The following February 25, 1953 article is from the Korean newspaper Gyeonghyang Sinmun. It paints an image of women struggling in post-war Seoul, South Korea.
The Reality of War-damaged Women Becoming Prostitutes
Half Fall Because of Hardships of Life
More than 1,200 Women Registered to 289 Pimps
According to an investigation done by the Women's Department in Seoul's Social Bureau, there are a total of 1,274 comfort women for UN servicemen living in the city that are registered with the relevant authorities. According to the same survey, there are as many as 289 so-called pimps for comfort women for UN serviceman.
Looking at the academic levels of these "UN" comfort women, there are 471 who are illiterate, 725 who have completed primary school, 74 who have graduated from a girl's school (middle/high school), and 4 who have graduated college. Almost all of them said the reason they registered as comfort women for UN servicemen was the hardships of life. More than 1,000 of them said they have been doing this kind of work for only about a year or less.
The image of degradation in war-damaged women struggling with the hardships of life following the recapture of Seoul is clearly reflected in these women.
＜Japanese translation of the Korean article of this post＞
ReplyDelete淪落の戦災女性の実態
半数が生活苦から投身
抱主289名に登録者だけでも1,200余名
ソウル市社会局婦女課が調査したところによれば、１月末現在で関係当局に登録された市内居住の国連慰安婦の総数は1,274名に達しているが、これと同時に調査された国連慰安婦のいわゆる抱え主だけでも289名の多数に達している。これら登録された国連慰安婦たちの学力の程度を見ると、文盲者が471名、小学校出身が725名、女学校卒業が74名、大学卒業が4名で、彼女たちが国連慰安婦になった理由はほとんどが生活苦であり、そのうち1,000名以上がこの職業を選んでからまだ１年内外だと言い、ソウル再奪回の後、生活困難に苦しむ戦災女性たちの転落相をそのまま反映している。
（京郷新聞1953.2.25）