Abject, Subaltern and Representation of a Military Prostitute: Reading Kim Yong Ik’s “Translation President” and “American Love Song”

This study examines the representation of Korean camptown sex workers in Yong Ik Kim’s short stories “Translation President” and “American Love Song.” While previous research has focused on Kim’s nostalgic portrayals of his hometown, this paper analyzes his depiction of marginalized camptown women as social subjects rather than victims or moral degenerates. Kim portrays these women as subalterns and abjects in Korean society, pushed to the margins due to their association with American soldiers. However, rather than depicting them through a patriarchal or nationalist lens, Kim presents them as individuals making choices within limited options. The female characters demonstrate agency by resisting male objectification and hypocrisy. In contrast, the male protagonists are portrayed as ineffectual and hypocritical, clinging to vague dreams of America while exploiting the camptown women. Their treatment of the women exposes their internalized patriarchal and nationalist ideologies. By giving voice to these marginalized women, Kim’s stories challenge dominant narratives about camptown sex workers in post-war Korea. The women’s perspectives reveal the contradictions in Korean society’s attitudes toward them as both necessary for national interests and threatening to ethnic purity. However, this paper also critiques Kim’s ultimately patriarchal resolution of the women’s struggles in the stories. While allowing the women to speak, the endings reinforce traditional gender roles and silence their resistance. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of Kim’s literary works beyond nostalgic portrayals, highlighting his engagement with complex social issues in post-war Korean society. It also provides insight into representations of marginalized women’s voices in Korean American literature.