Category: Seoul

I can understand why people would want to have days where the public can enjoy the Gwanghwamun area without protesters everywhere. However, it is interesting that this idea comes up when it is conservative groups busy rallying against the liberal Korean president. When the liberal groups were rallying against the former conservative President Park Geun-hye the city government did not consider doing this:

Squares and plazas in Seoul, open to all including protests and sit-ins, may get a “break” day.

Citizens have been calling for a “break” from rallies at Gwanghwamun Square, Cheonggye Plaza, Seoul Plaza and other public spaces in downtown Seoul, and the city government is seriously considering this.

Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it is considering designating a “no-rally day” regularly, a day without any protests, rallies, or other events at the locations so that the public can use them. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is some information to keep in mind when traveling on public transit in Seoul:

Seoul’s subway Line 2 is the most sexual crime-prone public area with 2,069 cases over the past five years. Among stations, Express Bus Terminal on Line 3 topped the list with 56 cases in the January-July period.

Rep. Han Sun-gyo of the main opposition Liberty Party of Korea revealed the figures on Sunday, citing National Police Agency data. 

Subway Line 9 was the second most prone with 1,479 cases since 2015, followed by Line 1 (848 cases), Line 4 (756 cases), Line 3 (407 cases), Line 5 (288 cases), Line 6 (163 cases) and Line 8 (41 cases). 

Noryangjin Station was the second most sexual crime-prone subway station (24 cases since July) after the Express Bus Terminal. Third was Yeouido (23 cases), followed by Sadang (21 cases), Seoul Station (20 cases), Gangnam (19 cases), Dongjak (18 cases) and Sindorim (17 cases).

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Following Yonhap News, my job title is again "begpacker buster" on JTBC. Whatever, hope authorities will clampdown on the stream of shameless #begpackers entering Korea. pic.twitter.com/OZ9RVGdmA7

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) July 16, 2019

Good luck with this:

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced on Sunday his vision to turn Seoul into a bicycle-friendly city, including installing elevated bike roads above bus lanes in Seoul, during his visit to Bogota, Colombia.  

“My intention is to turn Seoul into one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world,” Park told Korean reporters in Colombia’s capital on Sunday, during his trip to several South American cities to bridge inter-city cooperation on urban regeneration. 

“And there are a few options to go about this plan. One is to take some of the car lanes and turn them into bike highways while making sure that they are completely separated from car roads.”

“Another option,” he continued, “is to build elevated bike roads above bus lanes, or to build enclosed bike lanes on either side of bridges across the Han River.”

Park is traveling through South American cities, including Mexico City, and Medellin and Bogota, both Colombia, from July 8 to 17 to explore inter-city cooperation on urban regeneration.

He made the announcement during a day of ciclovia, which is a local practice in some South American cities such as Bogota and Medellin that involves blocking certain roads from traffic and opening it up to pedestrians and cyclists on Sundays or other designated days.

“In all the options that the city government is considering, it is trying to build a so-called Cycle Rapid Transportation highway, an unprecedented attempt,” the Seoul city government said in a statement on Sunday. “The bike highway would be completely separate from roads used by cars and by pedestrians.”

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it will inject 300 million won ($254,400) within this year to conduct feasibility studies on the plan. 

Jeong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Anyone want to place a bet that this cable car operator was busy looking at his phone?:

The police investigating a cable car accident that took place at N Seoul Tower on Friday will book an employee who was in charge of the operations control at the time.

The Namdaemun Police Station said the individual will be taken into custody on charges of professional negligence resulting in injury. 

In earlier police questioning, the employee is known to have said that he was late in putting the brakes on the cable car because he hadn’t been paying attention.

At around 7:15 p.m. Friday, the cable car carrying 20 passengers failed to slow down while entering the platform and crashed into the safety fence.

Seven passengers including two foreign tourists suffered minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.

Cable car rides at the N Seoul Tower have since been suspended for mechanical inspections.

