From America Town to America: Fox Girl and the Ethics of Interracial Relations in South Korea's Camptowns

The politics of identity for multiracial children in South Korea is a growing ethnic and ethical issue. Discussions regarding the ethnic identity of multiracial Koreans cannot be formed without considering its ethical implications. Ethics become central to the formation of ethnic identity in that it points to how one is regarded as an irreducible other. In this essay, I argue that gender and ethnic identification is a form of ethical articulation of Korean racial politics. I explore the relationship between Korean women who worked in camptowns and American racial politics in Nora Okja Keller's Fox Girl. Camptown or kijich'on women have long represented the irreducible other, the ”heart of darkness” at the center of race relations between the U.S. and South Korea. They are living reminders of sexual domination, U.S. imperialism, and geographical and political divisions between North and South Korea. Although camptown women were dubbed as ”ambassadors to America” through the sexual service they provided, they were ostracized by other Koreans for engaging in interracial relations. Clearly aware of neocolonial domination, Keller attempts to represent the complex conditions in which kijich'on women were used by the Korean government to mediate political borders and bolster the Korean economy while outcasted to the margins of society.