 거부되었다.

당시 이승만 정부는 제대로 감당할 수 없는 군사력 증가를 우선시했고, 1949년 여름에는 군 병력 규모를 10만 명으로 증강하여 북조선에 대해 수적 우세를 확보했다. 이대통령과 대한민국(ROK)의 군부 지도자들은 북조선(NK)를 상대로 분쟁을 개시하려는 의도를 갖고 38선을 넘어 빈번히 도발을 감행한 사실이 서방 및 국제 관측자들의 보고서에서 확인되고 있다.” (Abrams, 62쪽)

당시 주한미군 군사고문단 단장 윌리엄 로버츠장군은 “거의 모든 접전은 38선 북쪽으로 돌출한 지점에 주둔한 남한 소부대가 야기한 것이었다. 남한부대들은 북쪽으로 자주 침공했다.”(63쪽) 일본군 포병장교 출신인 김석원준장이 이끄는 서부전선의 남한군 수천 명이 수시로 38선을 넘어 공격을 개시했다. 북의 군사력이 점차 증강하자 남쪽의 일부 정치인들과 군인들은 선수를 쳐서 평양 정권을 무너뜨려야 한다고 주장했다. 민심을 점점 잃어가고 있던 이승만정권은 전쟁만이 자신을 구원할 도구였다.

1948년 5월 UN의 감독하에 치러진 남한만의 단독선거를 통해 입법부가 구성되었는데, 당시 투표권은 도시의 지주와 납세자에 한정되었고, 농촌에서는 원로들이 다른 사람을 대신하여 투표했고, 무장경찰과 우익청년단체들이 투표소 주변을 장악했다.(커밍스, 172쪽) 당시 남한에서는 미군정이 후원하는 과격한 청년단체 특히 서북청년단의 암살과 협박 거기에 일제의 부역자들이 그대로 경찰이나 군인으로 복무하는 상황에서 민중이 갖는 실망과 반감은 엄청 컸다.

이로 인한 군인들의 반란은 여순항쟁에서만 일어났던 일이 아니었다. 1949년에는 남한군 2개 대대 전 병력과 전함 1척이 월북한 사건도 있었다.(아브람스, 103쪽) 미군정이 후원한 이승만정권이 얼마나 인기가 없었는지는 총선 결과가 말해주는데, 불과 전쟁 한 달 전인 1950년 5월에 실시된 2대 총선에서 이승만의 집권당인 자유당이 얻은 결과는 210석 중 22석에 불과했다. 이 또한 불법적으로 관권이 수없이 개입한 결과였다. 이는 미군정청이 친일부역자들 곧 일본왕을 위해 죽겠다고 혈서로 맹세한 조선 출신 일본군 장교들과 독립군을 처형한 순사들을 중용함으로 인해 국민들의 반감을 살 수밖에 없었다. 이들은 자신들의 과오를 감추기 위해 미군정의 손과 발이 되어 멀쩡한 사람도 공산주의자로 몰아세워 무자비하게 처단했다. 그리고 당시에는 미국 또한 맥카시즘이라는 반공 빨갱이 선풍이 몰아치고 있던 시기였다.

반면 북조선이라는 국가의 두드러진 특성은 모스크바의 인위적인 창조물이 아닌 코리아 민족주의 운동의 계승이었다.(아브람스, 42쪽) 이는 동유럽에서의 통치와는 다른 방식이었다. 남한 학자 김남식은 “북한의 인민정권은 해방 이후 자발적으로 조직된 인민위원회들을 기반으로 삼았다. 인민위원회는 중앙이 아니라 아래로부터 조직이 되었다.”(42쪽) 오히려 소련 군정 아래에서 평양 정권은 소련 친화적인 인사들을 숙청하였다. 본래 소련은 조만식장로를 정부 수반으로 생각하고 있다가 김일성장군에 대한 평양 인민의 열화같은 지지와 신탁통치에 대한 조만식장로의 완강한 태도를 보고 생각을 바꾸었다.

이승만정권의 경제정책은 실패했고 부패가 극심했다. 당시 국가 예산의 3분지 1이 미국의 보조금이었는데, 대부분의 돈이 개인의 주머니로 들어갔다. 그리고 북조선의 소작인 농부들은 토지개혁 후 토지를 소유하게 되고 수확의 25%를 세금으로 내는 것으로 그쳤지만, 남한은 여전히 거의 대부분이 소작농이었고 수확의 70%를 지주가 가져갔다.

게다가 미군을 상대로 한 매춘을 장려하여 외화 수입의 25%가 여기에서 나왔다. 그로 인해 두 국가 간 경제 격차는 점점 벌어졌으며 시간이 흐르면서 남쪽의 민심은 점점 북쪽으로 기울어져 가고 있었다. 당시 동아일보 여론조사에 의하면, 남한사람들의 70% 이상이 북쪽 사회주의를 선호하고 있었다. 게다가 남쪽에서는 민중 폭동도 자주 일어났다. 제주43항쟁, 대구항쟁, 여순항쟁등이 대표적이었다. 그러자 미국은 남북이 평화적으로 통합하게 되면 원조를 철회하겠다고 협박하고 1950년 2월 의회를 통해 대한원조법안을 통과시켰다.(아브람스. 61쪽)

어떻게 보더라도 미국의 한국 점령은 실패라고 볼 수밖에 없다. 미국은 30여 년간의 잔인한 식민 통치로부터 막 벗어난 코리아반도에서 비극적인 분단을 고착화시켰으며, 인민위원회 등을 통하여 나타난 주민의 자유스러운 정치 참여를 막았으며, 경찰과 관료들을 장악하고 있던 우익세력의 입지를 강화시켜 주었다. 또한 미국의 정책은 좌우익 간의 대립을 심화시켜 결국 5년 후 한국전쟁으로 치닫게 했다.(오로지, 225쪽 재인용 존 메릴, 『한국전쟁의 기원과 진실』)



3. 군사 1급기밀에 해당하는 에치슨선언은 왜 했던 것일까?

지금까지의 얘기는 한국전쟁을 남북 간 내전으로 보았을 때이다. 이제는 국제전의 입장에서 그 원인을 살펴본다. 우선 한국전쟁과 관련한 직접적인 원인은 소위 말하는 에치슨선언이다. 1950년 1월 12일 미국무장관 에치슨은 워싱톤 프레스센터에서 ‘코리아반도가 미국의 태평양방어선에서 제외되었다’는 공개선언을 한다. 북조선이 남침을 준비하는 그 시기에 이 발언의 의도는 도대체 무엇인가? 당시 미국은 미군을 남한 땅에서 철수시키고 군사고문단 500명만 남겨놓은 상태였으며, 이승만의 간절한 소망에도 불구하고 한미방위조약 체결을 거부한 상태였다. 북조선의 입장에서 무력 통일을 시도할 때, 관건은 미국이 참전할 것인가 아닌가에 달려있었다. 당시 미국은 일제를 굴복시킨 가공할만한 원자폭탄을 500기나 갖고 있었다. 따라서 미국의 참전이 전제된 상황에서 북조선은 결코 전쟁을 시작할 수가 없었다. 그런데 미국이 애치슨선언을 통해 코리아반도의 내전에 참전하지 않겠다고 하는 선언이 나온 이후, 스탈린이나 모택동은 김일성에게 전쟁물자 지원을 약속하지는 않았지만, 자신들 또한 내전 혁명을 통해 정권을 잡았기에 전쟁을 반대할 명목은 없어지고 말았다.

그런데 미국은 에치슨 선언과는 달리 유엔을 통해 3일 만에 전쟁 참여를 한다. 딘 애치슨 국무장관은 전쟁 얘기를 듣자 “한국전쟁이 우리를 구원했다.”고 말했다.(70쪽) 북조선의 전면 남침은 미국의 계략에 넘어간 것이라고 볼 수 있다. 필자는 한국기독교교회협의회 화해통일위원장 시절 미국무성의 소위 북한인권대사라고 불리는 로버트 킹(Amb. Robert King)을 세 번 만난 적이 있다. 한 번은 김영주목사(NCCK총무), 노정선목사(연세대명예교수) 그리고 짐 윈클러(Jim Winkler)목사(미연합감리교 사회부 총무, 이후 미국교회협의회 회장 역임)과 함께 면담을 한 적이 있다. 이때 킹대사가 한국전쟁에 대한 북조선의 책임을 묻는 얘기를 꺼내자 필자는 에치슨선언 얘기를 하면서 이건 미국의 계략이 아니었던가? 하고 반문을 하였다. 그러자 곧 바로 킹대사는 “It was a mistake.”라는 발언을 연이어 세 번이나 한 적이 있다.(지금도 노련한 정치인이 왜 이렇게 솔직한 답변을 했는지 이해할 수가 없다. 아마도 몰몬교 신자로서 목사 네 명 앞에서 거짓을 말하기에는 양심에 가책이 크지 않았을까 하고 추측하고 있다.)

1950년 6월 18일 남한 언론에는 공화당 국무부장관 후보인 덜레스가 38분단선을 방문하고 망원경으로 북쪽을 바라다보는 사진을 대서특필한다. 북쪽의 입장에서는 남쪽으로부터의 공격이 곧 있을 것 같은 징후를 느낀다. 그리고 6월 22일 서부전선에서는 국군이 해주를 공격하여 이를 점령하였다. 게다가 그 이전에는 전혀 없었던 일인데, 24일과 25일에 걸쳐 남한군 절반의 군인을 대거 휴가와 외출로 내보낸다. 북조선의 침략이 예상되는 일촉즉발 위기의 순간이었고 당시에는 군 비상경계령이 내려져 있던 상황에서 과연 있을 수 있는 일인가? 여기에 더하여 24일 저녁에는 공개적으로 미군과 고위 한국군 장교들을 위한 거대한 파티를 연다. 인민군의 입장에서 보면 25일은 두 번 다시 오지 않을 절호의 기회였다. 당시 남한군은 지금도 그러하지만, 철저하게 미 군사고문단의 지휘 아래에 있었던 시절이었다.



4. 왜 스탈린과 모택동은 돕지 않았는가?

한국전쟁은 이승만정권의 생존 보장에 중요하게 작용하면서 동시에 이미 아이젠하워대통령이퇴임국회연설에서 지적한 바 당시 미국의 산업은 두 번의 세계전쟁을 통해 군수산업이 주류를 이루고 있었다. 결국 한국전쟁은 미국에 경제적으로 크게 기여를 한다.

반면, 모스크바와 베이징에는 엄청난 난관을 초래했다. 채 1년이 되지 않은 신생 중화인민공화국은 한국전쟁으로 인해 국민당이 장악한 대만을 탈환해 내전을 끝낼 기회의 창이 닫히는 것을 뼈아프게 지켜봐야 했다.”(아브람스, 77쪽) 만약 이때 중국공산당이 대만을 점령하였다면, 모택동정부는 장개석정부에 이어 유엔안전보장이사회 상임이사국 자리를 바로 꿰찰 수 있었으며, 소련 또한 미국이 오키나와를 이용했던 것처럼 대만을 이용할 수 있었다. 소련 또한 한국전쟁으로 인해 중국보다 더 큰 손해를 보았다. 당시 미국은 경제불황에 들어갔지만, 오히려 소련의 사회주의 국가경제는 더 나아지고 있었기에 세계 경제에 더 큰 영향력을 주고 있었고, 세계 평화유지를 원했다. 그러기에 김일성의 끈질긴 군사지원 요구에도 불구하고 스탈린은 전혀 응하지 않았던 것이다.



5. 왜 인민군은 서울 점령 후 전쟁을 멈추었을까?

인민군은 6월 28일 서울(당시 북조선 헌법에 따르면 서울이 수도)을 점령한 후, 최소 3일에서 7일간을 서울에 그대로 멈춰 있었다. 탱크가 한강을 건넌 날짜는 7월 5일이었다. 서울에서 진격을 멈춘 것이다. 이에 대한 해석으로는 김일성은 이승만에게 통일에 관한 대화를 제안하고 기다렸다는 주장과 강원도쪽에서 내려오는 인민군이 국군의 저항에 부딪혀 늦게 합류했기 때문이라는 주장 그리고 한강철교가 끊어졌기 때문에 이를 복구하기 위해서라는 주장이 있다. 그런데, 한강에 부교를 띄우는데, 한 주간 이상이나 걸린다고 하는 것 또한 비상식적이고, 대전이나 부산을 가기 위해 꼭 한강을 건너야만 갈 수 있던 것도 아니었다. 우회하는 길은 얼마든지 있었다. 그렇다면 이 기간 중 무슨 일이 있었던 것일까?

