Whole-body sterilizerCitizens use a whole-body sterilizer set up at a subway station in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 16, 2020, amid the coronavirus crisis. (Yonhap)
Here is some information to keep in mind when traveling on public transit in Seoul:
Seoul’s subway Line 2 is the most sexual crime-prone public area with 2,069 cases over the past five years. Among stations, Express Bus Terminal on Line 3 topped the list with 56 cases in the January-July period.
Rep. Han Sun-gyo of the main opposition Liberty Party of Korea revealed the figures on Sunday, citing National Police Agency data.
Subway Line 9 was the second most prone with 1,479 cases since 2015, followed by Line 1 (848 cases), Line 4 (756 cases), Line 3 (407 cases), Line 5 (288 cases), Line 6 (163 cases) and Line 8 (41 cases).
Noryangjin Station was the second most sexual crime-prone subway station (24 cases since July) after the Express Bus Terminal. Third was Yeouido (23 cases), followed by Sadang (21 cases), Seoul Station (20 cases), Gangnam (19 cases), Dongjak (18 cases) and Sindorim (17 cases).
Busan subway strikeSubway trains stand stationary at a railway depot in South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan on July 9. 2019. The city’s subway workers’ union announced that workers will go on strike, at 5 a.m. the following day, after its negotiations with management broke down. (Yonhap)
This initiative probably will help to make the restrooms cleanlier as long as people don’t throw the toilet paper on the ground instead:
Trash bins are set to vanish from public restrooms in Seoul subway stations in phases from Aug. 1, according to Seoul Metro Friday.
The men’s restroom trash bins will be removed first. The women’s bins will be removed from Sep. 1 to allow sanitary waste bins to be installed.
The project, “Trash bin free restroom,” aims to make public restrooms cleaner without the bad odor. It is already in effect on subway lines five to eight and will be extended to all Seoul subway lines except nine.
Seoul Metro is positive that after a trial the project will reduce odors and make the restrooms more welcoming. [Korea Times]
This whole incident is very unfortunate, but it seems what happened was caused by Mr. Han being drunk and harassing Mr. Davis in the first place thus influencing the jury’s decision to acquit him:
Naeem Davis, right, was acquitted of murder
A man accused of pushing a stranger to his death by shoving him on to the tracksof a subway has been acquitted of murder.
Naeem Davis, 34, was cleared on Monday of murdering Ki-Suck Han, 58, after he shoved him on to the tracks at the 49th Street station near Times Square in New York on December 3, 2012.
Mr Davis said he was defending himself when he pushed Mr Han off the platform. At least a minute passed before a train pulled into the platform and it Mr Han, killing him.
The scene was captured by a photographer for the New York Post, who controversially put a picture showing Mr Han on the tracks, seconds before his death, on its front page.
Mr Davis said that Mr Han, who was drunk at the time, had picked a fight with him after the pair bumped into each other accidentally near the subway turnstiles.
A court heard that Mr Han then followed Mr Davis down to the platform, shouting obscenities at him – including death threats – and grabbing his shoulder.
Mr Davis said Mr Han shouted at him, ’I’ll kill you!’, and that he was slurring his words and staggering. [Yahoo News]
You can read the rest at the link, but Mr. Davis spent four and half years in jail before being acquitted of the crime.
An Australian, whose identity is unknown, has been arrested for defacing a subway car, according to Suseo Police Station Sunday.
According to police, the man, 22, and his girlfriend arrived on Mar. 27, and stayed at a hotel near Hongik University.
The man broke into Gangnam Subway Depot and drew graffiti on a subway car on Apr. 1, after being told wrongly he could do this.
He left for Japan the next day, but was arrested on Sunday after stopping at Incheon International Airport for a flight back to Australia. [Korea Times]
Another death caused by the security doors in Seoul’s subway system:
The victim, circled, collapses after coming through an emergency door on the platform. He died in hospital. / Yonhap
A man was killed after being caught between subway safety doors and a train at Gimpo International Airport Station in western Seoul, Wednesday.
The passenger, surnamed Kim, 36, was on a train heading for Banghwa Station of line No. 5. As the train arrived at Gimpo station, he was getting off but got caught in the 30-centimeter gap between the train and the platform safety screen door.
As the subway engineer closed the train doors and screen doors to depart, a passenger reported through the intercom on the train that a man was caught between the two sets of doors, according to Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp.
The engineer re-opened the doors and closed them again 27 seconds later and started moving the train, apparently failing to check whether the man got out of the gap. [Korea Times]
