August 13, 1970: A Trip to the DMZ
	July 14, 1970: My First Money Run to Seoul
	Return to the Index for 1970

Today, I have to make a trip up north to Recreation Center #1, one of the Second Division R&R centers in-country. These installations are designed to provide soldiers on the front line along the DMZ access to libraries, communications, crafts, athletic facilities, and so on that can't be provided at every one of their small, isolated camps. The Finance Office visits these centers (there are four of them) on a rotating schedule to help servicemen with any pay issues they might have.

At left is a map showing the approximate route we followed.

I am restrained, today, in that I don't have access to maps and aerial views from 1970, but I know that I've mentioned this before. It would be interesting if the Internet had been available in 1970, and I could have captured the current state of things, but it wasn't.

So when I show you a route like this one, I can only mark it by looking for clues in the little narratives I wrote at the time. In this case, I mentioned going through Munsan-ri, which was, apparently, a district in the larger area of Paju-ri. The name "Munsan" is not, apparently, in wide use anymore, but I was able to place it on the map.

I was also able to access a website devoted to soldiers' experiences in the DMZ, 1968-1975, and there was a map available that placed Recreation Center #1 so I could locate it. So even though there seems to be a more direct route today from Bongilcheon, where Howze was, to the place east of Paju-ri where RC #1 was, we apparently didn't go that way. Perhaps the road you see today didn't even exist 50 years ago.

But to create images like the one at left, I have to do some sleuthing, and make some assumptions, and I am sure I will have to do this throughout my stay in Korea, and probably in the years beyond that as well.

Officers aren't usually allowed to drive themselves; why, I don't know. I think it has something to do with liability if there's an accident. That's one reason that the Finance Office has a KATUSA driver that is usually operating our Jeep, and today, that driver, PFC Kim, will be driving me and one of my clerks north to the Rec Center. This will be my first trip somewhere other than Seoul, and I am looking forward to it. We will head north through Munsan, and then go east to find the Rec Center.

The weather wasn't great today, and it was misting until we got east of Munsan near Yongigo, which is just outside RC#1. We are driving along the railway here, and you can see how green everything is.

The railway runs from Pusan, way south of Seoul, to Paris. Yes, Paris. Actually, it doesn't run to Paris anymore, or at least not right now. The North Korean Government has interdicted the railway through their country, and torn up much of the track.

It's August, and quite warm, but rice loves that. It is very green and more than knee-high now. It seems to spread to fill the paddy, because when it is freshly-planted, you see clumps of rice but mostly water. Now you have to be looking right down on it to see the water.

Most of the pictures on this page were taken between Munsan and RC#1, and many of them were from the town of Yongigo (I hope I am spelling that right). They represent one side of the Korean "experience" that is not so often talked about, even though everyone, from the General on down, knows about, tolerates, and regulates as much as possible.

This is a "bar" girl at one of the "houses" in the town just outside Recreation Center 1.

And here are a group of these girls at another house just nearby.

I should explain. The girls who work at the clubs (doing exactly what you might think) usually come North from Seoul or points south. What they are after are the American servicemen and the money they have to spend. The girls may just be "hostesses", who are paid to keep men company (something like Geisha), or they may provide the obvious services- again for a fee.

That this happens, I think, says as much about the lack of opportunities these women might have back home as it does about the lucrative nature of the work that is available here. Sometimes, they leave families behind- families who do not know what kind of work they do. So, they are reluctant to have their pictures taken, for fear they will be found out. The young girls really can't be blamed; they earn more as "club girls" than they could elsewhere. At any rate, we are the ones who pay them, so the conditions are of our own making.

One of the Larger Clubs Outside RC#1

Sometimes, the "clubs" or "houses" are quite small, with just a few girls and one or two adults who manage the operation. The two pictures above were examples of that.

But at left you can see a picture I was able to take by pointing the camera across PFC Kim and out his side window without alarming the girls who were focused on something else (probably a group of servicemen) coming towards them. This picture is a good one for a few reasons.

One, of course, is just the colorful nature of the outfits that the girls wear (if they have them); these are designed to accentuate those assets that they possess and of course to attract the male of the species. To me, many of them seem "over the top", but I suppose that advertising works.

The other interesting thing about this picture are the two ubquitous signs that I have seen on numerous clubs and bars in Bongilcheon, right outside Camp Howze, and now here as well. And these signs say a lot.

This sign reads: "Government Registered Tourist Recuperation Service"

Part of this sign was obscured, but what I can read is "This establishment meets minimum sanitary...Only authorized bottled beverages will be consumed. Eating is strictly prohibited. Provost Marshal"

What these signs tell us is that first, the Korean government has a hand in regulating the sex industry in the Second Division Area. Taking the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" adage to heart, they do what they can to make sure that the establishments stay honest, and that tourists (by that they mean US Servicemen) will be treated, it not fairly, then not egregiously, and will also be safe.

The US Army gets involved, too. The Army has apparently established standards for health and cleanliness for the establishments, much like you might see restaurants in the US with letter grades. But the Army goes further, mandating that only bottled beverages be consumed and that nothing be eaten. They do this because of the susceptibility of Americans to the different pathogens that exist in other countries, and they don't want epidemics of intestinal bugs, or even worse, overwhelming medical facilities and affecting readiness.

This is a typical street scene in the town. The girl in the green I did not think was a club girl, but just happened to be out walking. Had she been trying to attract a customer, she would have been dressed in something considerably more provocative. Anyway, I thought her attractive.

This was a working girl. She had just seen my camera, and by the time I had lowered it from my eyes, she had disappeared. Such is their understandable desire for anonymity. It was probably impolite of me to take pictures at all.

Sometimes the working girls don't seem very concerned.

A Typical Little Store in Yongigo

At RC#1, we saw about 20 soldiers, and help with things like a partial payment or two, a change in allowances, updating records, and so on. Some things we just had to take notes on to fix at Camp Howze or transmit to the Finance Center. Here are the last two pictures from today:

Our Jeep Parked at RC#1

Rice Fields North of Camp Howze

It was an interesting trip, and I hope to make more of them. It is a good way to see the country.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	August 13, 1970: A Trip to the DMZ
	July 14, 1970: My First Money Run to Seoul
	Return to Index for 1970