Call for Veteran Outreach: Korean Women File Landmark Suit Over Sex Trafficking and Human Rights Violations Against the U.S. Military
September 25, 2025
Posted in: News
For the first time in history, South Korean women are suing the South Korean government for gender-based human rights abuses inflicted by U.S. forces stationed in Korea (U.S.F.K.). The 117 plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit seeking a formal apology from the U.S. military and financial compensation for the sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and human rights violations endured at U.S. military base camptowns and by U.S. soldiers. Organizers seek the participation of U.S. military veterans to join their efforts to provide testimony about the conditions of camptown “prostitution,” and the U.S. military’s role.
Read more information on the lawsuit below, and reach out to info@womencrossdmz.org to get involved.
Summary of Lawsuit
In 2022, the South Korean (“Republic of Korea,” or “R.O.K.”) Supreme Court found that sex trafficking and illegal prostitution economies existed at U.S. military camptowns from at least 1957-2008, and held the R.O.K. government liable for knowing of, and encouraging such prostitution to sustain the R.O.K.-U.S. military alliance. This new lawsuit builds on this ruling and aims to expose the U.S. government’s knowledge of these abuses, and hold the U.S. government and U.S.F.K. accountable for the trafficking and abuse that was acknowledged in this case. Furthermore, it focuses on the late 60s to early 70s and draws attention to R.O.K.-U.S. operated medical detention centers that incarcerated many of the women.
Notably, prostitution in the R.O.K. is illegal. Despite this, the U.S. military knowingly established agreements with local establishments to create a prostitution industry that would cater to soldiers stationed at Korean bases. While the lawsuit targets the U.S. military, the 117 plaintiffs brought the lawsuit in the R.O.K. against the R.O.K. government because the Status of Forces Agreement prevents any U.S. military forces from being tried by the Korean legal system. Based on the ruling, compensation will be settled between the U.S.F.K. and Korean government.
Significance of Veterans
Lawsuit organizers are now asking if veterans can support their efforts. Specifically, any veterans who were stationed in Korea from 1950s to early 2000s (during the Korean War and in the decades following) can provide testimony and insight on the U.S. military’s role in fostering conditions of camptown “prostitution” (more below). Conscientious witnesses to camptown “prostitution” and U.S. military engagement with establishing and maintaining these economies are essential movers in building this case and highlighting the role of the U.S. military.
Historical Background
The construction of U.S. military bases in the R.O.K. proliferated following the U.S. military takeover of South Korea in 1953. Some of these bases, such as Pyeongtaek Airfield, were originally constructed by Imperial Japan during their occupation, and were simply expanded to accommodate U.S. forces.
This led to the growth of “camptowns”, which are miniature economies of deployed U.S. soldiers surrounding the bases. A major industry of these towns is prostitution. However, testimony shows that distinct from sex work and the sex industry, most of the women engaging in “prostitution” at these sites were trafficked, often as children under false employment advertisements, and continuously financially abused to prevent their escape. Additionally, the U.S. military, fearing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among their troops, began establishing STD “control” centers.
These centers established a dehumanizing system of tracking and labelling the sex trafficking victims. Women were incarcerated at these centers and underwent humiliating STD checks, forcible penicillin administration –sometimes in deadly amounts–and indoctrination.
At the press conference announcing the lawsuit, plaintiffs recalled being taken to detention facilities in US military trucks and jeeps and witnessing fellow women receiving penicillin shots with thick needles, after which some lost all strength in their legs or collapsed on the spot. One woman recounted, “We were handled like we were test subjects or criminals, not people.” She also described, through tears, assaults from US soldiers: “I still cannot forget being beaten by US soldiers–slapped for lowering my head while pouring drinks, for not smiling, or for no reason at all.” Eventually, she married a US soldier and moved to the United States, where he was deployed to Iraq and returned with PTSD and shot himself with a pistol. After the trauma of witnessing her husband take his own life in front of her, the plaintiff returned to Korea in order to make a living for herself in a camptown, where she worked odd jobs. “I have never lived an ordinary life. I want to take this opportunity today, to ask, why did I have to be so cruelly crushed at such a young age? Why didn’t the state protect us? Why did US soldiers treat us not as humans, but as tools to be used?”
Impacts
It is unclear how many women were incarcerated and who they were, as very few documents exist. The military barrack style rooms in Dongducheon were designed to hold upwards of 20, but reportedly held more–the seven holding rooms of this center indicate hundreds women could have been incarcerated at a time. Many women died, of suicide and penicillin overdose. The testimony being shared by women through this lawsuit makes abundantly clear the inhumane conditions of the sex trafficking, repeated rape and sexual abuses, and related venereal disease incarcerations.
Call to Action from Veterans
- Share your experience of conditions in U.S. military camptowns
- Increase public awareness of these human rights abuses sustained by Korean women in military camptowns
- Support a movement for recognition, accountability, and justice for these victims in the U.S.