U.S. Bases Bad News in South Korea

Tweet "SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. military and economic might in South Korea are being called into question this week as villagers launched a hunger strike to protest a U.S. military base expansion that would force them from their lands and farmers' unions demonstrated in Seoul against a proposed free trade agreement."

"Korean authorities have arrested the head of a small village for protesting against the government's plan to expand a giant U.S. military base, known as Camp Humphreys, in Pyongtaek, about 40 miles south of Seoul."

AND BELOW IS LINKED A TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE ABOUT WOMEN WORKERS DECEIVED INTO WORKING AT BROTHEL BARS OUTSIDE MILITARY BASES IN SOUTH KOREA:

"A good place to start the [eradication] campaign might be Club Y, a sleazy haunt that Filipinas working on the strip call "a bad bar." Rosie Danan found out just how bad the week she started working there in late 1999, at the age of 16. Back home in Manila, a recruiting agency had promised Danan the job would require her merely to serve drinks and chat with customers. After she arrived in Korea—on a false passport—Club Y's mama-san took her papers away and told her the rules: she would be serving up her body as well as booze. She would get no days off for the first three months. And later, she could earn days off only if she sold enough drink and sex. She would live in a room above the club and, unless she was with the mama-san, would not be allowed outside except for three minutes a day to make a phone call. The penalty for coming back late: $8 a minute."