1961 Sep 14 - Donga Ilbo Article on Registering "Comfort Women" for UN Soldiers

The article to the left is a September 13, 1961 article from the South Korean newspaper Donga Ilbo. It talks about transferring the authority for registering "comfort women for UN troops" from the Seoul Metroplitan Police to the front-line offices of the Social Bureau's Section for VD Control of Comfort Women for UN Troops.

This article is not only evidence that the South Korea Government provided comfort women to UN soldiers, but also that it had been doing so even before September 13, 1961, under the authority of the Seoul Metropolitan Police.

An October 19, 1959 article in the same Korean newspaper HERE reported that nationwide Korea had 261,089 comfort women, of which 66% were infected with veneral disease. The same article also reported that in addition to comfort women--which was usually a reference to military prostitutes--Korea also had 63,635 hostess, 51,229 unlicensed prostitutes, and 16,864 dancers. It said 16.2% of the hostesses, 13% of the unlicensed prostitutes, and 4.4% of the dancers also tested positive for a veneral disease.

Here is my translation of the above article:

Registration for Comfort Women for UN Troops Starts on the 13th

From the 13th, Seoul Metropolitan Police transferred its authority to register comfort women for UN soldiers to its front-line offices, accordig to a plan by the city's Social Bureau (Section for VD Control of Comfort Women for UN Soldiers).

Officials said, however, that this registration applies to women living with even one foreigner, regardless of legal marital status, and to women working as comfort women for UN servicemen.