추측컨데 김일성은 박헌영의 주장대로 서울만 점령하면 민중혁명이 일어나 저절로 통일이 될 것으로 기대했을 것이다. 무력통일보다는 남쪽인민혁명에 의한 자주적인 통일이 더 떳떳한 통일의 방식이었고 그렇게 된다면 미국의 참전은 그 정당성을 상실하게 되기 때문이다. 역사에 가정은 없지만, 만약 이때 인민군이 서울에서 멈추지 않았더라면 전쟁의 양상은 크게 달라졌을 것이다. 28일 서울 점령 당시 미국은 유엔을 통해 참전을 결정한다.



6. 또 하나의 가정

1948년 조선민주주의인민공화국이 서자 소련군은 퇴각하면서 여러 무기들을 남겨두고 갔다. 인민군은 이를 기반으로 전쟁을 준비했다. 그런데 전쟁 중에 무기 제공이 있었는가? 지금까지의 결론은 인민군이 소지한 무기는 2차세계대전 중에 사용되던 무기들이었으며 그 이후에 소련에서 개발한 신식 무기들은 발견되지 않았다.

스탈린은 애초부터 미국의 참전을 염려하여 전쟁을 반대했다가, 애치슨선언과 1950년 4월 원자폭탄을 개발하고 비록 소수에 불과했지만 원자폭탄을 소유하면서 비록 미국이 참전하더라도 원자폭탄 사용을 자제하리라고 여겨 김일성의 남침 요구에 마지 못해 동의를 하면서도 전쟁 중에는 어떤 물자도 제공하지 않을 것이라고 말하면서 모택동의 지원을 받으라고 말했다. 그러나 모택동 또한 대만 점령에 목표를 갖고 있었기에 애초부터 전쟁에 대해 반대를 했으며, 미군이 압록강까지 밀고 올라오자 방어 차원에서 전쟁에 참여를 한 것이지, 처음부터 전쟁 참여를 한 것은 아니었다.

그리고 낙동강전선에서 인민군이 멈춘 이유는 국군과 유엔군의 반격 때문이 아니라 병참 조달에 문제가 있었기 때문이었다. 만약 이 두 나라 중 한 나라만이라도 처음부터 인민군의 전력에 도움을 주었더라면 전황은 크게 달라졌을 것이다. 맥아더 또한 만약 중국이 1.4 후퇴 시기가 아니라 그 이전에 보다 적극적으로 북을 지원했더라면, 전쟁은 미군 개입 이전에 끝났을 것이라고 얘기한 바 있다.



7. 정전협정에 2년이나 걸린 이유?

14후퇴 이후 전선은 이전의 38분단선에서 정체가 되었다. 그리고 정전협정이 시작되었다. 3주 안에 끝날 것으로 여겨졌던 협정은 2년이나 질질 끌게 되는데, 그 책임은 누구에게 있는 것인가? 이 기간동안 미군 폭격기는 하루도 빠짐없이 북조선의 모든 도시와 마을들을 공격하여 초토화시키고 말았다.

당시 투하한 폭탄의 양은 63만 톤으로, 이는 5년간에 걸친 태평양전쟁에 투하한 50만 톤보다 많았으며 이로 인해 북조선은 '달의 표면'처럼 변하였다. 22개 주요 도시 중 18개 도시는 최소한 50%가 흔적도 없이 사라졌으며, 모든 도시와 마을은 40∼90%가 파괴되었다. 당시 미 국방부 검열관들이 폭격의 끔찍한 현실을 미국 국민이 모르도록 감추었으며 이 폭격으로 인해 북조선은 일종의 '유격대 국가'로 변해갔다.(커밍스)

필자가 본 한국전쟁 기록영화에도 평양시를 내려다본 미군 폭격기 조종사가 관제탑에 이렇게 말한다. “There is no more target, Roger.(목표물이 더 이상 없다)” 평양의 모든 건물이 파괴되어 있었기에 가지고 간 폭탄을 어디에 투하해야 할지를 몰랐던 것이다. 한 미군 장성은 말하기를 북조선은 구석기 시대로 돌아갔으며 복구에 100년 이상 걸릴 것이라고 말했다. 고려대 최장집 교수는 "한국전쟁의 가장 큰 피해자는 북녘 인민들이었다."고 말한 바 있으며 피카소는 '조선에서의 학살 (The Massacre in Korea)' 이란 제목의 게르니카 벽화를 통해 미군들이 황해남도 신천 군민 4분의 1에 달하는 무고한 양민을 잔인하게 죽인 사실을 고발하였다.

미국의 무차별 폭격이 가져온 또 다른 이야기이다. 희대의 이중간첩이라는 별명을 지닌 조지 블레이크(George Blake)의 이야기이다. 그는 1948년 11월 서울에 온 영국 부영사이다. 러시아어를 전공한 탓에 영국 정보국에 발탁이 되었다. 파송 당시 상관이 코리아에 곧 전쟁이 일어날 것이라고 말한다. 이에 가지 않겠다고 하자 영국은 미국과 소련 어디에도 속하지 않은 중립국이라 전쟁이 일어나도 외교관 신분으로 곧 풀려날 것이라고 말한다. 그래서 전쟁이 발발하자 미국의 외교관들은 다 피했지만, 서울에 머물던 영국 외교관들은 피하지 않고 있다가 갑자기 영국이 유엔연합군의 일원으로 참여하자 졸지에 포로가 되어 3년간의 포로생활을 하였다.

하루는 북조선 북단의 아주 작은 마을에 있었는데, 당시 마을에는 젊은 사람들은 모두 전쟁터에 나가고 노인들과 여성들밖에 없었는데, 미군폭격기로 인한 극심한 참상을 보고 자신이 잘못된 진영에 속해 있음을 깨닫고 비밀리에 소련군의 첩자가 될 것을 약속한다. 전쟁 후 석방이 되고 얼마 있지 않아 베를린에 영국정보원으로 파견이 되었는데, 이때부터 오랜기간동안 이중첩자의 역할을 하다 반역죄로 선고를 받고 감옥에 있다 영국인 양심수의 도움을 받아 탈옥하여 영국에 6개월을 숨어 있다가, 러시아로 탈출하여 영웅 대접을 받았다. 2020년 12월 24일에 사망하였다.



8. 결국 전쟁의 혜택은 누가 입었나?

마틴 워커(Martin Walker)라는 영국 기자는 한국전쟁(Korean War)을 가리켜 “유럽에서 백인들 간의 싸움으로 시작된 냉전의 대가를 갈색, 검은색, 노란색 피부를 가진 제3세계 사람들이 치른” 것이라고 했다.(오로지 148쪽) 

1952년 밴 플리트장군은 한국전쟁에 대해 다음과 같이 요약한다.

“한국전쟁은 미국 입장에서는 축복이다. 코리아가 아니라면 또 다른 지역에서 한국전쟁과 같은 전쟁이 있어야 했다.”(오로지 225쪽) 

당시 미국은 2차세계대전 직후 군수공장들이 문을 닫게 되어 실업률이 높아져 경제불황에 빠져 있었는데, 이를 다시 활성화시킴으로 경제가 살아나기 시작했다. 군사비 지출은 전년도에 비해 4배가 넘었고, 징병제를 실시함으로, 이는 결국 베트남전쟁으로 이어지는 계기가 되었고, 유럽에 나토군사동맹이 결성되는 계기를 마련했다. 미국의 산업은 최소 3분지 1 이상이 군수산업이다. 곧 전쟁으로 먹고사는 괴물국가이다. 오죽했으면 카터 전대통령 또한 미국 역사 242년 동안 전쟁을 하지 않는 기간은 불과 16년에 불과하다고 자탄을 했을까.

결론으로 한국전쟁은 미국 경제살리기가 주요 목적이었다. 작금의 우크라이나 전쟁 또한 이 관점에서 바라볼 필요가 있다. 미국과 러시아는 오래된 탱크와 재래식 미사일과 유효기간이 지난 포탄의 소비처를 필요로 하고 있었고, 이에 미국은 젤렌스키로 하여금 나토가입을 유인하고 국경 근처의 친러그룹을 핍박함으로 인해 러시아의 침략을 야기시켰다. 프란체스코 교황이 말했듯이 이는 오래전부터 예견된 일이었다.

지금 미국이 우크라이나에 원조하는 것은 재래식 무기이지 최신식무기가 아니다. 러시아 또한 최신식무기를 사용하지 않고 있다. 민간인 지역을 포함 논밭이나 숲속 엉뚱한 곳에 미사일이 떨어지는 것은 유효기간이 지난 고물들이기 때문이다. 두 나라 모두 전쟁을 오래 끌기 위한 전략이 숨어 있다. 구식무기들이 모두 소비된 후에야 정전협정이 시작할 것이다.

미국은 베트남전쟁에서 2차세계대전에서 쓰인 폭탄보다 더 많은 양을 투하했으며, 심지어 라오스에도 폭탄 투하를 하였는데, 지금 라오스 전 국토 99% 지역에는 8천만 발의 포탄이 땅속에 박혀 있어 매년 3백 명 이상의 희생자를 낳고 있다. 도대체 이 많은 포탄들은 왜 터지지 않았던 것일까? 그건 유효기간이 지난 것을 쓰레기로 처리하였기 때문이다. 물론 미국만 한국전쟁으로 덕을 본 것은 아니다. 영국을 비롯한 유럽국가들 그리고 태평양전쟁으로 폐허가 되었던 일본이 경제대국으로 일어설 수 있었던 것은 한국전쟁시 병참기지로서의 역할을 하였기 때문이다.

남과 북의 국민들이 세계 패권국가들의 이러한 전략을 알아채고 평화의 길로 나아가지 않는 한 불필요한 희생은 계속될 수밖에 없다. 현재 미국 군사무기 수출의 절반을 남한과 일본, 대만 이 세 나라가 차지하고 있다. 코리아반도에 평화의 기운이 돌면 이 세 나라의 무기 수입은 급격히 줄어들 수밖에 없다. 지금도 북악마화로 인해 미국은 엄청난 이득을 보고 있으며 그 희생은 결국 남한사람들이다. 국방비 예산의 절반만이라도 민간복지로 돌릴 수 있다면 국민기본소득의 확대는 물론 전국민교육무상화 정책까지 실현할 수가 있을 것이다.



9. 나가면서

지금 세계는 미국식 자본주의가 지배하는 가운데 여기에 저항하는 중국, 러시아, 중동의 이슬람국가, 쿠바, 베네주엘라, 북조선 등등의 사회주의 정책을 실시하는 국가들이 존재하고 있다. 현재 남미는 거의 모든 나라에 사회주의 정책을 실현하려는 좌파 정권들이 실권을 잡았다. 북유럽나라들의 경우는 복지형 사회주의 국가들로 미국식 자본주의와는 판이하게 다르다. 미국식 시장금융 자본주의는 개인의 자유를 극도로 허용하여 부의 불평등이 너무 높아 자칫하면 민중폭동을 불러일으키기 쉽다. 현재 미국에서 일어나는 매년 수천 건의 총기난사는 이러한 불만들이 분출되는 사회적 현상이다.

여기에는 인종차별까지 연계되어 있다. 흑인들이 백인들에 비해 4배 이상 살해당할 위험이 높다. 이는 마치 히틀러가 백인우월감을 부추겨 유대인들을 학살한 것과 비슷하다. 트럼프전대통령은 3년 전 대선결과에 불복하여 민중폭동을 획책하였고, 지금도 인종차별은 물론 극단적인 언어들을 통해 보수공화당원들을 집결시켜 다음 대선을 준비하고 있다. 이것이 과연 언론자유의 국가인가?

반면 소련식 공산사회주의는 개인의 재산 소유를 금지한다는 것이 약점이다. 이는 소련 공산주의의 몰락을 통해 증명이 된 바 있다. 따라서 개인 자유와 집단 평등의 가치가 균형을 맞춘 경제제도가 앞으로 인류가 지향해야 할 체제이고 현재는 북유럽국가들이 대표적이다. 다만 북유럽국가들의 경우는 인구가 작고 자원이 풍부한 나라들로 제3세계의 가난한 나라들과는 상황이 전혀 다르다.

