I can understand Changdeok Palace and touring the DMZ making this Top 500 list, but Seoul Tower? I was completely underwhelmed when visiting Seoul Tower, especially considering the cost:
Korea’s Changdeok Palace, the demilitarized zone and the N Seoul Tower have made it among the world’s top 500 places chosen by Lonely Planet, the world’s largest travel guide.
Lonely Planet rated the sights based on evaluations by its own guidebook writers and reader preferences. They were included in the Ultimate Travelist 2015, which can be ordered online. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but did anyone enjoy their visit to Seoul Tower?
The subway doors were once considered a good idea to reduce the deaths of people falling in front of oncoming trains, but now have become a safety liability after a subway workers was killed by the doors last month:
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to replace platform doors at subways with retractable doors.
The city government said Monday that it will replace doors at three subway stations by the end of the year.
The doors have been criticized for making evacuations during emergencies difficult as some are installed between billboards that cannot be moved.
All platform doors at stations on Line 9 can be opened, but 25 percent of the doors on Lines 1 through 8 are stationary.
Seoul plans to replace all platform doors down the road, but is in consultations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport about receiving government grants as the replacement is expected to cost over 50 billion won. [KBS World Radio]
Any ROK Heads in Seoul interested in serving on this council that the Seoul government is trying to establish?:
Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday it would begin accepting applications from foreign residents of the capital to create a representative body for consultations. The body will be made up of 45 people and will advise the local government on policies to meet the needs of foreign residents and interracial families.
“Migrant workers, foreign students, foreign spouses, adoptees or refugees can apply for the positions,” a city official said.
The representatives will serve a three-year term and collect foreign residents’ opinions on issues such as human rights, cultural diversity and the living environment.
Those wanting to become the members should be over 18 years old, have stayed in Korea for more than a year and in Seoul for more than 90 days, and be recommended by at least 10 other foreign residents. [Korea Times]
Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, leaves the Seoul High Court on Sept. 4, 2015, after the appeals court convicted him of running a smear campaign during last year’s election but suspended his sentence. If the Supreme Court confirms the ruling, Cho will be able to keep his job. A lower court in April fined Cho 5 million won (US$4,600) for spreading false rumors about his rival, Koh Seung-duk, during the election campaign. (Yonhap)
Some how I don’t think this issue is going to make it very high up on President Park’s priority list:
A famous gay sauna in Seoul has banned old, unattractive foreigners, according to a source who was refused entry.
Black is a gay bathhouse in Shinnonhyeon, Seoul that made the headlines in 2012 when the owner was arrested for allowing gays to have sexual intercourse in his public bathhouse.
About 20 people were engaging in a sexual act when the police burst into the sauna according to media reports.
The business still thrives today as people consider it to be a “hot place” but people are also being turned down because they are too old, too fat or from an ethnic minority.
“Clearly foreigners for them means white people and not Asian because I saw a Chinese guy going inside which is a clear discrimination based on race. I was very offended by this policy.”
He said it was very disappointing to see “an already discriminated minority such as being gay goes on to discriminate against another minority such as being a foreigner.” [Korea Observer]
You can read the rest at the link, but the bathhouse says it only discriminates against unattractive foreigners who are fat or old. For those that are wondering this is actually perfectly legal in Korea because there are no laws that forbid discrimination by business owners based on race in Korea.
I think in this case the Seoul police are correct in how they are handling this issue. If there is going to be a confrontation between different groups why would should the police allow this to happen in the middle of Seoul and make traffic miserable for everyone that works there?:
LGBT pride parade in South Korea on June 7, 2014. (Courtesy of Cezzie901 via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Police have denied permission for a street parade highlighting the rights of sexual minorities scheduled for later this month in central Seoul, upsetting the event’s organizers.
According to the festival organizer Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency turned down the organizer’s request for the June 28 parade.
It was planned as a part of events for the Korea Queer Festival, which will run from June 9-28. The opening ceremony will take place at Seoul Plaza, and the parade was also scheduled to start at the plaza.
The police said other groups had already submitted plans to stage a parade at the same time and location. They also said that the organizer’s parade, which was to proceed from the plaza and along Cheonggye Stream before returning to the plaza, would worsen traffic conditions in the area.
The festival organizers protested.
“For the last 15 years, the festival has not caused any traffic problems,” said one member of the festival organizing committee.
The Korea Queer Festival marks its 16th year this year. Previously, festivals and parades were held on the streets of Sinchon, where there is a large college student population. This was the first event planned for Seoul Plaza.
The organizer suspects others who scheduled events that effectively blocked the street parade were conservative Christian groups which opposed the festival, thus giving police an excuse to say no to the parade. [Korea Times]
I can understand why these women feel unsafe but is following someone around in Korea considered a crime? If not it would explain the indifference shown by the police:
Concerned residents in the Haebangchon neighborhood, located next to Itaewon in Seoul, have formed a community awareness group in response to an increased amount of sexual harassment in the area.
People Unite against Street Harassment (PUSH) was established in March this year and held a fundraiser during the 10th anniversary of the HBC Festival last weekend.
Brittany Hayes and Alicia Trawick from Florida in the United States lead the group.
“Over the past year there have been different things happening, but it was kind of being brushed under the rug,” said Trawick. “The police were not doing anything, so we took it upon ourselves to do something.”
PUSH President Hayes believes the police response has left a lot to be desired.
“A lot of people have contacted the police about this issue but nothing has happened,” she said. “A girl wrote on the HBC forum on Facebook that she had been stalked by a guy and when she went to a police officer on the street he ignored her.”
Ashley Pifer, also from the U.S., said she had such an experience.
“I was with my friend in a mart along HBC road when an African man came in,” she said. “He said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ My friend responded and I just ignored him.”
“We walked down the road to CU Mart. I went inside and made a purchase and as we were leaving the same man walks in. He proceeded to rub my arm and say, ‘What’s this? I like.’ I moved away and walked out.
“I left my friend and walked further up the road to the pharmacy. When I came out the same man was standing across the street. I panicked and called my boyfriend and then the man ran away. To me it wasn’t coincidental that we were in three places in a row.”
As she later discovered, the incident was not isolated but part of a pattern.
“I wasn’t even going to report it until I saw a post on the HBC forum,” she said. “A guy said a similar man had followed his girlfriend home. So I decided to make a report because others came forward with similar stories,” said Pifer.
“My Korean boyfriend and I spent two hours being transported to three police stations. The whole time the police were trying to convince us not to make a report. One of the officers spoke to us in English and tried to help but after speaking with his superiors he came back and pretended he could not understand me. I eventually gave up. They didn’t believe me and it was pointless.” [Korea Times]
The average apartment prices in Seoul are actually not as expensive as I was expecting, but they are still pretty high:
Apartment prices in Seoul are expected to surpass 500 million won this month.
According to Kookmin Bank’s housing prices data, the average sale price of apartments in Seoul came to 499-point-nine million won as of the end of last month.
The average sale price of apartments in Seoul marked 489 million won in April 2013 and stayed below 500 million won for the past two years, but it is moving upward recently.
The steady rise in the apartment price is attributed to a surge in prices of jeonse, or deposit-based long-term rentals. [KBS World]
