South Korea replaced Korean camptown sex workers with imported Filipina and Russian women

Evidence

Since the mid-1990s, the dramatic growth in the South Korean economy has largely allowed Korean women to escape the exploitative conditions of the camptown bars and clubs. In their place, Filipinas and, to a lesser extent, women from Russia and former Soviet republics have generally replaced Korean women as the primary camptown sex workers. The South Korean government’s creation of the E-6 “entertainer” visa has allowed Korean “promoters” to import Filipinas and other women on a legal basis. The E-6 visa is the only Korean visa for which an HIV test is mandatory; venereal disease tests are required every three months. Over 90 percent of women with the visas are estimated to work in the sex industry. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 492

Categorization

• SEED: The E-6 ‘entertainer’ visa — a legal state instrument whose sole HIV-test requirement signals its real purpose — is a tight case study in states formalizing sex work for a foreign military economy.