미국 펜실베니아대학의 사회학과 샘 리처드(Sam Richard) 교수는 본래는 남미 역사와 문화 전공이지만, 지난 몇 년 동안 한국문화에 심취하고 이에 관련한 유튜브 동영상이 몇 개 있다. 2022년 그는 ‘세계기후위기를 해결할 첫 번째 주자로 남한을 언급하면서 다음과 같이 4가지 이유를 들었다. 

1. 공동체중심사회(Community well-being uplifts individuals) 

2. 효율적인 교육시스템(Efficient system of educating youth) 

3. 공익을 위한 규칙 준수(Willingness to follow rules that benefit the collective) 

4. 세계적인 소프트파워(Soft power and the global stage)

리처드교수는 북조선에 대한 이해가 전혀 없을뿐더러 관심도 없고, 그의 동영상을 여러 개 보았지만, 분단 혹은 통일이란 단어 또한 한 번도 언급하지 않는다. 그런데 리처드교수가 언급한 네 개의 장점은 남과 북을 원론적인 의미에서 비교하자면 

1, 2, 3번은 모두 북조선이 앞선 분야이고, 

4번 또한 일정 분야에 있어서 세계적인 수준을 갖고 있다. 

자체의 인공위성 발사와 핵무기 개발을 이미 10년 전에 완성한 국가이다. 그것도 80년 가까이 미국으로부터 극도의 군사경제 제재를 받고 있는 최악의 상황에서 이룩한 일이다.

남과 북은 오 천년의 역사를 공유한 하나의 민족공동체로서, 작금의 세계를 양분하고 있는 자본주의와 사회주의라는 서로 다른 체제를 하나로 엮어낼 때 그 시너지 효과는 상상을 초월할 것이고, 바로 이러한 새 역사를 바라보면서 함석헌선생은 『뜻으로 본 한국역사』 그 마지막 문장에서 한/조선의 미래를 이렇게 노래했다.

“거기서 이 수난의 비렁뱅이는 영원의 문전에서 나사로같이 과거의 모든 고통과 업신여김에서 벗어나 위로와 존경을 받을 것이다. 거기서 지난날 큰 길가에 앉아 있던 갈보는 그 받은 고난으로 정화되어 여왕이 될 것이다.”


(이 글은 소통과 혁신연구소 카페의 글을 함께 게재한 것입니다. 편집자)

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한 전쟁광에 대한 심리분석
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THE U.S. MILITARY IN SK in Abrams’ ‘Immovable Object: NK’s 70 Years at War with American Power’

 Ch 11 THE U.S. MILITARY IN SOUTH KOREA

in A. B. Abrams’ ‘Immovable Object: North Korea’s 70 Years at War with American Power’

==

"Liberation": Imposing American Military Rule and Abol­ishing the People's Republic

Critical to understanding the nature of the relationship between North Korea and the United States—the resistance state and the imperial hegemon—is an understanding of the parallel but opposite relationship which exists between South Korea and the United States—the client state and its former ruler. An assessment of the history and nature of the U.S.-ROK relationship reveals much regarding both American intentions to­wards the Korean nation as a whole, and the fate Pyongyang has ardently sought to avoid for three quarters of a century.

Paving the way for the first landing of U.S. forces in Korea, American military aircraft dropped three thousand leaflets over southern Korea for four consecutive days starting on September 1, 1945 by order of General Douglas MacArthur. Addressed "To the People of Korea," they an­nounced:

The armed forces of the United States will soon arrive in Korea for the purpose of receiving the surrender of the Japanese forces, enforc­ing the terms of surrender, and insuring the orderly administration and rehabilitation of the country. These missions will be carried out with a firm hand, but with a hand that will be guided by a nation whose long heritage of democracy has fostered kindly feeling for peo­ples less fortunate. How well and how rapidly these tasks are carried

out will depend on the Koreans themselvesj

A more threatening second proclamation was issued in the same way on September 7, carrying a personal address from General MacArthur, who identified himself as "Commander-in-Chief, United States Army Forces, Pacific." It proclaimed:

Any Person Who:

Violates the provision of the Instrument of Surrender, or any pro­clamation, order or directive given under the authority of the Com­mander-in-Chief, United States Army Forces, Pacific, or does any act to the prejudice of good order or the life, safety or security of the per­sons or property of the United States or its Allies, or does any act calculated to disturb public peace and order, or prevent the adminis­tration of justice, or wilfully does any act hostile to the Allied forces, shall upon conviction by a military Occupation Court, suffer death or

such other punishment as the Court may determine.

Whether the Koreans would be killed or punished depended on how well they abided by the will of their new master. In imposing its military rule, the United States expected total obedience. At this time, however, the Korean population was already governing itself through elected offi­cials and committees under the People's Republic of Korea, which made the imposition of foreign military rule without consultation of the Kore­ans themselves appear more like an invasion to assert foreign interests than an attempt to restore order. The way this was imposed raised a number of questions regarding the consistency of the military's rhetoric—with the persona of the benevolent liberator expressed in the first set of leaflets contrasting with that of an invader imposing its will indicated in the second. Could America claim to "liberate" southern

than as an involuntary colony of Japan.10 It was notable that during the war, Korean comfort women forced to serve the Japanese Imperial Army

overseas had been targeted for rape by American soldiers just as Japa‑

nese women were—there was no distinction made between them.11 Per­ceptions of the Japanese Empire as one which would "combine most of

the Asiatic peoples against the whites"12 had a key influence on percep­tions of Asian populations, stimulating greater animosity towards

thern.13 This only grew as Korean resistance and the Korean People's Republic were depicted as affiliates of global communism—which even

before Japan's subjugation had begun to replace the Empire of the Sun in Western propaganda as the new great adversary of both America and

the wider Western world.14

The office of General Hodge had observed regarding the occupation

period: "Americans are ignorant of Korean customs, show no appre­ciation of Korean art or culture, and openly ridicule the idea that there

can be any good in anything Korean."15 Staff sergeant Robert H. Moyer, who served in southern Korea, stated: "Before the war, Koreans consid‑

ered us as another occupier of their county. And after the elections in 1948, we were only permitted off post in groups of 3 or more, for safety

reasons. They disliked us."16 Indeed, even many of those South Koreans considered Americanized before the war, those who "went to school in

the USA, smoked USA cigarettes, spoke American," appeared to loathe the U.S. occupation and would go on to side with the Korean People's

Army in the Korean War.17

South Koreans' ill feeling towards Americans came not only from the forceful abolition of their republic, sustainment of the Japanese imperial

system and protection of collaborators from what was widely seen to be the people's justice, but also from American soldiers' abusive treatment

of Korean civilians, Perceptions and treatment of Koreans remained rela­tively consistent both during the occupation period and in the following decades. The U.S. Eighth Army reported in 1951 regarding the apparently sadistic pleasure personnel took in tormenting the Korean people that soldiers: "take a perverse delight in frightening civilians" and using force

to "drive the Koreans off roads and into ditches."18 U.S. personnel were known to regularly commit violent, humiliating and abusive acts against

regular South Korean civilians who had worked for them.19 As one U.S. Marine stated, effectively summarising what appeared to be the predom‑

inant attitude among Americans in Korea: "They're just a bunch of

gooks. Who cares about the feelings of people like that?"2 Historian Lloyd Lewis wrote regarding the indoctrination American personnel re‑

ceived before being sent to war in East Asia: "soldiers in all branches of the armed services recount receiving the same indoctrination, that the

enemy is Oriental and inferior."21 The population in southern Korea and those in other East Asian states hosting American forces were forced to

bear the brunt of this.

An American survey carried out in the 1960s in South Korea and West Germany showed how the attitudes of U.S. personnel towards pop­ulations in countries where they were deployed influenced how they were perceived. Of South Koreans questioned, only 13 percent thought Amer­icans "liked them" while 70 percent of West Germans assumed Amer‑

icans not only liked them but viewed them "as friendS."22 While Amer­icans had greater historical reasons to mistreat the German population

as an enemy, cultural and racial factors meant that treatment of a West­ern population was always far more respectful than that towards an East

Asian nation. The U.S. Military itself appeared to make the difference offi­cial through its publications. While the opportunity to explore cultural

Korea while at the same time occupying it, forcefully dismantling its existing government and threatening those Koreans who did not abide by its will with death? Ernst Fraenkel, an influential jurist and leading advi­sor for the U.S. Military Government in Korea, summarised his obser­vations of the nature of American military rule over the country: "Military

occupation of a 'liberated country' is basically self-contradictory."

"Liberation" during the Cold War increasingly became a euphemism for bringing a country into the Western sphere of influence or what soon began to be called the "Free World" to conceal its Western-dominated nature. This new definition of "liberation" would become commonplace

and remains so today.

Protests against American rule, described by Western observers as "absolutely ordered and peaceful," were widespread and made it clear that the imposition of foreign authority and undermining of self-governance was not welcome. Korean independence groups slammed bans by the U.S. Military Government on public protest and public assembly, and the position of the general populace was well known to the Americans.5 As the governor Lieutenant General John R. Hodge ob­served: "The Koreans want their independence more than any one thing and want it now."6

The accounts of Ernst Fraenkel, who arrived in Korea as the occu­pation was being established, are insightful as to the state of affairs at this time. Korea was one of the few places on Earth which Western mili­taries had yet to occupy, and as such Western cultural influences re­mained relatively few. Fraenkel thus described the lives of the Korean populace as a "completely separate world" from that of the Western occupiers, for whom the prospect of eating Korean food was "phan-tastic"—some-thing beyond consideration. Based on the vast differences between the American military governance and those upon whom Amer­ican rule was being imposed, Fraenkel questioned:

whether it is possible to have any contacts with them, except a very small crust of intellectuals who have been educated in U.S., Europe and Japan... And now we try to do the job to govern these people of whom we know so little and whom we will probably never under­stand. We enact statutes and even a constitution, establish insti­tutions which are wholly based on occidental thinking and apply ideas to the government of this country which are meaningful only in the framework of our tradition and civilisation.7

According to the German jurist, the goal of the American military government he was serving was to remake southern Korea in America's image—into a "virulently anti-Communist" state indefinitely intertwined

with American material and political interests.!

The treatment of the Korean population by U.S. military personnel was particularly poor, contrasting strongly with conduct towards allied European populations at the time. This served as another demonstration of the true nature of the two nations' relationship—far from that of liber­ator and liberated which the Americans claimed as pretext for imposing their rule. As the office of General Hodge itself observed: "Americans act as though Koreans were a conquered nation rather than a liberated

people."9 Widespread portrayals in American state media of the Pacific

War with Imperial Japan as a race war, as part of the "perpetual wars be­tween Oriental ideas and Occidental" and a crusade for Western civili­sation, likely influenced Americans to perceive Koreans as part of the East Asian resistance to Western rule under the Japanese Empire rather

sites such as castles and learn about a new country were used to pro­mote deployments to Germany, by contrast easy access to servile com­fort women was used to attract soldiers to Korea—there was not consid‑

ered to be any culture to speak of worth promoting.23 The nature of the relationship between the United States and South Korea was demon‑

strated by the former's extensive use of comfort women from the latter. The comfort women system was established under direct American mili­tary rule but would continue long afterwards. U.S. Army Colonel Donald Portway had thus concluded regarding the prime function of the U.S. Military Government in southern Korea: "The American Military govern­ment had as its basic purpose the provision of banquets, gifts and femi‑

nine company"—a conclusion he was far from alone in reaching.24

Serving the U.S. Military: Comfort Women in South Korea

Describing the perks of deployment to Korea, the American military newspaper Stars and Stripes specifically highlighted the attraction of ac‑

cess to servile Korean women—strongly objectifying them, and in doing so, encouraging similar perceptions from readers. It wrote: "Picture hav­ing three or four of the loveliest creatures God ever created hovering around you, singing, dancing, feeding you, washing what they feed you down with rice wine and beer, all saying at once: 'you are the greatest.' This is the Orient you heard about and came to find." The paper encour­aged American soldiers to take part in Korea's "night-time action," call­ing it "the ultimate experience"—which was thought to allude to the experience at camptowns near U.S. bases where soliciting prostitutes,

many coerced into the trade, was extremely common.25

Approximately 84 percent of Americans deployed in the Korea sur­veyed admitted to having been with comfort women. A U.S. captain deployed in Korea said there was an overwhelming cultural pressure among enlisted men to seek out prostitutes, and even those initially

against the idea would end up participating.26 When U.S. Navy ships

were set to dock in the Philippines or Korea, officers "threw the men con­doms as if they were Hallmark cards." Officers were known to tell their men that prostitution was a way of life for East Asians, and that Asians

like prostitution, which they "enthusiastically promoted."Z Although this

was used to justify the exploitation of Korean women, the extent to which chastity was valued in Korean society, and extra-marital sex or prosti­tution was abhorred, had few equals in the world. In her comprehensive study of the evolving Korean perceptions of chastity, Professor Katrina Maynes repeatedly emphasized how chastity was vital for a woman to be respected and considered of value. She wrote:

Respectable women ... were expected to uphold their chastity at all times. Their virginity was their greatest asset and their key to an hon­ourable marriage. They were instructed to guard their chastity with their life, and in the case of rape, women were taught that suicide was preferable. Respectable women could prove their honour through demonstrating chastity and upholding their husbands in life and death.28

Nevertheless, it suited the American agenda to depict Koreans as a population which "liked prostitution" to dispel any moral qualms sol­diers may have had against making full use of the opportunities provided to them.

