Category: Seoul

This is an interesting idea where the city of Seoul is holding a flea market where foreign residents are the vendors:

A flea market opened in downtown Seoul on Sunday with foreign residents as vendors, as part of the city government’s efforts to provide them opportunities to integrate with citizens here.

About a hundred foreigners from some 40 teams selected by the Seoul Global Center gathered at Gwanghwamun Plaza early in the morning and sold various goods, ranging from used items to traditional handcrafts.

For graduate student Alex Gubo from Slovakia, the flea market was a platform to introduce his country’s culture to people living here. This was the second time for him to take part in the flea market event hosted by the Seoul Global Center.  (….)

Sunday’s event was the latest among similar ones that took place in April, May and June. The last flea market this year is slated for Oct. 23.

Any foreign residents can apply to take part in the event, free of charge, the center said, adding the application process is provided on its website on the first day of each scheduled month.

“This event enables foreigners and natives to come together as one by sharing diverse cultures,” said Shin Dong-hoon, an official at the center.

The regular foreigners’ flea market is part of a broader weekly market event run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government from April to October on every Sunday. The theme of the market varies every week.   [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I am surprised some enterprising ajushi hasn’t started hunting these wild boars for his own samgyeopsal joint:

Eighty sightings of wild boars have been reported in downtown Seoul in the first six months of this year, according to the city government’s report to the National Assembly’s Security and Public Administration Committee. This is almost one sighting every two days.

The figure rose from 54 to 199 cases between 2012 and 2014, Yonhap news agency said. It dropped to 155 last year, but if it stays at the present rate it will exceed last year.

Jongno District has had the most sightings, accounting for 35 percent of the 623 cases reported between 2012 and June this year. Eunpyeong District and Seongbuk District were second and third.

The three regions are next to Bukhansan National Park, one of Korea’s main wild boar habitats. The animals often descend from the mountains to residential areas or to hiking trails in search for food or when they leave their herd after losing power struggles.

The boars can be extremely dangerous when aggressive. On June 11, a man in his 70s was severely injured in an attack while he was working in a field in Goryeong, North Gyeongsang Province. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but before people start getting panicked about getting attacked by a wild boar keep in mind that you are probably more likely to get attacked by person than a pig.

What I find most amazing about this article is not that construction is being held up because of a dispute over cultural preservation, but the land these buildings sit on was bought for $15 billion:

There are seven decaying buildings strangely ornamented with rectangular shapes right in the center of Seoul, where land is worth its weight in gold, a stark contrast to the clean modern structures surrounding them.The seven old buildings are located beside the Westin Chosun hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung District, central Seoul. The cafes, massage parlors and other shops in these buildings were all closed down last week. A restaurant on the first floor of one of the buildings had a notice that said, “Due to the reconstruction of this building, we are closing our restaurant on Dec. 22, 2015,” indicating that the reconstruction did not take place for seven months.

The seven buildings sit on about 6,562 square meters (1.6 acres) of land, which the construction company Booyoung Group purchased for about 1.7 trillion won ($15 billion) from its previous owner, Samwhan Corporation, in order to build a hotel.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but the Seoul government is making preservation demands on the construction company which is halting their plans to build a hotel.  I think this architect quoted in the article does make a good point:

An architect who requested to remain anonymous said, “We need to reevaluate how much the designated buildings are worth, culturally speaking. Just because a building looks old does not mean it’s worth being preserved.”

Looking at the buildings it is not like they are architectural masterpieces.  They are quite honestly ugly rectangles.  It will be interesting to see what happens with this development in the coming years.

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/753816737884147712

https://twitter.com/pearswick/status/742515438286868480

It should be interesting to see what comes out of this study from NASA where they are trying to determine how much of the pollution over Seoul is produced domestically compared to what blows in from China:

 The cockpit warning blared insistently as the plane spiraled downward to 500 feet above Seoul: “Too low, too low, terrain. Pull up, pull up, pull up.”

The pilots ignored the automated voice despite a nervous glance from a visiting reporter. Their mission was to take the DC-8 as low or as high as the NASA scientists working in the back required.

The flight was part of a six-week joint Korea-U.S. air-quality field study — known as KORUS-AQ — which officially kicked off on April 29. The timing coincided with the so-called yellow dust season that sees fine particulate matter swept into the air from neighboring China’s Gobi Desert.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the above link as well as more about Korea’s yellow dust problem at this link.

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.

The dome is an architectural marvel.

Gocheok Sky Dome is the city’s newest indoor baseball stadium. The stadium, based in western Seoul, has a capacity of 16,000 and is home to the Nexen Heroes baseball team. The dome officially opened in 2015 and is the country’s first stadium of its kind containing transparent soundproof panels keeping the noise from the game from disrupting the neighbors. The Gocheok Sky Dome is also used to host concerts and has a swimming pool as well as other sporting facilities at the site. With a fantastic, futuristic exterior and an almost guaranteed super atmosphere inside, Gocheok Sky Dome is certainly worth a visit! [Seoul Flickr Page]

One of Korea’s most popular celebrations, the Yeon Deung Hoe (Lotus Lantern Festival) brightens the soul with not… https://t.co/sRNTEH1AuN

— Seoul Selection (@SeoulSelection) April 16, 2016

Nice day for some protesting in central Seoul. pic.twitter.com/5L0r1Z5guZ

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) March 19, 2016