Category: Seoul

Here is the latest building that will grace Seoul’s skyline in the next few years:

A 100-story landmark building will be built in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, which will also feature a pedestrian bridge linking buildings at the 45th-floor level, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, Monday.

These are part of the city government’s revived plan to transform the 500,000-square-meter former railyard into an international business district.

The land has been vacant for 10 years after the previous development plan had been canceled due to the global economic crisis. The state-run railway operator KORAIL holds 70 percent ownership of the land.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like someone may have had some mental issues:

The Russian Embassy in Seoul’s Jongno Ward (Yonhap)

 An SUV rammed into a guard post in front of the Russian Embassy in central Seoul, seriously injuring a police officer on duty, officials said Monday.

The incident happened at 10:10 p.m. Sunday, and the officer was taken to a hospital with serious injuries to his neck and shoulders, officials said.

The driver was not under the influence of alcohol, officials said.

Police are looking into the exact cause of the crash.

Yonhap

Not all heroes wear shoes:

A 23-year-old South Korean man alerted his neighbors in an apartment fire in Seoul last week, helping all 95 residents to escape to safety, local media reported Monday.

On Thursday a fire broke out on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Banghwa-dong of Gangseo-gu, western Seoul, at 6:30 a.m., with no casualties except four minor cases of smoke inhalation. A report from local daily Dong-A Ilbo revealed that this was thanks to heroic efforts by a resident named Woo Il-yeong.

According to the report, the sixth-floor resident became aware of the fire while preparing for work, and went up to the 14th floor to find that smoke had filled the halls. After coming back downstairs to get a wet cloth, he went back up to find if anyone needed help.

Woo found an elderly person wondering around in the smoke on the 14th floor and led the person downstairs. He then ran up and down the stairs for 30 minutes to knocking on the doors and urge other residents to evacuate the building, before firefighters arrived on the scene.

After all 95 occupants had escaped to safety, he realized that he had lost his slippers. (…….)

Officials found that the fire started when a resident on the 14th floor was lighting a cigarette. It was also found that the building’s fire-resistant doors meant to prevent the spread of fire had been left open, allowing the blaze to spread across the entire floor within a short period.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like there will be a lot of snow men being made in Seoul this New Year’s Day:

 Seoul residents battled through the heaviest snowfall recorded for December since 1981, as a winter storm dumped more than 10 centimeters Saturday, with more snow expected in many parts of the country ahead of the new year.

A heavy snow advisory was in effect for the entire capital, except for southwestern Seoul, parts of Gyeonggi Province and most parts of the eastern province of Gangwon earlier in the day, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

As of 4 p.m., the advisory remained in effect for most parts of Gangwon, with up to 1 to 4 centimeters of snowfall per hour pounding the inland and mountainous areas of the province.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you use the Seoul subway to get to work be ready for alternate transportation means if you ride these subway lines:

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro, the operator of Seoul subway lines No. 1-8, will stage a strike starting Thursday in protest of the company’s manpower reduction plan, officials said Wednesday.

The labor union has threatened to take the collective action after the company announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 2,212, or 13.5 percent, by 2026 to overcome its chronic deficit and normalize management.

The labor and management of the company, run by the Seoul city government, have held rounds of talks since July, but failed to narrow differences, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I did not know Seoul had that many neighborhoods for this Youtuber to visit:

Bart van Genugten wants to visit every neighborhood of Seoul. The city has 467 administrative divisions, known as “dong,” in Korean, and the Dutch national has already checked a decent number off his list, in his YouTube video series, “Welcome to My Dong.”

“Once I promise myself to do something, I tend to keep that promise,” he told The Korea Times about his prospects of reaching that goal. “It may take me four to six years without any distractions.”

He’s already visited 50 dongs creating 35 videos and 36 shorts on his YouTube channel, iGoBart, which has over 193,000 subscribers.

“All I have discovered, being 50 neighborhoods into the project, is that every dong has something interesting, no matter how small, they all have something worthy of a visit, and I want to show this to the world,” he said. “Seoul is more than only the famous landmarks and has so much more to offer if you’re curious. I wish more creators did so.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.