Category: Seoul

This is odd and hopefully Mayor Park Won-sun is found to be okay:

The mayor of South Korean capital Seoul has been reported missing and search operations are underway on Thursday, police said.

Police officers said they are looking for Mayor Park Won-sun at Seoul’s Sungbuk neighborhood where his mobile phone signal was last detected.

His daughter called police earlier Thursday and said her father has been unaccounted for, the police officers said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the matter.

Kim Ji-hyeong, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, confirmed that Park did not show up for work on Thursday because of unspecified reasons and canceled all his schedules, including a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to Yonhap his daughter called police after he “had left home four to five hours ago after leaving words like a will, with his phone currently off.” Totally bizarre and hopefully this doesn’t turn into a Roh Moo-hyun situation.

For some expats living in Seoul you may be getting a check from the City of Seoul soon:

Foreigners living in Seoul will receive a one-time Covid-19 relief payment, a city official confirmed Wednesday.  

During a plenary session Tuesday, the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed a supplementary budget bill that included plans to allocate 33 billion won ($27.4 million) for a program to dole out emergency funds to foreigners.  

But the city has been light on basic details, including the timing and payment amounts.  

Seoul’s decision to provide Covid-19 emergency payments to foreigners came less than a month after Korea’s human rights watchdog, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, issued a policy recommendation to the metropolitan government of Seoul and the provincial government of Gyeonggi not to discriminate against foreigners when providing Covid-19 relief. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

For people in the Seoul area, here is something to do in the coming weeks:

 The popular nighttime tours of royal palaces in South Korea will resume next week, months after their suspension due to novel coronavirus fears, the cultural heritage authority said Saturday.

The Gyeongbokgung Starlight Tour will start on Wednesday and go through June 8, while the Changdeokgung Moonlight Tour will open from Thursday until June 21, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA).

Tickets for the nocturnal programs are available for purchase at the e-commerce website Auction (ticket.auction.co.kr).

A special program named Gyeongbokgung Saenggwabang, which provides tourists a chance to experience a traditional tea ceremony and enjoy dessert, will start its one-month run on Wednesday.

Music concerts will be also held at the royal palace of Gyeongbok every weekend from May 30 to July 12.

At the same time, the changing of the royal guard ceremony at Gyeongbok Palace already restarted on Wednesday, the administration added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems just about anything that is not ventilated and cleaned could end up being closed:

In its latest effort to contain the new coronavirus, the Seoul city government on Friday ordered all coin-operated karaoke rooms in the city to suspend business ahead of the weekend.

Under the administrative order which has taken effect, 569 “coin noraebang” will be banned from hosting guests until further notice.

The city government said businesses and visitors that breach the order may face fines of up to 3 million won (US$2,420). It also plans to file compensation suits against them for treatment and quarantine costs.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The number people infected by the Itaewon cluster infection has grown to 153 people and it appears has spread to noraebang locations around Seoul:

Some recent infections linked to nightspots in the Seoul neighborhood of Itaewon were found to have spread through karaoke facilities, highlighting the need for added caution at entertainment facilities.

A city official said Friday that health authorities have identified a link between recent infections at the university district of Hongdae, western Seoul, and cases linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon.

“We believe that the five cases confirmed (in relation) to bars in Mapo Ward are linked to cases that were confirmed after visits to Itaewon clubs,” Na Baeg-ju, the city’s civil health bureau director, said in a press briefing.

Na explained that one of the Hongdae-related patients had visited a “noraebang,” a karaoke facility, in the southwestern Seoul ward of Gwanak, just three minutes apart from an Itaewon clubber.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears that the ROK Army Staff Sergeant largely blamed for the current cluster infection in Seoul may not have been the only one spreading the coronavirus in Itaewon:

Aggressive testing and contact tracing are back in full swing in South Korea, as new chains of coronavirus infections continue to pop up sequentially after an outbreak linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon, central Seoul. 

Health authorities added four new clubs and bars — MADE, Pink Elephant, The Fountain and Pistil — to the list of locations where mass transmissions are believed to have occurred. That raises the number of establishments in Seoul’s popular nightlife spot under the scrutiny of quarantine officials to nine, with the previous five being King Club, Trunk Club, Club Queen, Soho and H.I.M. The mass transmissions are thought to have occurred April 24 through May 6. 

The scaled-up investigation comes as authorities say the nightclub cluster probably has multiple epicenters. Cases have been detected with no apparent correlation to the cluster’s first identified patient or anyone in that chain of contacts. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but I don’t see how bars and nightclubs are going to be able to reopen any time soon considering how wide this cluster infection has grown.

Like I said before when the Korea Times was insinuating that foreign English teachers were spreading COVID-19, that I was willing bet there was Korean teachers in these clubs as well. Sure enough there was and unlike the foreign teachers at least this educator was actually spreading the virus to his students:

Municipal authorities of Incheon, west of Seoul, said Wednesday they are planning to file a criminal complaint against a private academy instructor for lying about his occupation after his recent visit to a club in Seoul’s Itaewon district, which has resulted in a cluster of coronavirus infections involving himself and eight others, including his students.

The instructor, identified only as a 25-year-old man, tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday after visiting King Club, one of Itaewon’s entertainment spots that are emerging as a hotbed of the coronavirus, on the night of May 2.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems like these Korean style bars have the potential to be the next cluster infection site:

Clubs in the district of Gangnam were also shut down following the administrative order.

“We held an emergency meeting after Seoul city made the announcement, closed doors and put up signs informing our customers,” a club in Gangnam said. “We are worried since we do not know how long we have to keep the doors closed.”

Bars labeled as general restaurants in Gangnam, however, were still crowded with customers, raising concerns over further coronavirus infections.

Young customers formed long lines to get seats at indoor “pochas” — Korean-style bars — near Gangnam Station. Tables were placed closely together in clusters and the restaurant was filled with customers.

“We were supposed to go to a club, but it was closed so we came to this place,” said a man, who was at a pocha in Gangnam with his friends. “I heard a few people were confirmed with the virus in Itaewon, but I’m not worried since it was not in Gangnam.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty amazing how many people that one person infected with the coronavirus was able to spread through clubs in Itaewon:

 Coronavirus cases linked to clubs and bars in Seoul’s multicultural district of Itaewon have jumped to 54, an official said Sunday, as South Korea struggles to stop the cluster infection from spreading further.

The hike deepened fears that Itaewon-related infections could get out of control and lead to a nationwide transmission after the country had successfully brought the virus outbreak under control with zero local infections reported on many days in recent weeks.

The Itaewon infections began when a 29-year-old man tested positive on May 6 after visiting five clubs, including King Club, Trunk Club and Club Queen, between the night of May 1 and wee hours of May 2. More than 1,500 people were believed to have visited those clubs and bars on that night.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.