Tag: Seoul

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]

Travel Guide to #Seoul, South Korea https://t.co/mtpVeXdoLJ @CoolstuffKorea pic.twitter.com/cYsEdxVhcn

— The Travel Magazine (@TravelMagazine) February 17, 2016

Apparently Conan O’Brien is coming to South Korea for five days to shoot his show in Seoul:

American talk show host Conan O’Brien will shoot his “Conan” show in South Korea, a local fan who claims to have been contacted by the Conan team said Thursday.

O’Brien will arrive here on Sunday for a five-day journey that involves trips to downtown Seoul and a traditional Korean village in the city’s outskirts, a Naver blogger who goes by the alias KIMMYS said in a blog post. More than 1,100 people are subscribed to the blog which has been posting updates on O’Brien’s schedule in South Korea.

He will also likely try out “soju,” or Korean rice liquor, make kimchi and receive acupuncture, with a meeting with more than 200 fans scheduled for Monday.

Other rumors say O’Brien will make cameo appearances in a Wonder Girls music video and other local shows.

O’Brien had shown interest in Korean culture previously on his show. In an episode aired February 2015, O’Brien visited a Korean spa in Los Angeles with Korean-American actor Steven Yeun.  [Yonhap]

Members of South Korea’s conservative civic groups rally in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2016, to condemn North Korea for launching a long-range rocket, a move widely believed to be a de facto test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile. (Yonhap)

It makes you wonder if the additional safety risk caused by the platform screen doors is worth the suicide prevention rationale for installing them in the first place?:

An elderly woman died Wednesday after her purse was caught between a subway train and a platform screen door at Seoul Station, and she was dragged until she fell onto the tracks.

According to police, the woman, surnamed Seol, 81, got stuck while exiting the train at 9:04 a.m. She was pulled for about seven meters between the glass and the train and before falling on the tracks.

Witnesses said the accident happened because her purse was caught in the closing subway doors and she tried to pull it out.

The subway doors and the platform screen doors closed at the same time and the woman was caught between them, but the train departed without the engine driver noticing this.

“When the rescue team arrived, she was already dead with a serious head injury,” a police officer said. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

The house shown in the photo, owned by Lee Myung-hee, chief of the Shinsegae Group, is the most expensive “standard” private home in the country, according to the appraisal released by the land ministry on Jan. 28, 2016. Standard houses are selected samples whose prices serve as the basis against which other houses are appraised. The official price of Lee’s house, with 2,861.83-square-meter floor space that sits on 1,758.9 square meters of land in central Seoul, was valued at 12.9 bilion won (US$10.7 million). Lee is the daughter of Lee Byung-chull, the founder of Samsung Group, and the younger sister of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee. (Yonhap)

Ultimately the authorities were able to catch the crazy man threatening passengers with a knife, but I am not sure what authorities in Seoul can do to prevent crazy people from doing crazy things:

Authorities on Tuesday apprehended a middle-aged man who was alleged to have brandished a 10-inch knife and threatened passengers onboard a subway train in Seoul during morning rush hour.

The suspect, determined later to be a 51-year-old homeless man, was caught more than an hour after the episode, in which he brandished a knife onboard a train on subway line No. 1 around 8:20 a.m., before exiting at Jonggak Station.

No injuries were reported, though the incident highlighted a barrage of loopholes present in subway security systems in the capital, with a population density almost twice that of New York City and where more than 7 million people on average use the trains daily.

Last year, police recorded 3,040 crimes at local subway stations, up 58 percent from the 1,922 cases in 2013.

The most apparent oversight, however, is the lack of security resources and personnel.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is a long, but interesting article about what is going on in the Seoul real estate market in regards to the jeonse rent system that continues to see higher prices which is causing renters to instead become buyers.  This is in turn is making the jeonse rent go even higher and causing apartment shortages:

Up until last fall, 39-year-old office worker Kim Ji-seok was renting his apartment in Nowon District, northern Seoul under a jeonse agreement, a long-term deposit contract that is usually guaranteed for two years.

At the end of the summer, however, he bought a 59 square-meter apartment nearby for 320 million won ($267,468).

He decided to buy a house after his 220 million won jeonse rose nearly 30 percent to 280 million won in just two years. “I had to borrow 50 million won from the bank just to renew my jeonse contract,” Kim said. “I just decided to buy an apartment of my own as it seemed the jeonse price would again go up after two years.”

The housing market last year saw all-time record transactions as people like Kim, who were living on jeonse agreements, decided to finally buy an apartment. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

Jack Black (2nd from R), the voice of Po the panda in the new movie “Kung Fu Panda 3,” makes a heart with his fingers as he poses for photos at a red carpet event for the film in Seoul on Jan. 20, 2016. To his left is the movie’s director Jennifer Yuh, who is of Korean descent, and to his right are members of South Korea’s girl group Lovelyz who performed at the event. (Yonhap)

Here is an opportunity for anyone looking for a free English tour of Seoul:

Student volunteer group Seoul Free Walking Tour will run guided walks around the city’s historic center of Jeong-dong and Bukchon, an area east of Gyeongbokgung Palace that is famous for its traditional houses.

The Jeong-dong tour starts at Gyeongbokgung Station and visits sites around Deoksugung Palace, many of which are related to early Western involvement in the country in the late Joseon era.

The Bukchon tour starts at Anguk Station, moves to the Bukchon Cultural Center and then to Gyedonggil for a glimpse of 1970s and ’80s Seoul. Other stops include a craft center and scenic spots in Bukchon Village.

A tour of Seolleung was planned, but development has been put on hiatus, organizers said.

For more information and to sign up for a tour, visit http://seoulfreewalkingtour.wix.com/seoul.  [Korea Herald]