Abstract

In this article, the author traces the transformation of sexual work, or prostitution, in 20th-century Korea. The author stresses the power relations that create and sustain the changing social organization of sexual work. The traditional, state-organized female entertainers, kisaeng, waned with the collapse of the Yi dynasty. During their colonia rule, the Japanese enhanced the commercialization of sexuality and conscripted Korean women as sexual “comforters” for soldiers. In the postwar period, the U.S. military presence played a preponderant role in expanding prostitution. In the 1970s, sex tours, dominated by the Japanese, proliferated. The 1980s witnessed a greater diversification of sexual labor.