Category: Seoul

To me this huge ferris wheel will just be an eye sore, there is plenty of places to go in Seoul to take in the views without this ferris wheel:

To put Seoul on a par with New York City, London, and Paris, Mayor Oh Se-hoon has some lofty ambitions. One is the world’s tallest Ferris wheel offering views over the Han River.  
   
Oh thinks the Korean capital can become one of the top five global cities. His rallying slogan for the vision doesn’t translate into very stirring English — “Attractive Seoul”— but it’s behind some very big goals. One is to attract 30 million tourists a year from across the globe. Another is to draw investors from cutting edge industries and create a new Silicon Valley in Asia.  
   
In early August, the Seoul city government announced a project called the Great Sunset Han River, which includes tourist attractions to be built such as large floating stages and waterfront sculptures. One will be the world’s tallest observation wheel, larger than the London Eye or the Singapore Flyer. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but as the article points out the slogan of “Attractive Seoul” does not have good ring to it in English. With that said it is still better than “I Seoul U” which makes no sense.

Another example of Seoul slowly getting back to normal:

 Sexual minorities in South Korea held an annual festival in downtown Seoul on Saturday after a pandemic-driven two-year hiatus, with Christian and other conservative groups opposing the high-profile event.

The 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival took place at Seoul Plaza, bringing together members of the LGBTQ community — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons — as well as their supporters and human rights activists.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As predicted it seems like less and less of Yongsan Garrison will become a park:

The incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is planning to convert part of a U.S. Forces Korea base adjacent to the new presidential office in Yongsan into a cultural space reminiscent of a “Little LA” and open it to the public in September, officials said Sunday.

The 500,000-square-meter space is just outside the defense ministry headquarters, which is being converted into the new presidential office.

The USFK plans to return the land to the South Korean government at the end of this month as part of its ongoing relocation to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

“We plan to let the people see it in its exotic state as much as possible,” an official involved in the project told Yonhap News Agency, noting the area features various religious, educational and sports facilities used by the USFK.

More facilities could be added, such as cafes and exhibition or concert halls, to evoke a sense of “America Town” or “Little LA.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I guess using this portion of Yongsan to create this “Little LA” area is better than just putting up more apartment buildings. Any predictions on how much of the old Yongsan Garrison actually becomes a city park?

Showing the colors of the Ukrainian flag is now the international version of virtue signaling:

 Iconic landmarks across Seoul were lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag Sunday in support of the Eastern European nation under siege amid the Russian assault.

N Seoul Tower on Mount Namsan, Seoul City Hall, Sebitseom on the Han River and Seoullo Media Canvas glowed blue and yellow Sunday evening.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Seoul is such an incredible city that I can’t blame Koreans for wanting to live there. However, there are plenty of other great cities in Korea as well that hopefully Koreans start moving back to. Having so many people concentrated near the DMZ just further feeds into the strategic advantage North Korea has:

With an influx of people from all over the country, the number of residents in the Seoul metropolitan region ― including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province ― surpassed 50 percent of the nation’s total population for the first time ever last year, even though the region occupies only 11.8 percent of the country’s total land. The extremely high concentration of the population in Korea’s capital area contrasts with those of the U.K. at 12.5 percent, France at 18.8 percent and Japan at 28 percent. 

Other parts of the country, meanwhile, are collapsing. The government recently designated 89 out of the 228 cities, counties and districts around the country as areas facing the risk of “extinction.” 

The collapse of local towns is also negatively affecting the quality of life in Seoul.

“The contraction of local towns accelerates the population concentration in the capital area, resulting in soaring housing prices and a lack of jobs. It will in turn pull down the birthrate in the capital area, accelerating the population decrease of the country as a whole,” said Kim Hyeon-ho, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Local Administration. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Could you imagine how many politicians in the U.S. would be prosecuted if America had law about spreading misinformation during a debate:

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon returned home early Sunday after 14 hours of questioning by prosecutors over allegations that he spoke falsehood during a TV debate in the run-up to April’s mayoral by-election.

Oh was accused of spreading false information after he said during the pre-election debate that a scandal-plagued development project in 2009 had nothing to do with his previous term as Seoul mayor from 2006 to 2011. 

Police looked into the allegations and referred the case to the prosecution.

Oh has claimed he forgot about the case because the project ultimately fell through.

He appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office for questioning around 10 a.m. Saturday and left the prosecutors’ office around 20 minutes past midnight.

Oh, affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, won a landslide victory against the ruling Democratic Party’s candidate in the April 7 mayoral by-election.

Yonhap

This is another example of how the Moon administration is using legal methods to go after the opposition’s main political leaders.

Interesting read for ROK Drop favorite Robert Neff about the liberation of Seoul at the end of World War II:

On Sept. 8, 1945, American soldiers began arriving in Incheon. Everett Shipley informed his parents in a letter home that his unit arrived in the port at about 3 p.m. and were greeted by the Japanese who provided them with trucks and other logistical support to off-load their equipment. 

The following morning, American soldiers were transported by train to Seoul, where, upon arrival, they marched in silence to their positions at Bando Hotel and the Japanese headquarters in Yongsan. Donald Clark, in his book “Living Dangerously in Korea,” notes that while the soldiers marched in silence, American “planes roared overhead ‘providing striking demonstrations of power that could hardly have failed to impress both Japanese and Koreans.'” 

Later that afternoon, at around 4 p.m., General Hodge and Admiral Kincaid arrived at the Government-General Building and, after a short speech ― “listened glumly to by the Japanese” ― Hodge accepted Japan’s surrender. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.