I like George Carlin's view on it...
"Selling is legal. F*cking is legal. So why isn't selling f*cking legal?"
:wink:
When i was stationed in Korea, the U.S. Army (not officially admitting to anything) routinely provided medical examinations for STD's to the hookers there. The ROK government (at that time, 1970), required the prostitutes to carry a "VD Card" which certified that they had been examined for STD's within the last month. In practical terms, GI's did not ask to see the cards, and i suspect that many did not know they existed. If your first sergeant was a tight-ass, he would never mention something like that--more likely, if he had anything to say it would be to point out that contracting a venereal disease was technically a violation of the UCMJ (uniform code of military justice).
We'd load up a few medics and a physician (all volunteers) in an ambulance, and proceed to the "red light" district in question, the selection of which had been arranged in advance with the ROK MP's. They'd suddenly show up, and cordon off the area. We'd arrive, and the hookers would have various reactions, from boredom to panic. Those who panicked were likely those who believed they might have an STD. They'd cry and wail, saying: "I not go monkey house, no make me go monkey house." (Meaning a jail cell: bars=cage, as in the monkey house at the zoo.)
From a purely legal standpoint, the prostitution was illegal. But the ROK had likely passed such legislation to please the U.S. Army, which in turn, was responding to some politician, who wanted to look good for the folks at home. Prostitution was a common place, and the unofficial regulation of the trade made it safer for all concerned.
I rather doubt that the same situation applies today, in a more affluent Korea, less interested in pleasing the United States.
Set, have you read Martin Limon's books? They are mysteries set in Korea in the early 1970s. The two main characters are CID agents. A friend of mine who was in Seoul in the 1970s says they are spot-on!
No i haven't, HB. I've not read any fiction at all in about the last ten years, except for She's Come Undone, and re-reading Charles Palliser's Quincunx. I was just 20 years of age when i was sent to Korea on a levy (may well have saved my life). It was quite an experience. I've always loved Korea, which is a hard and beautiful country.
The CID were a source of constant amusement for us. While at the Medical Field Service School, i had the hilarious experience of a CID plant. He was totally clueless. One of our fellow trainees from St. Louis (i've saddly forgotten his name) decided to take him in hand, and teach him what he would need to know to fit in with the "hippies." So, he taught him useful slang expressions, such as "Right Arm!", "Outta State," "Hey man, i can smell where yer comin' from" . . . the boy was a source of constant mirth.
They must clone them...he was at my 91B course in 1990.
Probably had never left -- geeze, 20 years an undercover agent at Fort Sam . . .
