Over at Korea Expose there is a great article about a nondescript set of stairs near the US military’s Yongsan Garrison in Seoul that is actually a reminder of some interesting Japanese colonial history:
Haebongchan neighborhood with the 108 Stairs pictured on the right via VisitSeoul.net.
There’s a stairway on the outskirts of the hip Haebangchon area in Seoul — one that doesn’t really merit a second look. No impressive characteristics beyond its steepness, nothing spectacular in its surroundings. No chic bars, no hipster coffee shops. There’s no reason to remember, much less visit, it unless you’re a resident walking up and down the hilly area.
But the 108 Stairway, as the steps are called, is one of Haebangchon’s oldest residents. In existence since the colonial era, it saw the evolution of Yongsan, the district Haebangchon is in: Streams, woods and tigers in the early twentieth century, the tents and slums before the Korean War, the bombing and destruction, and eventually the clusters of red-bricked houses (and increasingly coffee shops) today.
Situated near the U.S military base, today’s Haebangchon boasts one of the most culturally diverse pool of residents in South Korea. But very few of them have actually used the 108 Stairs for its original purpose.
“My friends and I would rush up, panting, and skip two or three steps at a time,” says 82-year-old Seo Jang-hun. “At the top, there was this huge area, covered with gravel. And there was this temple, where adults threw coins into a box, clapped their hands three times, and prayed.” [Korea Expose via Gusts of Popular Feeling]
You can read the rest at the link, but the staircase once led to the Gyeongseong Hoguk Shrine that was built in 1943. Residents that lived in the neighborhood were forced by Japanese authorities to pray at the shrine for Japan’s war dead. After liberation in 1945 residents tore down the shrine and today the steps are all that remain. Soon even the steps may be removed to be replaced by an escalator.
This all poses the question of what Japanese colonial relics should be allowed to remain and what should be tore down?
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]
