COURT RULING ON PROSTITUTION IN CAMPTOWNS

[Anchor Lead]

The so-called camptowns where American forces were stationed after the Korean War became notorious for prostitution. The Supreme Court has issued the first ruling saying that prostitution services were promoted by the state, and ordered it to compensate the victims.

[Pkg]

The "Monkey House" -- this name was given by American servicemen because of the way women looked behind steel bars. It's a medical detention center set up by the government to deter sexually transmitted diseases. Women from camptowns were brought in and confined here even without proper medical diagnoses whenever infected U.S. soldiers pointed them out.

[Soundbite] (Camptown victim) : "I saw women die after getting penicillin shots because of shock. Their bodies were contorted from shock."

The detained women had no way of escaping.

[Soundbite] (Camptown victim) : "Those who tried to run away were beaten until their bones were broken."

Paradoxically, at the time, the state praised them as patriots earning American dollars. Whille society branded them with a sense of shame as the "Yankee princess.“

[Soundbite] (Murder case of Dongducheon female club worker(KBS News 9, Feb. 17, 1993)) : "They hit her on her head with a coke bottle four times, but the authorities denied that she died because of that."

Documents drafted at the time called camptown women "comfort women" and even listed guidelines on how the government should manage them. In other words, the state promoted illegal acts including prostitution.

[Soundbite] Ahn Kim Jung-ae(Solidarity for Gijichon Women's Human Rights) : "It's important evidence that paves the way for demanding compensation from the state and proving its wrongdoing."

It ha taken the camptown women half a century to recognize themselves as victims and proceed to file a lawsuit. After eight years of a legal battle, the Supreme Court has ruled that the state promoted prostitution and managed prostitutes systematically. The verdict also points out that women were used as a means to earn foreign currency. The judges have ruled that the government must pay each of the victims between three million and seven million won for their mental suffering. It's the first court verdict acknowledging the state's responsibility for mass prostitution.

[Soundbite] (Camptown victim) : "Several victims died each year during the lawsuit. I'm sure they would be happy to hear the verdict up there in heaven."

Of the 120 victims involved in the lawsuit, 24 have passed away before the verdict was issued. Most of the surviving victims are now in their 70s and 80s.