Would More Families Curve Prostitution In Area 1?

One man in South Korea thinks more families in Area 1 would curve the prostitution in Area 1:

Encouraging more military families to follow soldier spouses and parents to Area I would cut vice around U.S. Army bases here, says a missionary who works with soldiers in Dongducheon.

In recent years the Army has taken steps to curb problems in bar districts outside U.S. bases, including joint patrols of U.S. military and Korean National Police and declaring certain clubs off-limits.

But American missionary Bill Meyers, director of Shalom House in Dongducheon, says he believes that encouraging soldiers’ families to live near the bases would go a long way toward cleaning up neighborhoods.

“The spouses and children who are here all come at their own expense under very difficult circumstances,” Meyers said. “If more families were allowed here there would be less problems. When you have more families around you have less drinking, less prostitution, less pornography and less gambling. It would be a more wholesome community.”

I don’t know about a “wholesome community”, but more families would definitely reduce the amount of shady activity in the ville because many of the married soldiers would not be hanging out in the ville with their families living with them in Korea. However, I think the other areas in Korea where families are allowed proves that families alone will not end the prostitution problem in Korea. USFK can try all they want but the only ones that can really end prostitution in Korea are the Koreans themselves.