Category: Seoul

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

Runners race through Gwanghwamun Palace in downtown Seoul in the 2016 Seoul International Marathon on March 20, 2016. (Yonhap)

Travel Guide to #Seoul, South Korea https://t.co/mtpVeXdoLJ @CoolstuffKorea pic.twitter.com/cYsEdxVhcn

— The Travel Magazine (@TravelMagazine) February 17, 2016

It makes you wonder if the additional safety risk caused by the platform screen doors is worth the suicide prevention rationale for installing them in the first place?:

An elderly woman died Wednesday after her purse was caught between a subway train and a platform screen door at Seoul Station, and she was dragged until she fell onto the tracks.

According to police, the woman, surnamed Seol, 81, got stuck while exiting the train at 9:04 a.m. She was pulled for about seven meters between the glass and the train and before falling on the tracks.

Witnesses said the accident happened because her purse was caught in the closing subway doors and she tried to pull it out.

The subway doors and the platform screen doors closed at the same time and the woman was caught between them, but the train departed without the engine driver noticing this.

“When the rescue team arrived, she was already dead with a serious head injury,” a police officer said. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Ultimately the authorities were able to catch the crazy man threatening passengers with a knife, but I am not sure what authorities in Seoul can do to prevent crazy people from doing crazy things:

Authorities on Tuesday apprehended a middle-aged man who was alleged to have brandished a 10-inch knife and threatened passengers onboard a subway train in Seoul during morning rush hour.

The suspect, determined later to be a 51-year-old homeless man, was caught more than an hour after the episode, in which he brandished a knife onboard a train on subway line No. 1 around 8:20 a.m., before exiting at Jonggak Station.

No injuries were reported, though the incident highlighted a barrage of loopholes present in subway security systems in the capital, with a population density almost twice that of New York City and where more than 7 million people on average use the trains daily.

Last year, police recorded 3,040 crimes at local subway stations, up 58 percent from the 1,922 cases in 2013.

The most apparent oversight, however, is the lack of security resources and personnel.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is an opportunity for anyone looking for a free English tour of Seoul:

Student volunteer group Seoul Free Walking Tour will run guided walks around the city’s historic center of Jeong-dong and Bukchon, an area east of Gyeongbokgung Palace that is famous for its traditional houses.

The Jeong-dong tour starts at Gyeongbokgung Station and visits sites around Deoksugung Palace, many of which are related to early Western involvement in the country in the late Joseon era.

The Bukchon tour starts at Anguk Station, moves to the Bukchon Cultural Center and then to Gyedonggil for a glimpse of 1970s and ’80s Seoul. Other stops include a craft center and scenic spots in Bukchon Village.

A tour of Seolleung was planned, but development has been put on hiatus, organizers said.

For more information and to sign up for a tour, visit http://seoulfreewalkingtour.wix.com/seoul.  [Korea Herald]