Tag: Seoul

Just another sign that winter is near:

Seoul observed the first frost and freeze of autumn Saturday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The temperature dropped to 3.2 degrees Celsius in the capital during the morning as a cold front swept across the country, the weather agency said.

The first frost and freeze in Seoul this fall were spotted in the morning, arriving three days and 15 days earlier than last year, respectively, as well as two days and six days earlier than the long-term average.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

They should have put protester tents in the concept photo because that is what people are going to see mostly at Gwanghwamun Square:

Construction on Gwanghwamun Square will commence next month as the Seoul city government tries to turn it into something more like a park and less like a traffic island.    
   
“The roads on the east side of the square will be changed in a stage-by-stage manner so as to incur the least possible traffic difficulties,” the Seoul Metropolitan Government said in a statement Sunday. “The construction will start at the end of October.”  
   
The city government’s plan to revamp the square was first announced in 2018. It involved expanding the square westward and incorporating the southbound roads between the square and the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and rerouting the roads in front of Gyeongbok Palace to incorporate that area into the square as well.  
   
Some experts warned of traffic nightmares and the public opposed earlier plans, leading to major changes.  
   
The southbound roads west of the square will still be incorporated, but not the roads in front of the palace. Instead the five lanes of northbound traffic on the eastern side will be expanded to three going in one direction and four going in the other. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This might be the first Chuseok in a long time without bumper to bumper traffic if this poll is to be believed:

 Three in four Seoul citizens don’t have any plans to visit their hometowns or travel long distances during the Chuseok holiday due mainly to fears of coronavirus transmission, a poll showed Saturday.

In the survey of 849 citizens aged 18 or older, 56.8 percent said they have no plans to travel long distances during Chuseok, while another 16 percent said they have canceled their holiday travel plans due to COVID-19.

Merely 12.4 percent said they have travel plans during the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, with 14.8 percent saying they are still undecided whether to travel.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I always tell people is that the best time to go to Seoul is on Chuseok. It is easy to get around with little to no lines for anything because of how many people leave the city for the holiday. Apparently that will not be the case this year.

It looks like the Korean government in addition to using libel laws, will now sue the organizers of anti-government rallies:

The Seoul city government said Friday it plans to file a 4.6 billion-won (US$3.9 million) compensation suit against a pastor blamed for worsening the new coronavirus outbreak here by holding mass rallies in central Seoul.

Despite warnings against holding mass rallies, Jun Kwang-hoon, who pastors Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, is suspected of leading anti-government protests in central Seoul in mid-August that thousands of people attended. Jun, himself, later tested positive.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is an interesting idea for an affordable single family home in Seoul:

Thirty three square meters of land doesn’t seem big enough to build a house on. But architect and educator Choi Min-wook designed a five-story residential building for himself, his wife and their cat on a tiny plot of land in the heart of Seoul.

The couple settled there in March last year. 

This year, their house won the best architecture award conferred by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. (…….)

Each of the house’s five floors were conceptualized to have a unique purpose: The first floor for parking, the second floor for reading, the third floor for cooking and dining, the fourth floor for sleeping and the fifth for bathing.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the house cost 300 million won to construct.

The Korea Times has an article about two British expats in Seoul who have a very successful Youtube channel where they conduct short documentary like interviews of random Korean people:

His understanding of Korea and Korean culture is reflected in the roughly 150 videos uploaded to his YouTube channel. Teaming up with his business partner Joel Bennet, they explore Korea to shoot mukbang, have casual discussions about Korea-related topics and create short documentary-style videos. Those videos aim to show the real Korea, starring Bright’s neighbors and other ordinary people he meets. As of Thursday, “Dan and Joel” has some 272,000 subscribers. 

Korea Times

You can read much more at the link, but I started browsing through their videos today. One of the videos I watched that was featured with the article was of them interviewing one of Korea’s ubiquitous cardboard collecting ladies. Definitely a tough life for the elderly people doing that job.

I wonder if this will be the new normal for Seoul? Not too long ago Seoul reported only 3 local virus cases:

 South Korea’s new virus cases stayed below 200 for the seventh consecutive day Wednesday, but health authorities are still on guard against sporadic cluster infections across the nation.

The country added 156 more COVID-19 cases, including 144 local infections, raising the total caseload to 21,588, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

It marked an increase from 136 new cases Thursday, which also slightly rose from 119 cases added the previous day, the fewest in 24 days.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if this is the new normal of community virus spread in the Seoul area, it will be interesting to see how long the government can keep people locked down.