U.S. military personnel's use of comfort women reportedly began as soon as the first American soldiers landed in Korea, with the comfort

women held to serve Japanese imperial forces raped by the AmericanS.29

Again the contrast between the depiction of the U.S. as a liberator and actual American conduct, that of a particularly brutal conqueror, was evi­dent. Japan's system of comfort stations was later vastly expanded under American rule and women were provided with modest salaries. Many of the first generation of prostitutes working for the U.S. were in fact former comfort women for the Japanese Imperial Army, working under a remark‑

ably similar system.30 In the centre of downtown Seoul the U.S. Army

occupied the 640-Acre Yongsan garrison that had been built for the Japa­nese Army. The neighbourhood quickly filled with brothels servicing U.S. troops, and GIs came to call the area "Hooker Hill." American expert Professor Arissa Oh noted on the comfort system's origins: "During the

period of U.S. occupation (1945-1948) camptowns, or kLjich'on quickly

sprang up around American military bases throughout South Korea. The system of US-oriented prostitution was built on the foundation estab­lished by the Japanese colonial government."31

Scholars Maria Hohn and Seungsook Moon, who carried out a de­tailed investigation into the comfort women system, noted regarding its establishment to service the U.S. Military:

The demise of [Japanese] colonial rule did not end the use of wom­en's sexual labour for foreign soldiers in Korea. Projecting its image as a "benevolent liberator" to teach democracy to Koreans, the U.S. military was deeply implicated in various forms of prostitution from the dawn of its occupation of Korea... The so-called decolonizing process led by the U.S. military continued to provide fertile soil for the rapid growth of private and unregulated prostitution (sach'ang) in Seoul, Ascom, Taejon, Kwangju, and Pusan... Well-paid American

soldiers aggressively sought out local women for sexual services. American GIs chased after Korean women in the context of racialized cultural difference, coupled with racism against the Koreans by GIs... Military authorities had to deal with the pervasive problems of the de­terioration of military courtesy, discipline, appearance, and training. Under the category of courtesy, the authorities addressed widespread racism against the Koreans, ranging from the use of the racial slur "gooks," physical assaults, reckless driving, and undue arrests of Koreans to making aggressive passes at Korean women.... GIs viewed sexual access to Korean women outside the respectability of marriage as their entitlement, as agents of European colonialism did towards

colonized women ofcolour.32

Much like in Japan at the time, where Western occupation was also imposed,33 from the early days of the U.S. Military Government in early September 1945 there were widespread reports of rapes by American military personnel outside the comfort women system. While there are scant records of the individual cases of rape, as it was in the interest of neither the military government nor the subsequent Syngman Rhee gov­ernment to keep them, there is substantial evidence from both Korean and American sources that widespread rapes did take place, including testimonies from South Korean victims. According to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the Korean population, though forced to tolerate the GIs' relations with prostitutes, complained of the

widespread rapes of women outside this system.34 A South Korean sol‑

dier interviewed stated to similar effect: "I was conscripted into the ROK army and had to do sentry duty at the house of a big-shot American. Each night they took our Korean girls in there to be defiled. I don't want

your sort of 'Free World."'35 Professor Arissa Oh, an expert on the occu­pation period, noted regarding these incidents: "Rape of local women

was largely undocumented but widespread enough to prompt com­plaints from South Korean officials." It was highly in keeping with their conduct elsewhere for U.S. troops deployed across the region to commit

rapes en-masse against women—a practice also extremely common from

1945 in Japan3G and later in Vietnam.Z

Franziska Donner, the Austrian wife of President Syngman Rhee,

claimed that establishment of comfort stations where Korean women would serve American personnel had been necessary, as GIs had previ­ously kept "taking" any woman they wanted—a reference to widespread

rapes.38 From a woman who strongly supported the occupation, whose husband had been hand-picked by the U.S. military to assume power,

this admission was a powerful indicator as to the extent of the sexual crimes being perpetrated. Reports by victims and their families of mass rapes were so widespread and pervasive that they prompted complaints

by South Korean officials to U.S. commanders.! Comfort stations were seen as a way to prevent this by providing American personnel with con‑

trolled access to Korean women. While it was an essential part of the American occupation to try to be seen as benevolent democratizing saviours, rather than as rapacious conquerors, accounts from the time strongly indicate the latter was much closer to the truth.

Comfort Women After American Military Rule

The end of formal U.S. military rule over southern Korea in 1948 and the establishment of the Republic of Korea under Syngman Rhee's rule saw the country continue to provide comfort women to service American personnel. The government put in place by the U.S. Military was instrumental in encouraging the continuation of the comfort women sys­tem, both directly and indirectly. Professors Seungsook Moon and Maria Hohn concluded in their study of the comfort women system that the Rhee government relied heavily on prostitution to provide foreign cur­rency as a result of its ineptitude in economic management, stating: "In the face of dire wartime poverty, the way the Korean government viewed

prostitution as an inevitable means to feed its people."40 Ms. Kim, a for­mer prostitute, recalled when interviewed regarding government policies:

"They urged us to sell as much as possible to the Gl.s, praising us as

'dollar earning patriots."i By the early 1960s the South Korean govern­ment relied on the comfort women system to provide 24 percent of the

country's Gross National Product (GNP), far more than the system serv‑

ing the Japanese Imperial Army ever had.42 As Kim Ae Ran, a 58-year-old former prostitute interviewed in 2009, said: "Our government was one

big pimp for the U.S. military."±

During 12 years in office Rhee's administration never instituted a na‑

tional economic policy and the ROK made almost no economic or social progress. As professors Uk Heo and Terrence Roehrig noted in their study of South Korean political history, alongside rampant corruption "Rhee also had little expertise or interest in economic development, and his economic ministers were similarly inexperienced and untrained in

economic policy making."44 Supporting the comfort women system pro­vided the Rhee government with a means of earning foreign currency, compensating for its own economic ineptitude.

Few investigations were made into government involvement in the

comfort women system in South Korea, although the New York Times was several decades later able to conduct an investigation and interview former prostitutes. Those interviewed claimed their government had

been heavily involved in human trafficking in relation to the sex trade and provision for the U.S. Military for many decades. The investigators re­viewed South Korean and American documents, which they concluded "do provide some support for many of the women's claims." Although the South Korean government remained silent on the issue, in 2006 Kim Kee Joe, a government official and former high level liaison to the U.S. Military, admitted in a televised interview: "Although we did not actively urge them to engage in prostitution, we, especially those from the county offices, did often tell them that it was not something bad for the country

either."45

The state's active encouragement of the comfort women system ser­vicing the U.S. Military was confirmed in a ruling by the Seoul High Court on February 8, 2018. This policy had been adopted for the sake of both strengthening the military alliance and earning foreign currency. The court concluded: "In regarding the right to sexual self-determination of the women in the camptown and the very character of the plaintiffs as represented through their sexuality as means of achieving state goals, the state violated its obligation to respect human rights." It further reported: 'according to official Ministry of Health and Welfare documents, [the state] actively encouraged women in the military camptowns to engage in prostitution to allow foreign troops to 'relax' and 'enjoy sexual services' with them."46

A number of means were used to coerce women into entering the comfort women system and providing sexual services to American per­sonnel. One very significant, though indirect, means of coercion was the destitution which had resulted from the policies of both the U.S. Military and Rhee government. The wartime scorched earth policy, destroying en­tire towns and villages across Korea and burning the crops and livelihoods which people had relied on for generations, left a large seg­ment of the population with few possessions and no means of providing for themselves. At a conservative estimate, the war created two million refugees in South Korea—and between 20 and 25 percent of the popu­lation at the end of the war could not support themselves. Little was done to compensate these families or help them restart their

livelihoods.i This combined with Rhee's economic ineptitude, his focus

on militarisation, the low wages available to conscripts and the poor so­cial welfare available meant many Korean families faced very serious destitution. Thus, both during the war, and afterwards when a presence of hundreds of thousands of Americans remained, many women, partic­ularly mothers with dependants, had no choice but to enter the comfort women system. The claim that the comfort women system was based on consent thus strongly contradicts the available evidence from both South Korean and U.S. sources.

Professor Arissa Oh concluded in her own study: "Many women had few options other than questionable employment in tearooms, restau­rants, and bars, where a thin line separated the hostess and the sex work­er. Other women were seduced through false promises, or raped. Wid­ows often resorted to sex work to support their children."48 It was often the reality that women had to either sell their bodies to Western soldiers or see their children starve. In 1952, the final year of the Korean War, the U.S. State Department reported that of the "UN Aunties," a term for the prostitutes servicing the Western soldiers, half were widows. This statis­tic alone is highly indicative as to the true nature of prostitution in wartime and post-war South Korea and the desperation of those who en‑

tered the trade.49

Seungsook Moon and Maria Hohn publicized the findings of their

investigation on the methods of coercion used to obtain comfort women for American forces after the Korean War, stating:

It appears that, while some women would have been trafficked through force and deception, the masses of impoverished Korean women, single and married, were mainly recruited by private busi­nesses that secured approval from authorities. The majority of women working in UN comfort stations were married, which sug­gests that sexual labour was a desperate attempt to feed children and families. The force of abject poverty and the death, disability, and dis­placement of men during the Korean War further multiplied the number of women who had to prostitute themselves for survival.50

Based on an analysis of the circumstances, it is clear that what was called consensual was actually very far from consensual work, with a pri­mary workforce of widows and married women being a strong indicator of this. The conditions which forced women into prostitution were caused by the very same external actors who benefited from having ac­cess to large numbers of desperate Korean women.

A number of other studies of the comfort women system reached similar conclusions regarding the supposed "consent" of the women who were forced to sexually service Western solders. Referring to the continuity between this system and that which had preceded it on a smaller scale under the Japanese Empire, associate professor at Amer­ican University in Washington D.C. and expert on foreign and military policy David Vine concluded in his research: "With the assistance of Ko­rean officials, U.S. authorities continued the system absent formal slav­ery, but under conditions of exceedingly limited choice for the women involved."5'

Professor Lee Jin Kyung, an expert on labour migration in South Korea, noted regarding the nature of the "consent" of South Korean women to serve American soldiers that it was hardly worthy of the term. It was in fact very similar to the system of "comfort women" Japan oper­ated, but on a far greater scale. She concluded regarding the nature of prostitution in South Korea:

Prostitution is an occupation "choice" that is largely forced on them as a matter of bare subsistence and survival.., prostitution is an insti­tutionalization of sexual violence via commercialization, for the ways in which the "consent" is forcibly manufactured out of unequal social and economic relations among sex workers, their employers and their clients. In other words, considering this inherent coerciveness and structural violence built into prostitution, I would like to concep­tualize prostitution as another kind of necropolitical labour.

