Abstract

MOK-WON PARK, Morgan. Being a Wianbu in Post-war South Korea. Estud. Asia Áfr. [online]. 2021, vol.56, n.2, pp.235-263.  Epub June 11, 2021. ISSN 2448-654X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/eaa.v56i2.2604.

This article compares two texts that offer different perspectives on the same situation of oppression imposed upon women by power. The analysis begins by examining an official report by the Seoul’s Yongsan District police in 1971 that contains rhetorical guidelines to condone the crimes against Korean prostitutes committed by American soldiers, and to force the Korean people to treat the soldiers favorably. In parallel, the article focuses on Oh Jung-hee’s Chinatown, a short story written in 1979. This work reveals how local residents perceived prostitutes at that time. In contrast to the previous text, Chinatown mainly describes how American troops were increasingly violent toward these women. A critical discourse analysis of these two texts reveals the use of linguistic devices to spread imperial and patriarchal ideology.

Keywords : otherness of women; comfort women; wianbu in post-war South Korea; Chinatown by Oh Jung-hee; Yongsan police report.

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