In a Japanese
weekly magazine, Shukan Bunshun, Noriyuki
Yamaguchi, Washington bureau chief of Tokyo Broadcasting System, reported the
existence of “welfare centers,” called “Turkish Baths,” in Saigon for the South
Korean soldiers during the Vietnam War. Yamaguchi researched numerous documents
related to the Vietnam War, stored in the U.S. National Archives. Among the
crime reports recorded by the U.S. forces and military police stationed, he
found a letter with this description: “The Turkish Bath (located at 347 Tran Hung
Dao, Saigon) was a Republic of Korea Army Welfare Center for the sole benefit
of Korean Troops,” where Vietnamese women worked as prostitutes. According to
Yamaguchi, the undated letter should have been written between January and
April 1969. Written by the U.S. command in Saigon, it was about economic crimes
committed by Korean soldiers and addressed to Chae Myung-shin, lieutenant
general and commander of the Republic of Korea Forces in Vietnam (ROKFV). Commander Chae
Myung-shin wrote in his memoir that during the
Korean War, “as the undeniable facts,” “[t]he adopting of the military comfort
women system strengthened the morale of officers and soldiers, and prevented
sexually transmitted disease. There was a viewpoint that the army internalized
unlicensed prostitutes who were spreading in society and protected their human rights.”
One of the
people Yamaguchi interviewed was a civilian who worked in Saigon for an
American telecommunication infrastructure company during the late 1960s. He
remembers that the welfare center was also called a “Steam and Cream Parlor,”
where sexual services were provided by young Vietnamese women. Another, a U.S.
military veteran, says, “Most of the women working at the Turkish Bath were
younger than 20 years old and from rural areas. Some were saying they were 16
years old. Others looked even younger.”
Yamaguchi
obtained more comprehensive information from Andrew Finlayson, former
commanding officer of the Marine Corps infantry unit, who was stationed in
Vietnam for two years and eight months from 1967. Finlayson says that the
particular welfare center mentioned in the letter was a large-scale facility
for sexual services for Korean soldiers. The space of the large facilities was
divided into many blocks, in each of which around 20 women were working. He
adds that the Turkish baths were established to prevent Korean soldiers from
raping Vietnamese women and from having sexual relationship with them. And also
because Korean officers might keep women in rural areas as prostitutes, these
issues might develop into political trouble between the Vietnamese society and
the Korean troops. Another reason for establishing the Turkish baths was
manageability of health of women working there because syphilis was widespread
in South Vietnam then. Finlayson also relates that with almost no exception,
the women were from rural areas and very young, and some were sold by their
family because of poverty while others volunteered or were deceived.
About a month
after the article appeared, a South Korean daily, Hangyore Sinmun, said, while, it believes, the magazine article was
a strong attempt to “to draw attention away from Japan after South Korea’s
persistent efforts to demand action from Tokyo to resolve the issue of ‘comfort
women’ forcibly mobilized as sexual slaves to the Japanese military.” We will
also see who “forcibly mobilized” them “as sexual slaves to the Japanese
military”? And the article continues to say, “[T]he issue warrants
investigation by the South Korean government – and if the allegations prove
true, a serious effort should be launched to resolve the matter.” The Hangyore article concludes that “Now
it’s time for Seoul to sit down with Vietnamese authorities to find out the
truth not only about the civilian massacres that took place during the Vietnam
War, but also about the extent of military authorities’ involvement in
operating and managing “welfare stations” for their troops – and to take
appropriate follow-up action.”
It does not say if South Koreans are ready, “if the allegations prove true,” to
demand their government to make an official apology and compensation to the
Vietnamese women, who worked at Turkish baths.
Yamaguchi points
out South Korean President Park said in her address to the United Nations
General Assembly in 2014 that “Sexual violence against women during armed
conflicts is a clear violation of human rights and humanitarian norms,
regardless of how far back or where it occurred.” Then he argues that this
public document he found in the U.S. National Archives has put President Park
in a position where she must act in a way that suits what she said herself.
In his article,
Yamaguchi also writes about “facilities for Korean troops” in Danang. In fact,
in The Bridges of Vietnam, published
in 2000, the author, Fred L. Edwards Jr., a former U.S. Marine intelligence
officer stationed in Vietnam from August 1966 to July 1967, mentioned a
“Turkish bath” in Danang, in his journal entry of August 21, 1966.
Although Edwards gave no explanation of what sort of facility a Turkish bath
was, one could not be blamed if he thinks this was a facility where sexual
services were provided because Edwards found it during a “Dogpatch” to observe
the squalor of the city and because of the following paragraphs of the page,
which describe “[m]embers of the oldest profession.” I tried to contact the
author to obtain more information through his publisher only to find that
Edwards had passed away several years before.
And “Turkish bath” was the term used in Japan for “special bathhouses,” where
sexual services were provided from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s when the
name was finally dropped after Turkey protested. It seems that South Koreans
adopted the name following the Japanese example.
About economic
crimes by Korean soldiers, Edwards writes about a U.S. sergeant, who was
selling thirty watches to Americans a day, “so that the Koreans and RMK
[civilian] workers wouldn’t buy them all up and resell them.”
This is his journal entry of December 1, 1966.
