Here is video of what the record rainfall in South Korea looked like this week:
Record rainfall pounded most of the Seoul metropolitan region on Monday and Tuesday leaving nine people dead and seven others missing. The downpour flooded and destroyed roads and subway stations, triggered landslides, clogged underground water drainage systems, and forced the evacuations of people living in low-lying areas.
It was the highest amount of rainfall per hour witnessed in the capital region in 80 years, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the country’s central weather monitoring organization. Seoul’s Dongjak District was bombarded with the heaviest downpour in the city with 422 millimeters falling on Monday alone.
Korea Times
Another example of Seoul slowly getting back to normal:
Sexual minorities in South Korea held an annual festival in downtown Seoul on Saturday after a pandemic-driven two-year hiatus, with Christian and other conservative groups opposing the high-profile event.
The 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival took place at Seoul Plaza, bringing together members of the LGBTQ community — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons — as well as their supporters and human rights activists.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This is pretty gross:
Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Tuesday it will open an investigation into the shocking discovery of a dead tree frog in a lunch dish provided to students at a high school in the capital the previous day.
Korea Times
The incident occurred at the unnamed high school in western Seoul, where students were appalled to find a tree frog carcass in radish kimchi, a popular Korean fermented side dish, served with their lunch Monday.
The school sent a letter of apology to all students and their parents, saying the contaminated kimchi was discovered after being delivered by a supplier to the school as a finished product. The school said it discarded all the radish kimchi products stored in the school cafeteria and terminated its contract with the food supplier.
You can read more at the link.
This is another example of how workers got used to something and don’t want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic:
Unionized workers of Seoul Metro are strongly protesting against the city government’s plan to resume late-night subway operations, a measure proposed to tackle the worsening nighttime taxi shortage in the capital.
Yonhap
The union that represents workers of a part of Seoul’s subway system which runs lines 1 to 8, held a rally in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Government office, Tuesday, demanding the local government withdraw its plan to extend operating hours.
“Late-night operations were suspended not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but also due to worsening operating losses, which nearly pushed the operator into bankruptcy. It is difficult to understand why the government has abruptly announced resumption of late-night operations, without any measures to resolve these issues,” the union said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the metropolitan government said it will extend subway operating hours on weekdays until 1 a.m., thereby increasing operations by one hour from the current midnight closing time, starting at some point in June.
You can read more at the link.
As predicted it seems like less and less of Yongsan Garrison will become a park:
The incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government is planning to convert part of a U.S. Forces Korea base adjacent to the new presidential office in Yongsan into a cultural space reminiscent of a “Little LA” and open it to the public in September, officials said Sunday.
Korea Times
The 500,000-square-meter space is just outside the defense ministry headquarters, which is being converted into the new presidential office.
The USFK plans to return the land to the South Korean government at the end of this month as part of its ongoing relocation to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.
“We plan to let the people see it in its exotic state as much as possible,” an official involved in the project told Yonhap News Agency, noting the area features various religious, educational and sports facilities used by the USFK.
More facilities could be added, such as cafes and exhibition or concert halls, to evoke a sense of “America Town” or “Little LA.”
You can read more at the link, but I guess using this portion of Yongsan to create this “Little LA” area is better than just putting up more apartment buildings. Any predictions on how much of the old Yongsan Garrison actually becomes a city park?
I have to wonder why any long rifle hunting is allowed on Mt. Bukhan considering it sits adjacent to Seoul and is packed with hikers and visitors every day. Maybe this incident will cause a change to bow hunting where you really need to focus on what you are aiming at:
A 70-something hunter in Seoul came under investigation by police for allegedly mistaking a taxi driver on a mountain roadside for a wild boar and killing the driver with a rifle, officials said Saturday.
Police sought a formal arrest warrant for the suspect on charges of involuntary manslaughter, after the hunter allegedly fired three shots at the taxi driver, also in his 70s, who was urinating on the road near Mt. Bukhan in northern Seoul at around 8 p.m. Friday.
The driver was taken to a nearby hospital but died early Saturday. The hunter reportedly said he mistook the driver for a wild boar.
According to police, the suspect was a registered hunter with a license issued by Seoul’s Eunpyeong Ward. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