KBS World Radio via a reader tip

This is a unique idea to differentiate from all the other bus tours in Seoul:

Seoul City Tour Bus, one of two bus companies providing hop-on, hop-off rides between key city landmarks, is now offering on-board meals. 

Starting June 15, visitors who sign up for a “Bustaurant” journey are offered a barbecue eel lunch box with sides and drinks on the bus during a 30-minute stop at Sevitseom, LED-covered manmade floating islands near the banks of the Han River. 

For children, the main dish will be either hamburger steak or fried pork cutlet.

Along with Yellow Balloon City Bus, Seoul City Tour Bus offers convenient access to traditional markets, historic neighborhoods and cultural landmarks for visitors on a tight schedule. 

Bustaurant tours run two times a day. The day trip runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with hour-long guided tours at the National Museum of Korea, N Seoul Tower, one ancient palace (Gyeongbok Palace or Changdeok Palace) and one old neighborhood (Insa-dong or Bukchon Hanok Village) near Gwanghwamun. 

The night trips are shorter, from 7:20 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and only let passengers off at N Seoul Tower and Cheonggye Stream, the final destination. The night course mostly travels along the Han River for a succession of light-clad bridges and high-rises out the window. Noteworthy sights include the 63 Building, the National Assembly and Seongsu Bridge.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Pretty soon every piece of flat land around Seoul is going to have an apartment unit sitting on it:

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Tuesday laid out plans to build an additional 110,000 residential units in 28 locations including the two new towns, which are in addition to three new town projects announced by the Moon Jae-in government last December.

That completes the Moon government’s grand scheme of building 300,000 housing units around the greater Seoul area to cool the real estate market. 

According to the Land Ministry, 38,000 residential units will be built on a 8.13 million-square-meter (2,009-acre) area in Changneung-dong in the city of Goyang. Some 20,000 residential units will be built on a 3.43 million-square-meter area in Daejang-dong in Bucheon. Both are in Gyeonggi.

The remaining 52,000 housing units will be in smaller projects in 26 locations around Seoul and Gyeonggi. 

For example, 12,000 residential units will be built around Sadang Station in southern Seoul while 300 units will be built on a former railroad property near Wangsimni Station in central Seoul. As was the case with the new towns announced in December, both of the two newly-added towns are close to Seoul. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This article makes me wonder what the old 2ID command bunker at Camp Red Cloud will be used for in the future with the closing of that camp:

For more than half a century, the Demilitarized Zone in Korea has been the site of clashes, skirmishes and tension. However, a new age is dawning on the Land of the Morning Calm and sites that were once used as bunkers and military installations are being converted into community, arts and culture spaces given back to the community at large. Sites that had previously been surrounded by barbed wire are seeing a transformation as the metal fencing is taken down and architects and artists come in to breathe new life into decaying structures. 

Citizens are able to walk in and use spaces that have been off limits for decades and with that, new communities are developing.

Last October, the Peace Culture Bunker was unveiled just outside of Dobongsan Station on Seoul Metro lines 1 and 7. Originally constructed between 1968 and 1970, the structure was a defensive shelter for tanks on the first floor and featured housing on the second. 

The third and fourth floors were meant to disguise and conceal the weapons within. Covertly named “Simin Apartment,” there were five buildings with three residential floors and each floor had six units. It was originally planned as a military housing complex to enable quick mobilization in the event of conflict.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

So says this survey:

South Korea’s capital city, Seoul, ranks as the seventh most expensive city in the world to live in this year, a survey showed Saturday.

The Worldwide Cost of Living (WCL) Survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), measures the prices of more than 150 items in 133 cities across the globe, with the index for New York set as a benchmark of 100.

According to the latest WCL poll, Seoul ranked seventh, on a par with New York, down one notch from the previous survey.

Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong are the joint most expensive cities in the world with an index of 107, followed by Zurich of Switzerland with 106, and its sister Geneva and Japan’s Osaka coming next with 101 each.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.