Abolition of Licensed Prostitution System since the Liberation from Japanese Colonial Rule and Subsequent Impacts

Since the liberation from Japanese Colonial Rule, prostitutes were still in poverty and they had to swallow inhumane treatment and criticism in terms of a sense of virtue and sanitation. The number of prostitutes did not decrease, but rather increased, due to difficult social and economic situations. The prostitutes, who were regarded as the part of clean up of colonial remaining, were essential target to be cleansed. The military administration authorities, legislators and women circles abolished the licensed prostitution system through an enactment of a law, and prohibited prostitution. Although official prostitution was prohibited by law, institutional measures to completely ban prostitution were not taken; therefore, the meaning of law enactment was reduced. A new subject in prostitution, that is, U.S. armed forces,appeared in the Korean society’s prostitution, after the licensed prostitution was abolished. The U.S. armed forces were both the originator that removed the licensed prostitution system that had been transplanted by Japan and the main player that established sexual culture faster in the Korean society as a paradox. The advent of a new buyer of prostitution, the U.S. armed forces, cemented unlicensed prostitution furthermore, and caused some problems such as mixed blood to the Korean society. Prostitution targeting the U.S. armed forces has spread further in combination with militarism since the Korean War. The licensed prostitution withdrawn with the liberation from Japanese Colonial Rule did not present different future for prostitutes from the past, and it was just switched to unlicensed prostitution. Consequently, a different prostitution method was only presented. Prostitution in Korea evolved into a different form as militarism ruled the Korean society through the Korean War and as foreign armed forces were stationed in Korea.