"Necropolitical labour" is a term she coined for forced labour, in which there are significant risks of violence and death, evidenced by the number of prostitutes killed or otherwise seriously harmed in their work by GIs, but the alternative to which is death.52

In her "Research for the Reform of Law and the Prevention of Prosti­tution," Elaine Kim concluded that the Korean War and the U.S.—Republic of Korea Mutual Defense Treaty had between them laid the basis for the comfort women system, with wartime destruction sepa­rating families and creating orphans and widows. This system "mass produced" women who had no choice but to enter the comfort women system or else starve—leaving women and young girls without homes or

some receive advice on the type of man to avoid (e.g. violent types) from more experienced prostitutes.60

Interviews with a number of comfort women indicated the true nature of "consent" in the system they worked in. Jeon, a former sex worker

aged 71, was interviewed by the New York Times in 2009. Orphaned in

the war at 18 years old she had been forced to begin work in the comfort women system in Dongducheon camptown near the frontlines to service American soldiers. "The more I think about my life, the more I think women like me were the biggest sacrifice for my country's alliance with the Americans. Looking back I think my body was not mine, but the gov­ernment's and the U.S. Military's," she had said. Jeon had a son in the 1960$ but gave him up when he was 13. Selling mixed-race children to families in the United States was common practice for comfort women at the time, many of whom could not afford to raise the children them­selves. At the time she was interviewed, Jeon was subsisting by selling items she picked up from trash for a living.61

"Johnston's Mom," a pseudonym used by another woman in the comfort woman system, was in her late twenties when interviewed in Songsan, Uijongbu, north of Seoul. Her interviewer described where she lived as "a run-down cement building-front off an alley ...a small dark room with gray cement walls and a few pots and pans-the kitchen." Her sons were the children of two different American servicemen, and an American soldier, the father of neither of the boys, had shortly before­hand been living with them. He had provided food in return for sexual services, a "contract cohabitation" which was common in camptowns. She could not bear to sell her sons (European-looking children sold for $50-200) and was forced to resume working as a prostitute to feed them. The interviewer discovered that as per their "contract," "Johnston's Mom" would have regular sex with the U.S. soldier in the same room as the young boys, as there was nowhere else to go. This case was not par­ticularly outstanding among the millions of relations that a million com­fort women had with U.S. soldiers. Such poverty, depravity and exploita‑

tion were commonplace.62

Comfort Women and U.S.-Korean Relations

The significance and symbolism of the comfort women system as a central part of U.S.-ROK relations sheds considerable light on the nature of American conduct and intentions towards the Korean nation, pre­senting strong evidence of the fate the DPRK has managed to spare its population by continuing a policy of resistance to forceful integration into the U.S.-led order. Indeed, this issue alone arguably vindicates the DPRK decision to fight for its sovereignty at all costs, and awareness of American intentions based on U.S. relations with South Korea may well contribute to fuelling the north's staunch defiance against America's hegemonic ambitions. As Professor Katherine H. S. Moon wrote: "The sexual domination of tens of thousands of Korean women by 'Yangk'I foreigners' [she later puts the total figure at around 1 million women] is a

social disgrace,"63 one which given the importance of chastity and ethnic pride in Korean culture is something any self-respecting and fully sover­eign Korean state would do its utmost to avoid.

Renowned American professor and historian of East Asia Bruce Cum-ings, a specialist in Korea, holder of South Korea's honourable Kim Dae Jung Academic Award for Outstanding Achievements and Scholarly Con­tributions to Democracy, Human Rights and Peace and former member of the U.S. Peace Corps stationed in Korea, observed in his assessment

livelihoods.53 Was not the intentional destruction of Korea and the liveli­hoods of millions with an intensive bombing and scorched earth policy,

and with the forceful imposition of leadership as corrupt and inept as that of Rhee, not an indirect way of forcing women into sexual slavery? By destroying a people's lives and their ability to provide for themselves, they were left helpless—after which a reliance on American resources could be fostered. These resources came at the price of comfort women for sexual service. American sociologist Kathleen Barry was one of a number of scholars who observed the similarities between the "industri­alization of sex" and the scale of sexual exploitation in South Korea with the sexual exploitation of conquered women by traditional imperial

conquerors.54 Professor Lee Jin Kyung at the University of California also noted that the approach of the United States to guaranteeing access to

Korean women was merely a "shift from the Japanese Imperial System of

Comfort Women" to a new system with the same ends.5

Regarding the means by which South Korean women entered prosti‑

tution, coercion and fraud were also extremely common means of re­cruitment. Flesh-traffickers and pimps would often wait by train and bus stations to greet young girls coming from the countryside, promising them employment and a place to stay. These girls, who often left the

countryside to seek work, would then be "initiated" through rape.56 They would then be employed in sex work or sold to brothels in the camp‑

towns. Advertisements offering jobs as waitresses, shopkeepers and singers were very frequently used to lure women to their "initiation cere‑

monies," after which they were psychologically broken by the shock and social shame of rape and could be sold into prostitution. Once a girl or

woman was in the power of such a system, it was extremely difficult for her to get out. Cultural and psychological reasons were significant

factors as these women were now considered fallen and would face sig­nificant social stigma and isolation. Pimps and brothel owners who co­erced women into prostitution also made extensive use of a debt-bond system, confiscating women's incomes, getting them into debt and pun‑

ishing any transgressions with violence.57 It was not unusual for Korean women to have to hand over 8o percent of their earnings to brothel own‑

ers, making it nearly impossible for them to pay off their debts.58

The South Korean police, notoriously corrupt in the Rhee years, were

themselves reported to be involved not only in trading drugs, but also in trafficking women for the comfort women system. According to a prom­inent study by Professor Lukasz Kamienski: "the police were... actively in­volved in trafficking in women and smuggling them to brothels, thus providing cover and protection for the entire underground sex and drug trade economy." With police themselves heavily involved in trafficking women, it is difficult to claim that the comfort women system was based on consent. Kamienski was far from the only one to comment on these

reports.?

Katherine H. S. Moon's research described the reluctance of women

to service foreign soldiers and how women were forcefully broken down to be able to provide sexual services to the American soldiers. She stat­ed:

Most women do not come into the clubs equipped with the "hostess-ing skills" and the willingness to share flesh with the GIs. For women who are new to the club scene, an initiation process often takes place. Some women attest to having been raped by their pimp/ manager; others have been ordered by the club owner to sleep with a particular soldier; yet others stumble into bed with GIs on their own;

of the centrality of the comfort women system to U.S.-ROK relations and its symbolism regarding the overall nature of the relationship:

One element in the Korean-American relationship has been constant: the continuous subordination of one female generation after another to the sexual servicing of American males, to the requirements of a trade in female flesh that simply cannot be exaggerated. It's the most common form of Korean-American interaction, whether you're a pri­vate in the Army, a visiting Congressman (for who special stables are maintained), or a Peace Corps teacher... It's also the most silent ex­change, as if the trade were chaperoned by the deaf, dumb and blind... It is the aspect that most struck me when I first lived in Korea, creating indelible impressions of a relationship that, because of the use made of Korean women, could not be what it was said to be: a free compact between two independent nations dedicated to democ­racy and anticommuniSM.64

As a member of the Peace Corps stationed in Korea, who witnessed first-hand what took place in camptowns and the prevalent attitudes among Americans towards Korean society and its women, Cumings' ac­counts are particularly useful. He observed:

If someone called attention to the ceaseless orgy, all the usual bromine pour forth to drown out the faint cries of peasant girls yanked off  train in Seoul and thrown into a brothel, a thousand little justifications for the abasement of a thousand little girls at American hands...the social construction of every Korea female as a potential object of pleasure for Americans. It is the most important aspect of the whole relationship and the primary memory of Korea for

generations of young American men who have served there... When I told an older "Korea hand" that I was going to Seoul with spouse, he

remarked, "why take a sandwich to a banquet?"65

In his description of the "whoring district" near an American military base Cumings described what he saw: "ridiculous-looking painted Ko­rean girls—often very young—peer from the doors ... a middle-aged woman with two kids hanging on to her who, in the middle of the street, asked me to come and 'hop on' in the chimdeh [bed]." He further ob­served: "Goofy-looking, stupid soldiers walk arm-in-arm with whores who are often only young girls—very, very young girls. How do these men justify this to themselves... [Koreans] simply hate them [the Amer­icans] and exist by pandering to their ever-base desires ... the adults avert their eyes when you look at them, and if they don't, they glare at you with a hatred that can be measured—an American who speaks Korean is the only things that shocks theM."66

According to Cumings, Korean prostitutes of all ages including chil­dren were sold under the comfort system. He recalled: "In Seoul women were available on almost every block—in a bathhouse, massage room, restaurant, or in the ubiquitous tea houses all over the city. You could get them very young, probably around twelve; kids were shanghaied into a kind of slavery as they got off the train from the countryside, looking for work to support their peasant families. Kidnapped, gang-raped and beat­en by pimps while learning their few necessary words of English, they

were ready for the street in a week."67 His use of the term "slavery,"

undermines the image of a consensual sex trade which is used to par­tially justify its existence and deflect criticism from the United States and the Rhee government.

In the 1950$ the South Korean population was just 19 million. Of these just over half were females (96.1 males to 100 females as of

1956) and around half again were young women. American soldiers de­ployed to the country, technically a battle zone due to the armistice, had

short rotations of around one year, and those with wives were discour­aged from bringing them. The short rotations and significant number of soldiers deployed meant that between 1950 and 1971 around 6 million American soldiers served in Korea. In this time it is estimated that

around 1 million Korean women worked in the comfort women system.69 This was at least five times the number that worked for the Japanese

army, the highest estimate for which was "up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, but also from other parts of Asia" (meaning well under 200,000 from Korea itself and even less for Korea below the 38th

parallel).70 The figure of 1 million also excludes the significant number of women who were raped by GIs and other foreign personnel outside the

comfort women system from 1945 onwards, as the number of rapes committed were not recorded by the government or police. There is only evidence from testimonies, as previously mentioned, that they did take place and on a very wide scale but there are no exact figures.

It is notable when observing Korean-American and Korean-Japanese relations in the twenty-first century that Japan's taking of under 200,000 Korean comfort women (the majority of its 200,000 comfort women

from all Asia, as a highest estimate) is frequently made an issue by politi­cians and activists, and is a well-publicized crime. At the same time,

however, the more recent American use of 1,000,000 South Korean comfort women under terrible conditions and with often highly ques‑

tionable consent, as well as the rapes of many more, is not mentioned or addressed. South Korea demands apologies from the Japanese

government, builds statues in the honour of the comfort women, and is paid reparations by Tokyo. On the other hand, Seoul makes almost no mention of similar crimes committed by the United States, which oc­curred both more recently and on a larger scale.

The trafficking of comfort women to serve the U.S. forces in the ROK has meanwhile continued on a considerable scale, although many are now trafficked from abroad particularly from the Philippines and sold at

auction.?± Women from overseas continue to be offered jobs in Korea and subsequently forced to service American personnel, with the number

of women effectively enslaved in this way numbering in the thousandS.72

A U.S. State Department report found that trafficked Filipina women working in the ROK in the 2000$ were so desperate and hungry as to beg

U.S. soldiers to bring them bread.73 A study carried out in 2007 by three

professional researchers similarly concluded that U.S. bases in the ROK were "a hub for the transnational trafficking of women from the Asia-Pacific and Eurasia to South Korea and the United States."Th This raises serious questions regarding the consistency of South Korean condem­nations.

The purpose of comparing the coercion of Korean women into mili­tary sex work by the Japanese Empire with the far larger scale on which this took place under the U.S. military is not to exempt the former or lessen the rapaciousness or degrading nature of its crime against the Ko­rean people, but rather to bring to light the inherent double standards present in South Korean claims against Japan when considering more re­cent American crimes. One explanation for these double standards is that the United States exerts very considerable influence over the ROK and has left Seoul dependent on American good will for military and eco­nomic support. Just as the Japanese collaborators in Korea did not raise

the issue of the Japanese Empire's use of comfort women, publicize their suffering, or demand compensation for their countrywomen, it is simi­larly unlikely for closely U.S.-aligned South Korean governments to make a case against the United States. A second reason is that the comfort women in Korea were in most cases unpaid by the Japanese, and were

essentially slaves.1 The women serving the United States on the other

hand are more often depicted as having chosen sex work consensually for financial benefits. While the first is a plausible explanation, the com­mon notion that Korean women consented to sell themselves to the American soldiers, and that the means the U.S. Military used to obtain comfort women were therefore fundamentally different from those used by the Japanese Empire, proves to be largely untrue.

