Tag: Seoul

A pedestrian crosses a street in Seoul’s Mapo district amid the season’s first heavy snowfall on Dec. 4, 2025. (Yonhap)

Having ran in many races I have seen the growing rise in these races which is largely due to the fact they have become easy money makers for the organizations that put them on:

As running becomes one of South Korea’s fastest-growing pastimes, Seoul is facing a new challenge: a marathon calendar packed so tightly that major roads are blocked almost every weekend, prompting widespread complaints that the city’s fitness fever is pushing everyday life off course.

Streets in central districts, from Gwanghwamun and Jongno to the Han River bridges, have been repeatedly shut down for early-morning events that funnel tens of thousands of runners through the city’s most heavily trafficked corridors.

On Sunday, another large-scale race, hosted by a local media group, drew an estimated 30,000 participants. The course required step-by-step traffic control, diverting buses and vehicles throughout the morning.

For many residents and workers, however, it was a growing strain.

“It’s good to run for health, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of ordinary citizens,” said Kim Keon-ho, 72, who found himself rerouted Sunday morning. “The roads are all closed, but there’s little guidance on where to go. Elderly people struggle with the subway stairs, and yet that’s the only option they are told to use. It’s frustrating.” (………..)

Data shows a steep rise in both events and complaints.

National data submitted to Rep. Park Jeong-ha showed that the number of marathons held in Korea surged from 19 events in 2020 and 49 in 2021 to 254 in 2024, with more than 1 million participants, an increase of more than thirteenfold in four years.

With the trend, the frustration grew. According to Seoul city figures, public complaints tied to marathon traffic disruptions grew from 15 in 2021 to 69 in 2022, 498 in 2023 and 461 in 2024. Through September this year, 350 complaints had already been filed.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It is a bit surprising how many issues this ferry boat keeps having:

Seoul’s Hangang Bus service came to an abrupt halt again when one of its vessels ran aground 118 meters from Jamsil dock on Saturday evening. The incident took place less than two weeks after resuming operations following a monthlong service suspension due to repeated breakdowns.

The hybrid-powered ferry, carrying 82 passengers, stopped after striking the riverbed at 8:15 p.m. All aboard were safely evacuated within an hour by fire and police rescue teams. No injuries were reported.

City officials, led by Park Jin-young, head of Future Han River Headquarters, explained that the ferry’s propeller and protective skeg likely scraped the bottom of the riverbed, transferring a shock to the hull.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is an interesting way to discourage foreigners from being a drain on public services:

A bill recently submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council to apply “reciprocity” to welfare and support programs for foreign residents has sparked controversy over potential discrimination.

Thirty-three council members from the conservative People Power Party submitted the proposal on Oct. 20, calling on the city government to “review reciprocity when implementing financial, education, housing and transportation support policies for foreigners.”

If passed, the ordinance would only allow foreign residents to receive city-funded benefits if their home countries offer comparable support to Koreans living there.

The draft further stipulates that foreign residents could be excluded from support programs if Korean nationals face discriminatory treatment or receive unequal benefits in the resident’s home country.

The proposal includes exceptions. Refugees requiring humanitarian protection, foreign nationals covered under bilateral or international agreements, as well as business owners and “skilled workers” would remain eligible for support regardless of reciprocity. The proposal did not say how skilled workers would be defined.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The popular U.S. burger chain In-N-Out held a one day pop-up store in Gangnam where people waited up to five hours for a burger:

In-N-Out pop-up store in southern Seoul on Oct. 15. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The customer first in line arrived at 3 a.m., according to the restaurant manager of Schedule Cheongdam. 
  
They lined up in Apgujeong in southern Gangnam on Wednesday, not for some boutique store, a K-pop pop-up event or a Michelin-starred restaurant, but for In-N-Out. 
  
However, there were only 500-or-so burgers prepared and by the time this reporter visited the restaurant, five minutes before 2 p.m., they were all long gone. 
  
In-N-Out returned to Korea — for just a half a day — on Wednesday as a half-day pop-up store. Despite being the fifth time the popular American hamburger chain has opened a pop-up store in the country, it still didn’t stop Koreans from lining up for the burgers.

“I’ve tasted many different burger brands, but I never had In-N-Out until today, and they are really good,” Cho Ha-young, a 22-year-old customer who waited for almost five hours for the In-N-Out pop-up on Wednesday, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but In-N-Out hosts one day pop-up stores every 2-3 years in order to maintain their trademark in Korea. If they didn’t do this some other restaurant could use the name In-N-Out in Korea.

It did not take long for these new water buses to break:

Seoul city will suspend passenger services on its new waterborne public transportation system from Monday, just 10 days after its official launch, following a series of technical malfunctions.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Sunday that the Hangang Bus will switch to trial runs from Monday until at least the end of October, aiming to enhance stability and safety for its passengers. Throughout the trial period, buses will run according to their timetables, but without passengers on board.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.