According to this article in the Korea Times the closure of the Seoul Pub signals the death of the old Itaewon:
Master Jung pours beers at Seoul Pub in Itaewon during the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup. / Courtesy of John Redmond
Seoul’s most popular and famous expat hangout, Seoul Pub, is set to close its doors for the last time in over two decades, Sunday.
Centrally located in Itaewon, across the road from the Hamilton Hotel, Seoul Pub was for years Seoul’s most popular bar, blending a patronage of English teachers, U.S.military personnel and businessmen, offering affordable beer, pool and entertainment from the manager, Master Jung.
It essentially paved the way for more European-style pubs, thanks to former manager Gunther Kampf, who went on to open the original 3 Alley Pub.Its low-key, no-frills atmosphere became a magnet for foreigners tired of the cowboy bars catering to a U.S.military clientele.
First opened in 1996, the popular premises saw its popularity peak during the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup, as did many now defunct international bars. (……..)
The closure of Seoul Pub signals the death of old Itaewon. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I like the new Itaewon better then the old Itaewon even if it means older establishments like Seoul Pub are forced to close due to the increased competition.
This is an example of why I never use a credit card in a bar or restaurant when traveling overseas. Scams like this I remember were common in the villes outside US military bases back in the day:
A promise of a fun night out at a bar in Itaewon left an American tourist with a booze tab totaling 17 million won ($15,000).
Seoul police said on Thursday owners and employees at three bars in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, have been indicted without detention for overcharging foreign tourists.
One of the indicted bar owners, surnamed Lee, allegedly charged an American tourist 17 million won for drinks he had during his one hour and 40 minutes stay at the bar.
The tourist found out about this overcharging only after returning to the US and receiving his credit card bill.
Two other indicted bar owners allegedly conspired to rip charge a German tourist about 7.9 million won.
The police are investigating whether the bar owners deliberately intoxicated the tourist, as traces of zolpidem and other narcotics were found in his hair. [Korea Herald]
American citizen Arthur Patterson (C), accused of murdering a South Korean college student in 1997, is taken away by prison officials at the Seoul High Court on Sept. 13, 2016, after the court convicted him of stabbing a college student multiple times at a Burger King in the foreigner-friendly Itaewon Ward in central Seoul. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, which is the severest possible penalty for the defendant who was then an adolescent. (Yonhap)
It looks like a New Zealand diplomat and his friends are in some serious trouble from an incident that happened recently in Itaewon:
Police questioned a New Zealand diplomat on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing officers who tried to arrest his friends on suspicion of molesting a female bar worker.
Yongsan Police Station in Seoul said two companions of the diplomat, whose identity remains unknown, allegedly molested a female employee at a bar in Itaewon Tuesday night and assaulted a security guard who tried to take them to police. As police tried to arrest the two, the diplomat allegedly pushed them and kicked the patrol car.
The diplomat and his friends were taken to the police station that night. But the diplomat was freed under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which gives foreign diplomats here immunity from civil or criminal prosecution. [Korea Times]
I would have to think that alcohol probably had something to do with this tragic accident:
A couple fell to their death while kissing on a rooftop in Itaewon on Sunday.
According to the Yongsan police, at around 2 a.m., a 31-year-old man from the United States and a 26-year-old woman from South Africa accidentally fell from a three-story building while kissing precariously close to the banister.
Witnesses have reported that the woman fell first and the man, while attempting to catch her, fell after her.
The two were taken to the hospital but did not survive due to head injuries. [Korea Herald]
Three British males are in big trouble after allegedly sexually assaulting two Korean women and then beating up a bystander that tried to intervene in Itaewon:
Apparently 3 British foreigners were sexually harrassing and assaulting 2 girls and a passerby dude stepped in to intervene.
But he ended up being beaten.
Seems like they’re being investigated but released from jail. [Reddit Korea via KBS and Naver]
A bunch of 2nd Infantry Division soldiers have apparently made themselves eligible for Army downsizing after being punished for the brawl they were part of at the UN Club in Itaewon:
The Army has punished nine soldiers for a brawl in Seoul’s Itaewon entertainment district, a 2nd Infantry Division spokesman said Tuesday.
Video that has been circulating on social media since shortly after the January fight shows a group of foreigners brawling in the street in front of the UN Club, a nightspot popular with U.S. troops that’s a few minutes’ walk from Yongsan Garrison, headquarters of 8th Army and U.S. Forces Korea.
The brawl involved both men and women trading punches and wrestling on the ground, oblivious to the efforts of a lone, bespectacled South Korean police officer to bring the situation under control with a glowing-red traffic wand. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link, but here is the Youtube video of the brawl, what disgrace:
This is one of these crime stories just begging for a picture, but I could not find one unfortunately:
Yongsan police have arrested a man who dressed as a woman to steal money and valuables from drunken people in Itaewon.
The man, identified as Kim, 44, allegedly stole a credit card, an identification card and a smartphone from a man, identified as Choi, 46, when he fell asleep at 2 p.m. on Jan. 28.
The two had been drinking together at a pub in Itaewon, police said.
Kim allegedly stole 1.5 million won from three men in Itaewon and the Incheon area last December.
Police said Kim dressed like a woman and befriended men to steal money when they were drunk. He allegedly used stolen identity cards to obtain credit cards, and also bought smartphones. [Korea Times]
Here is the latest on the Itaewon Burger King murder trial:
Arthur Patterson
Prosecutors on Friday demanded 20 years in jail for a U.S. citizen charged with slaying a Korean man nearly two decades ago.
Arthur Patterson, who was 17 at the time, is accused of stabbing 22-year-old college student Cho Joong-pil multiple times to his death inside a bathroom at a Burger King in Itaewon, a neighborhood popular with foreigners here, in 1997.
During a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, prosecutors demanded the maximum term for minors under the age of 18, saying the suspect should in fact be jailed for life.
In demanding the sentence, they cited the brutality of the crime, Patterson’s attitude during the trial, and their judgment based on reenactments of the scene at the time.
Patterson has insisted on his innocence, saying his then-friend Edward Lee committed the crime.
Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 but later acquitted by the Supreme Court due to lack of evidence. [Yonhap]
