Tag: Hongdae

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.

I guess this is better than the Hitler bars in South Korea:

Tucked away in the dazzling neon of Seoul’s Hongdae nightlife district, a small building bears an image of a North Korean-looking construction worker pointing to the slogan: “Look! It’s the Pyongyang Bar!”

There are no post, telephone or transport links between the two halves of the divided Korean peninsula, but Seoul’s only North Korean-themed pub aims to give its patrons a taste of their nuclear-armed neighbour.

Owner Jang Woo-kyung has never been north of the Demilitarized Zone — the two Koreas are technically still at war and Southerners need their government’s permission to visit — but the bar’s decor is inspired by imagery from across the border.

The premises are festooned with North Korean-style posters, the lime green walls reminiscent of the pastel shades seen on Pyongyang apartment blocks, and slogans painted around the pub are written in a white-on-red script similar to the North’s propaganda.

But rather than praise North Korean leaders, which might fall foul of the South’s National Security Act, the messages proclaim more prosaic goals: “Let’s provide the most cold beer!”

Others combine health regulations with allusions to the North’s uncompromising judicial system: “Execution by firing squad if caught smoking inside.”

– ‘Loyal to capitalism’ –

Even before the business opened, Jang was ordered by authorities to remove portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il — the grandfather and father of current leader Kim Jong Un — from the building’s exterior.

“I have no intention of dignifying or praising North Korea,” said Jang, whose business cards use the South’s English spelling for the North’s capital, Pyeongyang. “I’m just a man loyal to capitalism.”

AFP

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if the Korean National Police requested this or is something USFK has been pushing to do?  Regardless I am always uneasy with pushing personnel in uniform to patrol Korean neighborhoods, especially a college district.  It just helps to legitimize all the leftist propaganda in South Korea about USFK being an occupying force:

U.S. Forces Korea and Seoul police began joint patrols of the popular Hongdae neighborhood over the Halloween weekend and will continue them through the end of the year, officials said Wednesday.

Although Seoul police haven’t released reports of significant incidents involving USFK personnel recently, Hongdae has been the scene of multiple, high-profile arrests over the past decade.

The neighborhood includes a large college student population and several bars and clubs.

Most personnel in South Korea are law-abiding, but such patrols are an additional prevention measure against misconduct, USFK officials said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

Watch out English teachers because you may soon lose your monopoly on the girls at Hongdae if USFK Command Sergeant Major Barry Wheeler has his way:

U.S. Forces Korea’s top enlisted soldier said Wednesday that he will ask the command about allowing members of the U.S. military community to visit Seoul’s Hongdae neighborhood again.

Command Sgt. Maj. Barry Wheeler made the comments on an American Forces Network broadcast Wednesday morning after an anonymous soldier called the station expressing frustration that the popular party area remains off-limits at night to U.S. troops.

USFK commander Gen. B.B. Bell banned his personnel from entering the neighborhood between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. for “force protection” concerns in February after a U.S. soldier brutally raped a 67-year-old woman in the neighborhood on Jan. 14.

Pvt. Geronimo Ramirez later was sentenced to four years in prison by a South Korean court.

“I’m going to ask them to reconsider (the ban), because maybe enough time has gone by,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler cautioned that command may keep Hongdae off-limits anyway.

Which is probably what the command probably will do.  CSM Wheeler was probably just being diplomatic when faced with a tough question.  The biggest problem with Hongdae is that alcohol, GIs, Korean college students, xenophobia, and a hostile media do not mix well.  The Great Shinchon Massacre is the greatest example of this.