Consciousness Torn Asunder? Racial Elevation of "South" Koreans, US Camptown Prostitution, and K-Pop Girl Groups in the 1950s–60s.

This article examines the racial elevation of "South" Koreans within the context of US imperialism and its intersectional implications, applying W.E.B. Du Bois's concept of "double consciousness" to analyze their subimperial adherence. It argues that during the 1950s–1960s, South Korean men gained racial value by aligning with US imperial power, notably through a postcolonial homoerotic triangle involving US soldiers and the expropriation of racialized-sexualized Korean women's bodies, including sex workers and early K-pop girl groups performing near US military bases. The South Korean government actively maintained industries such as camptown prostitution to support this subimperial project, which entailed both complicity in US imperialism and the dehumanization of Korean women as commodities. This historical dynamic underpins the contemporary racial status of South Koreans and calls for critical reflection on the intersections of race, gender, imperialism, and cultural production in the colonial modern world.