The Haunting of the Yanggongju: Guilt, Shame, and Retribution of SouthKorea’s State-Sanctioned Military Sex Workers

Whitney Yi Knapp (Sias Graduate Fellow, English)

TUE SEP 22, 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Hall Center Conference Hall

Korean American literature often explores the subjugation of comfort women under Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, but rarely acknowledges South Korea’s own state-sanctioned military sex industry, developed to appease U.S. military officers stationed in the country after World War II.

Whitney Yi Knapp’s project, an 80,000-word novel titled To Understand Everything, confronts this industry, which subjected over one million women to sex work over several decades. This talk examines how America’s imperial practices forced a desperate nation to compromise the safety of its people, with lasting effects on Korean culture. Knapp juxtaposes this history with South Korea’s rapid emergence as a global economic and cultural power, evidenced by the international success of Korean films like Parasite, and K-pop groups such as BTS.

A buffet lunch will be available for the first 45 guests.