Marrying GIs rarely rescues club workers and usually worsens their plight

Evidence

Youngnim explained that the women often “try to get out of the clubs” by finding a GI. It’s a hard life with a different client every day. So they go and live with GI boyfriends. But “practically 90 percent of the women are abandoned,” she said. Many get pregnant and have babies. Some get married, and then the soldier disappears without a word when his tour is done in South Korea, leaving the woman in financial and legal trouble. Having left their clubs, many women are suddenly without a sponsor required to live in Korea. Sometimes they are stuck in legal limbo without an official divorce, and some can’t claim child support. In other cases, Youngnim said, the men get the women to sign documents they don’t understand, and these turn out to be divorce papers that leave them with nothing. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 514

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that ~90 percent of these relationships end in abandonment is striking — is there documentation or is it an outreach-worker estimate worth chasing?