Methods used to recruit comfort women to serve American soldiers involved rape and violence to disorient and break women in. They would afterwards have little choice but to "consent" to sex work for the U.S. Military. The Japanese in Korea had often employed middlemen using similar methods. Pimps recruiting women for the U.S. forces would often advertise jobs as nurses or factory workers and would then force the respondents into sexual slavery. One major difference was that the Japanese saw comfort women as a temporary wartime measure to satisfy soldiers and began recruiting them in large numbers in wartime when they believed men risking their lives for the empire required special rest and recreation. The recruitment of comfort women was not however ever meant to be a permanent state of affairs which would continue into peacetime. By contrast, although there was no open war in Korea for over two decades after 1953, the U.S. Military recruited hundreds of thousands of comfort women during this period. In fact the prostitution industry in South Korea expanded significantly after the war had ended and after the signing of the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty that year. While access to comfort women has been considered by a number of militaries

throughout history as a means to redress men for risking their lives and enduring the stresses and exhaustion of combat, even this somewhat feeble pretext used by Imperial Japan could not be put forward as an ex‑

cuse by the United States Military for their conduct in South Korea.76 In contrast to the Japanese case, the American military's access to comfort

women could not be considered a necessary evil of wartime. It was in fact a permanent and indefinite state of affairs, continuing even in peace­time.

Due to the poor state of the ROK's economy under the Rhee govern­ment, worsened further by the bombings and scorched earth tactics of the U.S. Military, South Korean women had hunger, even in peacetime, as an incentive to sell themselves. The Japanese Empire had not left the Asian peoples they conquered starving in peacetime, and to the contrary

had made efforts to increase agricuItural7 and industriaI78 outputs of their overseas territories which were highly successful. Due to massive

investments in damming and other key infrastructure, Korean agricul‑

tural output increased manifold under Japanese ruIe.Z

Had the Japanese colonial administration instead left Koreans starv‑

ing as the American imposed Rhee government had, and as American wartime policies such as scorched earth had exacerbated, perhaps the

Imperial Army would have not needed to forcibly recruit comfort women. Directly causing the population's destitution and starvation, and impos‑

ing inept administrators—then paying a bare subsistence wage for sexual services was the American way, not that of the Japanese. Did this really

make the American comfort women system more "consensual" and "voluntary?" Had the Japan firebombed Korea and enacted scorched

earth policies to destroy the people's means of providing for themselves, rather than investing in infrastructure and raising living standards as they did, perhaps more Korean women would have been drawn to "consen­sual" sex work out of desperation as they were under the American com­fort women system. How genuine was the "consent" of Korean women servicing American personnel, who outnumbered those serving the Japa­nese many times over, and was America's conduct really more moral than that of the Japanese Empire or could it be considered even more immoral and depraved?

As for the treatment of Korean women when under the power of for­eign soldiers—sources almost unanimously indicate similar if not greater levels of brutalisation by American soldiers as was the case under the Japanese. An independent survey of 243 South Korean comfort women servicing American personnel found well over two thirds experi­enced "beating, sexual violence, theft and robbery, in declining order of frequency" at the hands of American soldiers.80 As one said anony­mously when interviewed, "some GIs are mean and nasty, especially when they are drunk ... at worst a woman encounters a GI who beats her and murders her." American conduct towards Korean women, as in many other Asia-Pacific nations, was strongly influenced by perceptions that they were dealing with an inferior people. A U.S. military chaplain quoted by Time magazine noted that personnel tended to view Korean women as property, much as Westerners serving at imperial postings across the world once "owned" sex slaves of conquered nations in

Africa,81 the AmericaS82 and elsewhere. He stated: "Some of them own their girls... before leaving Korea, they sell the package to a man who is

just coming in."83 Another noted regarding prevailing attitudes among American servicemen to East Asian women: "They were property, things,

slaves... Racism, sexism—it's all there. The men don't see the women as human beings—they're disgusting, things to be thrown away... They

speak of the women in the diminutive."84 Koreans were perceived as a

culture and people with whom Americans were entitled to do as they pleased, including inflicting abuse and demanding sexual favours. Ac­cording to one comfort woman interviewed, GIs would tell Korean women that they would never beat women in America but as they were in Korea they were free to do so to Korean women—supposedly to justify their behaviour. It was common for Korean women to be harshly beaten by drunk soldiers, and other women interviewed consistently painted a

very similar picture.85

South Korea today remains profoundly influenced by the comfort women system put in place under U.S. military rule—arguably far more so than that which took place under the Japanese Empire. As Katherine H. S. Moon noted regarding the social changes which occurred in South Korea as a result: "Increasingly Koreans view the history of prostitution and the contemporary forms of sex tourism in Korea as manifestations of foreign domination over the country."86 She further noted that many in South Korea saw the comfort women system "as representative of U.S. domination over Korean politics and the continued presence of U.S. mili­tary bases as perpetuation of South Korea's neo-colonial status visà-vis the United States."87

The comfort women system began to decline only with South Korea's economic rise, which forced American servicemen in the country to in­creasingly rely on trafficked women from Southeast Asia from the late 1970s. The system would leave behind a considerable cultural legacy—including a normalisation of the sex trade. By 1989 the country's night­clubs, bars and entertainment sector made up 5 percent of the Gross

National Product, with 400,000 establishments offering sexual services and between 1.2 and 1.5 million South Korean women selling sex. This was one fifth of the total number of women aged 15 to 29. A range of ser­vices were offered at a variety of locations, from seedy inns to luxury ho‑

tels, to cater for the very large numbers of clients. In the early 2010S the sex trade in South Korea made up 4 percent of GDP, as much as fish‑

ing and agriculture combined.90 Up to one fifth of South Korean women between 15 and 29 have at some point worked in the sex industry—over 1

million womel.i A report by the U.S. State Department released in 2008 indicated that young girls and women from South Korea are very often

made victims of human trafficking to Western nations in significant numbers. These include Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zea‑

land and the United States as well as to Japan.92

The comfort women system which was continued and expanded in

South Korea, and the experiences of those whom through various cir­cumstances were forced into it, provides key context to the ongoing con­flict between the DPRK and the United States. Pyongyang not only abol­ished the comfort women system from 1945, but also strictly enforced the outlawing of prostitution entirely and establishing formal legal equal­ity for women. The country remains highly sexually conservative until today, with adultery remaining a serious crime by law and even divorce being rare and strongly discouraged.

Had Pyongyang yielded to Western pressure, or accepted the Amer­ican Supreme Commander's demand for unconditional surrender during

the war, it is almost certain its women and young girls would have been subjected to very similar if not worse treatment including sexual violence

on a massive scale at the hands of the U.S. Military. While the country would pay a price for its defiance of the Western-led order, from

firebombing and demonization to seven long decades of harsh eco­nomic sanctions, the nation's dignity, pride and right to self-determination were never violated—neither were its women. The fate of South Korea as a U.S. client state, including not only comfort women is­sues and widespread rapes but also factors such as the imposition of in­tense Western cultural influences, the indefinite and costly American military presence, and continued American influence over state policy, arguably vindicate North Korea's choice of resistance to intense external pressure over the harsh alternative. As a statement from the DPRK's For­eign Ministry read, amid talk of American military intervention in 2017: "Three million people have volunteered to join the war if necessary ...in terms of dignity we are the most powerful in the world. We will die in

order to protect that dignity and sovereignty."93

Americanisation in South Korea

In parallel to the comfort women system, another major phenom­enon that emerged during the U.S. military occupation and would come to shape South Korean society and its relationship with the United States was the deep Americanisation and westernisation of South Korean soci­ety. This again led to a sharp contrast between U.S. relations with the two Koreas and provides context key to comprehending the nature of conflict between North Korea and the United States.

American efforts to westernize South Korean society and develop a soft power base were considerable from the beginning of the military occupation period, with the U.S. Information Service reporting it had: "one of the most extensive country programs that we are operating any­where"— very large investment considering the underdeveloped state of the country compared to other American client states. The service had

referring to the extensive growth of plastic surgeries and other emerging methods among East Asian populations of "Europeanising" their appear­ances: "All the above trends seem to illustrate the growing influence of Western cultural domination. From actual imperialism to modern cul‑

tural colonialism via mass media."98

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's article "Changing Faces" in Time magazine as‑

sessed the growing popularity and rising trend towards altering one's features to appear more Western in Western-aligned East Asian coun­tries. Regarding the influences which caused East Asians to favour West­ern features, she noted:

The culturally loaded issue today is the number of Asians looking to remake themselves to look more Caucasian. It's a charge many deny, although few would argue that under the relentless bombardment of Hollywood, satellite TV, and Madison Avenue, Asia's aesthetic ideal

has changed drastically.99

Harvard psychology Professor Nancy Etcoff, author of Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty, noted to much the same effect: "Beauty,

after all, is evolutionary... Asians are increasingly asking their surgeons for wider eyes, longer noses and fuller breasts, features not typical of the race." Concepts of beauty evolve over time and reflect what is seen as desirable—the traits of the dominant people or caste. Under the Western sphere of influence, "under the relentless bombardment of Hollywood, satellite TV, and Madison Avenue" among other mediums through which an idealisation of the West is promoted, concepts of beauty have shifted

to idealise the aesthetics of the dominating power.19.E

As Time magazine reported, common surgeries to "Europeanise" appearances in South Korea went beyond facial features:

Just as Asian faces require unique procedures, their bodies demand innovative operations to achieve the leggy, skinny, busty Western ideal that has become increasingly universal. Dr. Suh In Seock, a sur­geon in Seoul, has struggled to find the best way to fix an affliction the Koreans call muu-dari and the Japanese call daikon-ashi: radish-shaped calves. Liposuction, so effective on the legs of plump West­erners, doesn't work on Asians since muscle, not fat, accounts for the bulk. Suh says earlier attempts to carve the muscle were painful and made walking difficult. "Finally, I discovered that by severing a nerve behind the knee, the muscle would atrophy," says Suh, "thereby reducing its size up to 40%." Suh has performed over 600 of the operations since 1996. He disappears for a minute and returns with a bottle of fluid containing what looks like chopped up bits of ramen noodles. He has preserved his patients' excised nerves in alcohol. "And that's just since November," he says proudly.i

Professor Pak Seong Won concluded regarding the extent of western­ization, as demonstrated by the aforementioned surgeries and ideal­ization of western aesthetics: "we can see how Koreans internalize U.S. values and how they undervalue Korean uniqueness in terms of beauty

and body."12 The origins of Europeanisation surgeries in Korea no‑

tably has close connections to the early U.S. Military presence in the country—which is indicative of their nature as a manifestation of West­ern dominance over and consequences of westernisation of South Ko­rean modern culture. Prominent American plastic surgeon David Ralph Millard worked with the U.S. Military in post-war South Korea from 1954

nine centers in Korea which offered American cultural items including

films, publications and other such services.94 The early stages of the American appropriation of soft power were described by British Minister Vyvyan Holt in his visit to the ROK in 1950, shortly before the outbreak of the war, when he observed: "Radiating from the huge ten-storied Banto Hotel, 'American influence' penetrates into every branch of adminis­tration and is fortified by an immense outpouring of money." Cultural influence was spread by scholarships to study in the United States, mis­sionary denominations, travelling cinemas and theatres playing American films, the Voice of America and sports such as baseball. This cultural influence was described by the minister as "exceedingly strong" and as a result "American is the dream land" to fast growing numbers of Kore‑

ans—an allusion to the growing idolization of the U.S.25

Korea expert Professor Robert Jervis noted in a paper for the Journal of Amen can-East Asian Relations that an

intangible effect of the war is the penetration of American ideas and values into South Korean society. While the three-year American mili­tary occupation (1945-1948) has already laid the ground-work for the Americanisation of South Korean society, the war, by bringing hun­dreds of thousands of American soldiers to Korea, by inundating South Korea with American goods, books, and films, and by multi­plying South Korea's links with the United States manifold, helped to quicken its pace and broaden its scope. Whether this is good or bad

is open to debate.2

American soft influence in South Korea, as in its other East Asian client states, would only grow as these states further modernised. In his research paper "The Present and Future of Americanization in South Korea," appearing in the Journal of Future Studies, Professor Pak Seong

Won noted: "South Korea has done nothing to curb Americanization since the ios, and in an era of globalization, Korean society is becom­ing more influenced by the United States in terms of economic, political, and psychological realms." Pak indicated that South Korea was influ­enced by the United States through three main means:

i) the number of U.S.-educated Ph.D.s in universities and govern­ment, 2) the propensity to adopt American lifestyles, and 3) the high market shares of American movies and television programming. These categories represent knowledge, life, and playfulness—in short culture. Results of the examination in the three categories are as­tounding, because South Korea is deeply influenced by Americans. Even though Korea was decolonized from Japan in 1945, Korea now seems to be colonized by the U.S. in economic, political, and cultural realms.97

Arguably one of the most conspicuous impacts on South Korean society, and on those of many East Asian nations in the Western Bloc's sphere of influence, has been that on aesthetics—namely towards an ide­alisation of Western physical features. In his paper published by Univer­sity of Hawaii, titled "Dynamic Beauty: Cultural influences and Changing

Perceptions—Becoming Prettier or Erasing One's Own Culture," Amer‑

ican researcher Christopher Frazier observed: "A culture's ideals of phys­ical appearance are dynamic. Change can be induced by external cultural contact and, particularly, domination. Do these affected standards of beauty imply a kind of reversed ethnocentrism?" Frazier went on to write,

and explored the possibility of surgically altering the appearance of the human eye from "Oriental to Occidental." A Korean translator ap­proached him, seeking to be "made into a round-eye," as he felt that his Asian appearance was leading the Americans he worked with to mistrust him. Millard agreed, writing: "As this was partly true, I consented to do

what I could."

