Journal of the Korean Geographical Society ISSN:1225-6633(Print) 대한지리학회지

While US camptowns served as not only a growth engine for national economy through earning dollars from the Korean War to the 1970s but also a major living space for a variety of people, they have not received due attention owing to its social and academic stereotypes. This study aims to explore the formation and implications of the camptowns in local context through the examination of the historical transformations of Yongjugol, Paju, once the largest camptown in Korea. It examines the changes of Yongjugol since the Korean War through three different stage: ‘Golden days of the camptown(1950s-1970s),’ ‘Deteriorating camptown (1980s-1990s),’ and ‘Regeneration of Camptown (since 2000s).’ After the war, Yongjugol was shifted from an agriculture-based clan village into a sex trafficking-oriented commercial space to depend upon the US camptown. However, it has suffered from continuous deterioration since the early 1970s when the US military base was relocated. This demonstrates that a half-century history of Yongjugol is the solidification of socio-economic spatial structure to completely rely on service industry at the relatively isolated border region. This research offers a comprehensive look at history of Yongjugol via its socio-economic spatial structureand focuses on village space highlighting local experience and context, which helps us better understand the reality of the camptowns.