Negotiating the Boundaries of Nation, Christianity, and Gender: the Korean Women's Movement against Military Prostitution

The 1980s in South Korea began with a military regime right after the explosive demise of the previous authoritarian regime. Korea's democratization movement was at its peak in the mid-1980s and confronted the military regime and eventually brought it down. This paper examines the Korean women's movement and military prostitution in the U.S. camp town (hereafter the kijich'on movement) during the democratic transition (the 1980s-1990s). It also looks at the ongoing negotiations that took place among those who represented imperialism, nationalism, Christianity, and gender politics. Within the broader social movement frame of "minju" (i.e., people-centered democracy) politics, women activists generally remained marginalized despite their active participation. In this milieu, some Christian women and student movement activists came together to address the military prostitution issue (kijich'on) and gradually began to prioritize women's issues with respect to anti-Americanism and realizing military prostitutes' rights as human rights. Further, exploring how the women's organizations of the kijich'on movement, such as Durebang (My Sister's Place)1 and Saeumto (Sprouting Land), negotiated the changing political environment, religious beliefs, and national sentiments, this study discusses the tensions between nation and gender, as well as Korean nationalism and feminism. By responding to Korean androcentric politics, the movement's direction and activism changed and developed "feminist consciousness," which then led to the growth of the anti-prostitution movement and pursuit of a more comprehensive women's coalition.