The status of westerners as a superior class in Korea, and the ideali‑

sation of the West which followed, led the popularity of

surgeries to surge. Millard sought to devise further procedures not only to alter eyelids, but also to raise nasal bridges and widen eyes. The interpreter was very happy with the results, noting that he was often thought to be an Italian or Mexican as a result—an improvement in his eyes from the status of a Korean. "Asianness" and Korean features were

increasingly associated with inferiority as western influence grew.12

Millard went on to train local doctors to apply his methods and pub­lished two papers on the subject, titled "Oriental Peregrinations" and "The Oriental Eyelid and its Surgical Revision." Both of these works had highly racialist tones. By the 1990$ "Euro.eariisation" surgeries had be­come a widespread and normalized part of modern South Korean cul­ture. This not only revealed but also cemented Koreans' sense of racial inferiority. As Professor Nadia Y. Kim noted: "the U.S. military and [Mil­lard] were crystallizing Koreans' sense of inferiority to their White racial

bodies."105 The most popular plastic surgeries to date, with the exception

of hair transplants, are all " uropeanisation" surgeries, including double eyelid and eye widening surgeries, rhino-plasticity used to give the nose a high bridge andso make them protrude further from the face as Euro­pean noses do, and forehead augmentation—which makes the forehead protrude from the face as European foreheads do. Others include chin

augmentations—using implants or fillers do make the face look more angular in the western style, and V-line jaw reduction surgeries which have much the same effect. The popularity of these surgeries in South

Korea remains very high.12

While the Korean translator who approached Dr. Millard had wanted to Europeanise his features to prevent discrimination from his American bosses, South Korean society appears to have internalised these Western values and paradigms to the extent that Korean features are widely looked down on by Koreans themselves. As South Korean writer Carol

Eugene Pak noted in the Canadian magazine The Varsity: "Many South

Koreans envy and idolize 'Western' facial features, whether they are con­scious of it or not. Perhaps it is because of a Western-dominated media or the pedestal South Korean society places the United States upon. Whatever the reason, contemporary South Korean society has deeply internalized its bias towards Western beauty, so that Koreans who do not possess 'Western' features often face prejudice in the work-place and in daily life." She was one of many to attribute the prominence of plastic surgery in the country, with the world's highest rates of plastic surgery

per capita,i7 not to a high beauty standard, but to a deep idolisation of the West—one which dates back to the time of American military rule.9.

The importance of inferiority complexes among a target population and pressing the idea of Western racial prestige was frequently alluded to by European leaders during the colonial era as key to sustaining Western leadership.199 Such trends could be observed in the post-colonial era be­yond South Korea. In her paper titled "Retto-kan: Japan's Inferiority Com­plex with the West in Contemporary Media and Culture," Dr. Erika En­gstrom noted that under U.S. occupation, much of the Japanese popu­lation had started to believe "that Japan was inferior, not only as an

Euro seani

sation

economic power, but also as a race." This developed into "retto-kan," which could be translated as "inferior class feeling." According to En-gstrom's study it would prevail even after Japanese living standards and

its economy had left most of the Western world behind.11

While aesthetics provides a more conspicuous example of the effects

of American and Western influence on South Korea, it is an indicator of a much wider phenomenon of idealisation and adulation of the West and one of many examples. South Korean Congressman Choi Soon Young, for one, presented data in 2007 indicating United States' considerable influence on the country through education. He pointed out that Korean society valued U.S. educational ties more than any others—with the majority of professors at leading universities holding degrees from the

U.S., which accounted for over 8o% of foreign doctoral degrees.ii! Sim­ilar trends can be observed among the country's political elite. From

1948-1968 much of the Korean leadership boasted higher education in Japan which, as the previous imperial power occupying Korea, had heav­ily influenced the Korean elite through education. This Japanese influ­ence would gradually recede to be replaced by an American one, and from 1968 to 2001 71% of ministers in the ROK held degrees from the

United States.112 This fosters not only positive views towards and close ties with the new hegemon, as it was intended to do towards Japan be‑

forehand, but also ensures that American thought will continue to have a

major influence over scholarship and political discourse in the country. This influence has, according to the aforementioned study conducted by

Pak Seong Won, been very profound, and placed U.S. educated profes­sionals in a superior class leading to discrimination against those lack‑

ing an American education.113

An understanding of these trends is critical to comprehending not only the nature of the American relationship with South Korea and its other East Asian client states, but also of its conflict with North Korea to which these relationships provide a stark contrast. As one of very few states to have never been subjugated and occupied by a Western power, North Korea lacks the colonial-era foundations for Western soft influ­ence and an idealisation of the West common to many countries for­merly under American or European rule. North Koreans were never sec­ond class citizens in their own country, which combined with a lack of

Western soft influence and a strongly nationalist "Korea-first" identityii

perpetuated through media and education, means its population are not moved to remake themselves in the image of or to idolise the West—aesthetically or otherwise. The extent of Western influence in South Korea and other Asian client states, and the depths to which it has permeated, shows the alternative fate for the Korean population to that of resistance under the DPRK—namely life under a system which attributes the greatest value not to one's own nation, culture and thought, but in­stead under one which is heavily influenced by and idolises the Western hegemon. The implications of this have played a central role in the con­flict between North Korea and the Western Bloc—led by the United States—throughout its seventy-year duration.

====

NOTES

Mi Kunjongch'ong kwanbo: Official Gazette, United States Army Mili­tary Government in Korea, Seoul, Wonju Munhwasa, Proclamation No.

1.

Mi Kunjongch'ong kwanbo: Official Gazette, United States Army Mili­tary Government in Korea, Seoul, Wonju Munhwasa, Proclamation No.

1.

3Fraenkel, Ernst, ' Entry 24 January 1946: Augzeichungen vsm 15. Vis 30. Januar 1946 uber Fraenkels Ankunftzeit in Korea,' in: Franker, Ernst,

Gesarnmelte Schrften , Baden Baden, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999.

40ne prominent example in East Asia is Singapore's National Mu-seum—which similarly and somewhat ironically refers to the restora‑

tion of British colonial rule in 1945 as 'liberation' (National Museum of Singapore, Surviving Syonan Gallery, Level 2, accessed March 8, 2018). .5'Message to U.S.A. Citizens,' G-2 Weekly, October 30, 1945.

Letter from Commander in Chief, U.S. Army Forces, Pacific to Joint Chiefs of Staff, December 16, 1945. Folder: Papers of Harry S. Truman,

SMOF: Selected Records on Korean War, Pertinent Papers on Korea Situation; Box 11, SMOF, National Security Files, Papers of Harry S. Truman, Harry S. Truman Library.

7Fraenkel, Ernst, ' Entry 24Janua!y 1946: Augzeichungen vsm 15. Vis 30. Januar 1946 uber Fraenkels Ankunftzeit in Korea,' in: Franker, Ernst,

Gesarnmelte Schrften , Baden Baden, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999.

SKim, Monica, The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War; The Untold

History , Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2019 (pp. 47, 49-51).

9'Report on Standards of Living Conditions, Military Courtesy Disci­pline, and Training,' April 29, 1946; 'Deterioration of Standards,' May 3, 1946; 'Courtesy Drive,' November 6, 1946; 'Message from the Com‑

manding General, USAFIK,' January 17, 1947; 'Instructions to Courtesy Patrol Officers,' July 21, 1948; 'Personal Conduct,' August 27, 1948, all

in NARA, RG 554, box 50.

Hohn, Maria, and Moon, Seungsook, eds., Over There: Living with

the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present, Chapel Hill, NC, Duke University Press, 2010 (p. 43).

10 Dower, John, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, New York, Pantheon, 1986 (p. 7).

jj. Schrijvers, Peter, The GI War Against Japan: American Soldiers in Asia

and the Pacific During World War II, New York, New York University Press, 2005 (P. 212),

iz Diary of Admiral William Leahy, October 20, 1942 (quoted in Thorne, Christopher, Allies of a Kind: The United States, Britain and the War

Against Japan, 1941-1945 , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978 (p. 157)).

13 Stueck, William and Yi, Boram, "' An Alliance Forged in Blood": The American Occupation of Korea, the Korean War, and the US—South Ko‑

rean Alliance,' The Journal of Strategic Studies , vol. 33, no. 2, April 2010 (pp. 177-209).

Defty, Andew, Britain, America and Anti-Communism: The Information

Research Department, Abingdon, Routledge, 2007.

15 Schrijvers, Peter, Bloody Pacific: American Soldiers at War with Japan London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010 (p. 211).

16 Moyer, Robert H., enlisted on August 13, 1947, Korean War Veterans' Survey Questionnaire, Military History Institute Archives, Carlisle, Penn‑

sylvania.

1-7 Lisiewski, Joseph Vincent, [Sgt, 7th Div. 32nd lnfRgt.], enlisted in an­ticipation of the draft on 3-4-51: Korean War Veterans' Survey Question‑

naire, Military History Institute Archives, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

18 Voorhees, Melvin B., Korean Tales, Franklin Classics, 2011 (p. iso).

19 Steinberg, David I., Korean Attitudes Toward the United States: Chang­ing Dynamics, Abingdon, Routledge, 2015 (P. 234).

Hastings, Max, Korean War, London, Pan Books, 2012 (Chapter i: The Stony Road, Part : The Cause).

21 Lewis, Lloyd B., The Tainted War: Culture and Identity in Vietnam

Narratives, Santa Barbara, CA, Praeger, 1985 (p. 55).

22 Moon, Katherine H. S., SexAmongAllies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (p. 119).

3 Ibid. (PP. 33, 36).

24 Portway, Donald, Korea: Land of the Morning Calm , London, George G. Harrap, 1953 (P. 291).

25 Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (p. 33).

26 Ibid. (P. 37).

27 Nyen Chan, Emily, 'Engagement Abroad: Enlisted Man, U.S. Military Policy and the Sex Industry,' Notre Darrie Journal of Law, Ethics and Pub‑

lic Policy, vol. 15, issue 2 'Symposium on International Security ,' Article 7, 2012 (pp. 631-632).

Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex ArnongAllies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (PP. 33' 37).

28 Maynes, Katrin, 'Korean Perceptions of Chastity, Gender Roles, and Libido; From Kisaengs to the Twenty First Century,' Grand Valley Journal

of History, vol. 1, issue 1, article 2, February 2012.

9 Schrijvers, Peter, The Cl War Against Japan: American Soldiers in Asia

and the Pacific During World War II, New York, New York University Press, 2005 (p. 212).

30 Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (p. 46).

31 Oh, Arissa, To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of In­ternational Adoption, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 2015.

3Z Hohn, Maria, and Moon, Seungsook, eds., Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present , Chapel Hill, NC, Duke University Press, 2010 (p. 43).

33 Dower, John, Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of World War II, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000 (P. 579).

Sims, Calvin, '3 Dead Marines and a Secret of Wartime Okinawa,'

New York Times, June 1, 2000,

Takemae, Eiji, Allied Occupation ofJapan, New York, Continuum In­ternational Publishing Group, 2002 (p. 67).

Tanaka, Yuki and Tanaka, Toshiyuki,Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual

Slavery and Prostitution During World War II, Abingdon, Routledge, 2003 (P. 163).

