Flowers are placed in front of a monument in Seoul on June 25, 2015, erected to remember the victims of a 1995 collapse of Sampoong Department Store in southern Seoul. The country will mark the 20th anniversary of the incident, which killed 502 people and injured 900 others, four days later. (Yonhap)
This photo, provided by Dewey McLean, a U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War and currently a geology professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and taken during the war, shows a devastated landscape seen from the slope of Mount Nam in Seoul. McLean served as a corporal for a transport unit of the U.S. 8th Army when he was stationed here from 1952-53. (Yonhap)
I can remember many years ago when the anti-US groups were complaining about US diplomats and servicemembers not paying their parking tickets. It is interesting you don’t hear a peep from any groups about Chinese and Russian diplomats not paying their tickets:
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Tuesday that it would strengthen enforcement of traffic violations by foreign embassy vehicles in Korea in an effort to curb immunity and collect unpaid fines.
Diplomats in Korea are obligated to pay penalties for traffic violations, but police enforcement over them has not been strict due to immunities granted by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which was signed in 1969.
The number of traffic violations by Foreign Service workers has risen sharply over the last four years, rising from nine incidents in 2012 to 81 last year. The Korean police long relied on traffic enforcement cameras for surveillance of foreign service workers, but with the new measures, field crackdown is expected to be implemented with full force.
The police will forward requests to the embassies regarding the matter. The countries that have fully paid the penalties are the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. The countries that have registered the highest number of violations in the last three years are Russia (23), China (12), the U.S. (12) and Mongolia (10). [Korea Herald]
Some how I don’t think this issue is going to make it very high up on President Park’s priority list:
A famous gay sauna in Seoul has banned old, unattractive foreigners, according to a source who was refused entry.
Black is a gay bathhouse in Shinnonhyeon, Seoul that made the headlines in 2012 when the owner was arrested for allowing gays to have sexual intercourse in his public bathhouse.
About 20 people were engaging in a sexual act when the police burst into the sauna according to media reports.
The business still thrives today as people consider it to be a “hot place” but people are also being turned down because they are too old, too fat or from an ethnic minority.
“Clearly foreigners for them means white people and not Asian because I saw a Chinese guy going inside which is a clear discrimination based on race. I was very offended by this policy.”
He said it was very disappointing to see “an already discriminated minority such as being gay goes on to discriminate against another minority such as being a foreigner.” [Korea Observer]
You can read the rest at the link, but the bathhouse says it only discriminates against unattractive foreigners who are fat or old. For those that are wondering this is actually perfectly legal in Korea because there are no laws that forbid discrimination by business owners based on race in Korea.
Health officials spray disinfectant solution in a bus in Seoul’s Seongdong Ward on June 15, 2015, as a precaution against the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). South Korea reported one more death from MERS on the day, along with five new cases that brought the total number of people diagnosed with the disease here to 150. The latest fatality raised the number of MERS-related deaths in South Korea to 16. (Yonhap)
I think in this case the Seoul police are correct in how they are handling this issue. If there is going to be a confrontation between different groups why would should the police allow this to happen in the middle of Seoul and make traffic miserable for everyone that works there?:
LGBT pride parade in South Korea on June 7, 2014. (Courtesy of Cezzie901 via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Police have denied permission for a street parade highlighting the rights of sexual minorities scheduled for later this month in central Seoul, upsetting the event’s organizers.
According to the festival organizer Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency turned down the organizer’s request for the June 28 parade.
It was planned as a part of events for the Korea Queer Festival, which will run from June 9-28. The opening ceremony will take place at Seoul Plaza, and the parade was also scheduled to start at the plaza.
The police said other groups had already submitted plans to stage a parade at the same time and location. They also said that the organizer’s parade, which was to proceed from the plaza and along Cheonggye Stream before returning to the plaza, would worsen traffic conditions in the area.
The festival organizers protested.
“For the last 15 years, the festival has not caused any traffic problems,” said one member of the festival organizing committee.
The Korea Queer Festival marks its 16th year this year. Previously, festivals and parades were held on the streets of Sinchon, where there is a large college student population. This was the first event planned for Seoul Plaza.
The organizer suspects others who scheduled events that effectively blocked the street parade were conservative Christian groups which opposed the festival, thus giving police an excuse to say no to the parade. [Korea Times]
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]
If your kids go to middle or high school over Yongsan Garrison expect your kids to have a different school schedule next year:
Osan American Elementary School students say the Pledge of Allegiance at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Aug. 25, 2014. Department of Defense Dependents Schools began the new school year this week.
Department of Defense Education Activity middle and high school students in Seoul will attend classes on a “hybrid” schedule next year that combines traditional seven-period days and block-scheduled days within a single week, officials announced last week.
The change will mean more time in the classroom and fewer mix-ups at Seoul American High School over which classes students should be attending on a given day, principal Kathleen Reiss said.
The school now operates on a block schedule, with “A” and “B” class schedules alternating daily.
“It’s constant confusion now,” Reiss said. “There’s not a day that goes by that somebody doesn’t ask me, ‘Is this A day or B day?’ ”
Under the hybrid schedule, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays will be seven-period days. Wednesdays and Thursdays will be block-scheduled days, with a built-in seminar period used for assemblies, makeup tests and other instructional purposes. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but I love the picture the S&S decided to add to the article.
