A Profile of Seoul’s Subway Guards

Considering some of the drunken and mentally unstable incidents I have seen happen on the Seoul subways this is a job I have a lot of respect for the people working it:

Wearing stab-proof vests over their uniform shirt, they patrol underground during duty hours. Their mission is to help secure safety of people and keep peace.

Policemen? No, they are Subway Guards helping prevent crimes and incidents and establish order at more than 300 subway stations in Seoul.  (……)

Although guards do not have the power to arrest, unlike police officers, most of them are well-trained professionals, each mastering several martial arts.

“I majored in security science. I am a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo and fourth in Hapkido. Many guards here have similar backgrounds,” Han Ji-yong, Lee’s partner, said.

The number of guards for Seoul Metro has increased from 40 in 2011 to 133 this year. According to Seoul Metro’s data, the guards were involved in 53,448 cases of violations in 2015, up 20 percent from three years earlier. The daytime shift workers take on the job from early morning — 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. — and from then come nighttime shifters to work until the last train arrives at 1 a.m. Ten guards work each shift per line.

The work becomes tough when they have to face violent drunken passengers. “They are usually typical patriarchal men in their 50s and 60s,” Lee said.   [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.