34 Association with Korean Women, January 25, 1947, National Archives and Records Administration, RG 554, box 50.

35 Winnington, Alan, and Burchett, Wilfred, Plain Perfidy, The Plot to Wreck the Korea Peace , Britain-China Friendship Association, 1954 (p. 129)

36 Abrams, A. B., Power and Primacy: The History of Western Intervention

in the Asia-Pacific , Oxford, Peter Lang, 2019 (Chapter 6: Vietnam's Thir­ty Years of War).

37. Ibid. (Chapter : The War Against a Defeated Japan: Elimination of a Threat to Western Hegemony in Asia).

3a Moon, Katherine H. S., SexAmongAllies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

39 Hanley, Charles J. and Choe, Sang Hun and Mendoza, Martha, The Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2001 (P. 189).

4Q Lee, Na Young, 'The Construction of U.S. Camptown Prostitution in

South Korea: Trans/Formation and Resistance,' (Thesis, Ph.D.), Univer­sity of Maryland, Department of Women's Studies, 2006.

41 Choe, Sang-Hun, 'After Korean War, brothels and an alliance,' New York Times, January 8, 2009.

_4.Z Moon, Katherine H. S., SexAmor?g Allies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (p. 44),

43 Choe, Sang-Hun, 'After Korean War, brothels and an alliance,' New York Times, January 8, 2009.

44 Heo, Uk, and Roehrig, Terence, South Korea Since 1980, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010 (p. 18).

Henderson, Gregory, Korea: The Politics of Vortex, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1968 (pp. 348-349).

.5 Choe, Sang-Hun, 'After Korean War, brothels and an alliance,' New York Times, January 8, 2009.

_4.E Kim, Min-Kyung, 'Court Finds that South Korean Government En­couraged Prostitution Near U.S. Military Bases ,' I-Iankyoreh , February 9, 2018.

47 Koh, B. C., 'The War's Impact on the Korean Peninsula,' The Journal

of American-East Asian Relations, Vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 1993 (p. 58). Nathan, Robert R., An Economic Programme for Korean Construction, Washington D.C., United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency, 1954 (P. 22).

4. Oh, Arissa, To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of In­ternational Adoption , Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 2015 (p. 49).

49 Ibid. (p. 49).

SQ Hohn, Maria, and Moon, Seungsook, eds., Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present , Chapel Hill,

NC, Duke University Press, 2010 (p. 52).

.51 Vine, David, Base Nation, How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm

America and the World, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2015 (p. 164).

.52 Lee, Jin-Kyung, Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant

Labor in South Korea, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2010 (p. 82).

.53 Kim, Elaine, 'Research for the Reform of Law and the Prevention of

Prostitution,' The Women's Studies Quarterly , vol. 8, issue 1, Spring 1990 (p. 89).

.54 Barry, Kathleen, The Prostitution of Sexuality , New York, New York University Press, 1996.

.ss Lee, Jin-Kyung, Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant

Labor in South Korea, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2010 (p. 79).

.5E Moon, Katherine H. S., 'South Korean Movements against Milita‑

rized Sexual Labor,' Asian Survey , vol. 39, no. 2, March—April 1999 (pp. 310-327).

.57 Hye Seung Chung, Kim Ki-duk , Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 2012 (p. 34).

Moon, Katherine H. S., 'South Korean Movements against Milita‑

rized Sexual Labor,' Asian Survey, vol. 39, no. 2, March—April 1999 (pp. 310-327).

Mal Magazine, vol. 26, August 1988 (p. loS).

Lee, Diana S. and Lee, Grace Yoonkyung, 'Camp Arirang,' Third World Newsreel, (Documentary), 1995.

Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (pp. 19-20, 23, 24, 132).

Economy During the Japanese Period').

78 0I1 17 [Governor-General of Korea Statis‑

tical Yearbook 1942],' Governor-General of Korea, March 1944.

79. Williams, Christopher, Leadership Accountability in a Globalizing

World, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 (p. 185).

Hohn, Maria, and Moon, Seungsook, eds., Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Ernpirefrorn World War Two to the Present, Chapel Hill, NC, Duke University Press, 2010 (p. 351).

i Klotz, Marcia, White women and the dark continent: gender and sexu­ality in German colonial discourse from the sentimental novel to the fascist

film , Thesis (Ph.D.), Stanford University, 2010 (p. 72).

Grobler, John, 'The tribe Germany wants to forget,' Mail &

Guardian, March 13, 1998.

82 Rankin, John, Letters on American slavery, addressed to Mr. Thomas

Rankin, merchant at Middlebrook, Augusta County, Va, Boston, Garrison and Knapp, 1833 (pp. 38-39).

3 'South Korea: A Hooch is Not a Home,' Time , October 9, 1964 (p. 48).

. D'Amico, Francine J. and Weinstein, Laurie L., Gender Camouflage: Women and the U.S. Military , New York, New York University Press, 1999 (p. 212).

85 Hanley, Charles J. and Choe, Sang Hun and Mendoza, Martha, The

Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War , New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2001 (p. 214).

86 Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997 (pp. 46-47).

7 Ibid. (p. 9).

88 Hughes, Donna M. and Chon, Katherine Y. and Ellerman, Derek P., 'Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime,

and the Trafficking of Women,' Violence Against Women vol. 13, no. 9, 2007 (p. 918).

9. Shin, Hei Soo, 'Women's Sexual Services and Economic Devel­opment: The Political Economy of the Entertainment Industry and South

Korean Dependent Development,' Thesis (Ph.D.), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1991 (p. 8).

Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

9Q Ghosh, Palash, 'South Korea: A Thriving Sex Industry In A Powerful, Wealthy Super-State,' International Business Times, April 29, 2013.

91 Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

Ghosh, Palash, 'South Korea: A Thriving Sex Industry In A Powerful,

Wealthy Super-State,' International Business Times, April 29, 2013.

92 U.S. Department of State, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Trafficking Persons Report 2008.

93 Osnos, Evan, 'The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea,' The New Yorker, September 18, 2017.

94, Cumings, Bruce, Korea's Place in the Sun , New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997 (p.255).

9.5 British Foreign Office, F0317, piece no. 84053, Holt to FO, May 1, 1950.

96 Jervis, Robert, 'The Impact of the Korean War,' The Journal of Amer­ican-East Asian Relations , Vol. 2, no. 1, Spring 1993 (pp. 57-76).

97 Park, Seong Won, 'The Present and Future of Americanisation in

South Korea,' Journal of Future Studies , vol. 14, no. 1, August 2009 (pp. 51-66).

Ibid. (p. 131).

Moon, Katherine H. S., 'South Korean Movements against Milita‑

rized Sexual Labor,' Asian Survey, vol. 39, no. 2, March—April 1999 (pp. 310-327).

59 Kamienski, Lukasz, Shooting Up; A History of Drugs in Warfare , Lon­don, C. Hurst &Co. Publishers, 2016 (p.148).

Moon, Katherine H. S., SexAmongAllies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

j. Choe Sang Hun, 'After Korean War, brothels and an alliance ,' New

York Times, January 8, 2009.

62 Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

Hye Seung Chung, Kim Ki-duk, Champaign, University of Illinois Press, 2012 (p. 34).

3 Moon, Katherine H. S., SexAmongAllies , New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

4 Pollock, Sandra, Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia, New York, New Press, 1992.

65 Ibid. (p. 170).

66 Ibid. (p. 171).

.z Ibid. (p. 173).

68 Hohn, Maria, and Moon, Seungsook, eds. Over There: Living with the

U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present , Chapel Hill, NC, Duke University Press 2010 (P. 351).

9. Moon, Katherine H. S., Sex Among Allies, New York, Colombia Univ­ersity Press, 1997.

7Q 'Japan PM urges S. Korea to remove "comfort woman" statue,' The Korea Herald, January 8, 2017.

7i, Enriquez, J., 'Filipinas in prostitution around U.S. Military Bases in

Korea: A recurring nightmare,' Coalition Against Trafficking in Women 1996.

Vine, David, Base Nation, How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm

America and the World, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2015 (pp. 167-169).

Irvine, Reed, and Kincaid, Cliff, 'The Pentagon's Dirty Secret,' Media Monitor, August 7, 2002.

72 Lee, June, A Review of Data on Trafficking in the Republic of Korea , In­ternational Organisation for Migration, 2002.

Mary Jacoby, 'Does U.S. Abet Korean Sex Trade?,' St Petersburg Times, December 9, 2002.

'Human trafficking severe in Korea :US,' Korea Times, June 17, 2010

73 Demick, Barbara, 'Off-Base Behavior in Korea,' Los Angeles Times September 26, 2002.

74 Hughes, Donna M. and Chon, Katherine Y. and Ellerman, Derek P., 'Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime,

and the Trafficking of Women,' Violence Against Women , vol. 13, no. 9, 2007 (p. 918).

75 Seungsook Moon, Regulating Desire, Managing the Empire: U.S. Mili‑

tary Prostitution in South Korea, 1945-1970 , Durham, Duke University Press, 2010.

7Mikaberidze, Alexander, Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia , Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2013 (p. 7).

77. Hsiao, Mel-Chu W. and Hsiao, Frank S. T., Taiwan in the Global Economy—Past , Present and Future in: Chow, Peter C., Taiwan in the Global Economy: From an Agrarian Economy to an Exporter of High-Tech

Products , Westport, Praeger, 2002 (Section V: 'Taiwan in the Global

98 Fraizer, Christopher, 'Dynamic Beauty: Cultural influences and Changing Perceptions—Becoming Prettier or Erasing One's Own Cul‑

ture,' Hohonu Journal of Academic Writing, vol. 4, 2006 (Pp. 5-7).

9.9. Cullen, Lise Takeuchi, 'Changing Faces,' Time, August 5, 2002.

loo Time, July 29, 2002.

101 Cullen, Use Takeuchi, 'Changing Faces,' Time , August 5, 2002.

1Q.2 Park, Seong Won, 'The Present and Future of Americanisation in

South Korea,' Journal of Future Studies , vol. 14, no. 1, August 2009 (pp. 51-66).

.103 'Eyes Wide Cut: The American Origins of Korea's Plastic Surgery Craze,' The Wilson Quarterly, September 2015.

Q4 Ibid. j.Q5 Ibid.

1o6 Park, Kyungmee, 'Addiction to Cosmetic Surgery,' Bokjinews , March 2007.

Scanion, Charles, 'The price of beauty in South Korea,' BBC News, February 3, 2005.

107 Hu, Elise, 'In Seoul, A Plastic Surgery Capital, Residents Frown On Ads For Cosmetic Procedure,' NPR, February 5, 2018.

Marx, Patricia, 'About Face,' The New Yorker, March 16, 2015.

io8 Park, Carol Eugene, 'For many South Koreans, beauty standards represent a cultural struggle,' The Varsity, March 5, 2017.

1Q9 Hotta, En., Pan Asianism and Japan's War 1931-1945, New York, Pal-grave Macmillan, 2007 (pp. 217-218),

.i10 Engstrom, Erika, 'Retto-kan: Japan's Inferiority Complex with the West in Contemporary Media and Culture,' Human Communication: a

Journal of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association , vol. 1, no. 1, 1997 (pp. 17-23)‑

111 ..iI!.# 0.%7F "DI Ab ," (50.5% of Seoul National Univ‑

ersity Professors Have American Doctorates), DIE.O1 2. ( Media

Today), January 17, 2005.

112 Park, Seong Won, 'The Present and Future of Americanisation in

South Korea,' Journal of Future Studies , vol. 14, no. 1, August 2009 (pp. 51-66).

3 Ibid. (Pp. 51-66).

jj. 'Interview: Ashton Carter,' Frontline , March 3, 2003.

jThe United States Office of War Information reported based on inter‑

views with 20 Korean comfort women servicing Japanese forces in Myanmar that they were induced by the offer of plenty of money, an opportunity to help provide their families and pay off family debts, easy work, and for some a new life in Singapore. Many Korean women en­listed for overseas duty based on these promises and were even re­warded with an advance payment of a few hundred yen. The women were forced to remain abroad until they paid their debts, after which many returned to Korea. While this was not how all Korean women who served the Japanese forces were recruited, it draws a revealing compar­ison with how women were similarly recruited women to serve U.S.

forces (< http://www.exordio.com/1939-19-4.5/codex/ 

Docu-men-report-49-USA-orig. htm lo rig. html >).