South Korean officials actively promoted prostitution as a state strategy

Evidence

Camptowns and prostitution thus became critical parts of a South Korean economy struggling to emerge from the devastation of war. Government documents show male officials strategizing to encourage GIs to spend their money on women in Korea rather than Japan during leave time. Officials offered classes in basic English and etiquette to encourage women to sell themselves more effectively and earn more money. “They urged us to sell as much as possible to the G.I.’s, praising us as ‘dollar-earning patriots,’” recounts former sex worker Ae-ran Kim. “Our government was one big pimp for the U.S. military.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 486

Categorization

• SEED: Ae-ran Kim’s line ‘Our government was one big pimp for the U.S. military’ is a powerful, citable quote and its own essay hook on developmental prostitution-for-foreign-exchange.
• DEEPTHINKING: The explicit government teaching of English and etiquette to sex workers and its ‘dollar-earning patriot’ framing makes prostitution a deliberate developmental export policy — a genuinely counterintuitive structure that reframes how sovereignty and economic development get ‘paid for’.