Sex Among Allies reading

The part of Moon's reading that I found most troubling (though there were many parts that were upsetting ) was on pages 8-9 when she discusses the reasoning behind the Korean prostitutes being ignored and alienated from Korean culture. The reasons she discusses are political; she says that Korea does not want to acknowledge these women because doing so would remind them of the war and that these women are "living testaments of Korea's geographical and political division into North and South and of the South's military insecurity and consequent dependence on the United States" (8). It is really sad that these women are used so much for political and war-time purposes: first as prostitutes to American soldiers and then again because Korea views them not as humans, but as proof of their dependence on the US. She goes on to discuss how South Korea felt that it was necessary to have their women prostitute themselves to US soldiers to keep US soldiers in Korea; these women were sacrificed for 'national security': "Such humiliation is a price paid by the 'little brother' in the alliance for protection by the 'big brother' (9). I know that politically there needs to be clear alliances between countries if one country is fighting for or at another country, but to use people, especially people not involved in the politics of militarization, is really terrible, and the way South Korea exploited its women to US soldiers was unnecessary. To exploit their women and then alienate these women because they are an embarrassment to South Korea is hypocritical and even more insulting to these exploited women.