The raped Buddhist nuns now homeless settled nearby and eventually gave birth to children.

People from neighboring villages named the area where the children were raised Itaewon in a portmanteau of terms meaning different, foreign and fetus.

During the Joseon period (1392–1910), Itaewon became more of a significant area as the new leaders relocated the country's capital to Hanyang – modern-day Seoul.

Minors and women were kidnapped and forced into prostitution well into the 1980s in camp villages that operated under U.S. jurisdiction, and the South Korean government designated some of the locations given over to U.S. authorities as official "comfort facilities" for soldiers.

[citation needed] Under this system, there was an absence of full legal accountability in the face of frequent abuses committed by American GIs.

Criminal liability was limited in many cases where GIs would attack or abuse women living in the camp villages.

A National Assembly report from that time compiled a list of 39,542 crimes committed by U.S. military personnel between 1967 and 1987, including murders, rapes, theft, arson, and smuggling, which went largely unpunished.

As Seoul's International District, Itaewon is known for serving cuisine that are not widely available in Korea, such as those from Great Britain, Germany, France, India, Italy, Southeast Asia, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, United States of America and Canada.

South Korea's media began focusing on the neighborhood after public health authorities announced that a man who later tested positive for the coronavirus visited several establishments in the area on 2 May.

The influx of visitors from all over the country as well as foreign nationals was potentially caused by the pandemic restrictions being lifted after two years.

[24] Korean singer-songwriter JYP (Park Jin-young) and Yoo Se-yoon's hip hop duo UV released the song "Itaewon Freedom" in April 2011.

[30] Visitors to Itaewon can visit the original DanBam pub now called SeoulBam, which features famous dishes from the show such as soft tofu stew and spicy stir-fried pork.