Tag: Seoul

Considering the high housing prices Koreans are facing in Seoul, preventing foreigners from buying investment properties may help a little, but probably not much:

The government is facing growing calls to curb the purchases of homes in Korea by foreign nationals, who could obtain mortgage loans from banks abroad and are subject to less stringent borrowing regulations than Koreans.

Some are even demanding restrictions as a reciprocal measure against countries where foreigners, including Koreans, are restricted from owning homes.

As of July 2023, foreigners accounted for 1.4 percent of total home purchases here. While this percentage may seem modest, it has been steadily increasing from 1 percent in 2021 to 1.2 percent in 2022. Also, fierce competition to buy homes in the crowded capital, where real estate prices have been escalating rapidly, has amplified the concerns of local residents regarding foreigners buying homes in Seoul under more favorable conditions.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest building that will grace Seoul’s skyline in the next few years:

A 100-story landmark building will be built in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, which will also feature a pedestrian bridge linking buildings at the 45th-floor level, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, Monday.

These are part of the city government’s revived plan to transform the 500,000-square-meter former railyard into an international business district.

The land has been vacant for 10 years after the previous development plan had been canceled due to the global economic crisis. The state-run railway operator KORAIL holds 70 percent ownership of the land.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like someone may have had some mental issues:

The Russian Embassy in Seoul’s Jongno Ward (Yonhap)

 An SUV rammed into a guard post in front of the Russian Embassy in central Seoul, seriously injuring a police officer on duty, officials said Monday.

The incident happened at 10:10 p.m. Sunday, and the officer was taken to a hospital with serious injuries to his neck and shoulders, officials said.

The driver was not under the influence of alcohol, officials said.

Police are looking into the exact cause of the crash.

Yonhap

Not all heroes wear shoes:

A 23-year-old South Korean man alerted his neighbors in an apartment fire in Seoul last week, helping all 95 residents to escape to safety, local media reported Monday.

On Thursday a fire broke out on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Banghwa-dong of Gangseo-gu, western Seoul, at 6:30 a.m., with no casualties except four minor cases of smoke inhalation. A report from local daily Dong-A Ilbo revealed that this was thanks to heroic efforts by a resident named Woo Il-yeong.

According to the report, the sixth-floor resident became aware of the fire while preparing for work, and went up to the 14th floor to find that smoke had filled the halls. After coming back downstairs to get a wet cloth, he went back up to find if anyone needed help.

Woo found an elderly person wondering around in the smoke on the 14th floor and led the person downstairs. He then ran up and down the stairs for 30 minutes to knocking on the doors and urge other residents to evacuate the building, before firefighters arrived on the scene.

After all 95 occupants had escaped to safety, he realized that he had lost his slippers. (…….)

Officials found that the fire started when a resident on the 14th floor was lighting a cigarette. It was also found that the building’s fire-resistant doors meant to prevent the spread of fire had been left open, allowing the blaze to spread across the entire floor within a short period.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The government is still indicting people over the Itaewon crowd crushing tragedy:

Prosecutors have indicted two police officers over the bungled response to the deadly 2022 crowd crush in the district of Itaewon, officials said Monday.

The indictment of the two officers who were overseeing patrol duties at a precinct station in Itaewon came a year and three months after the crowd crush on Oct. 29, 2022, which killed 159 people on a Halloween weekend in the district’s entertainment neighborhood.

The Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office has charged them with professional negligence resulting in death, accusing them of failing to properly respond to 11 emergency calls seeking police help in the last hours of the deadly accident.

One of them was also charged with entering a false record of visiting the accident site on that day into the police intranet, the officials said.

The two are the last government officials to be indicted in connection with the crowd crush, among the 23 that a special police investigation team referred to the prosecution in January 2023.

Last week, the prosecution indicted Kim Kwang-ho, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, on charges of professional negligence for the botched disaster response, making him the highest-ranking government official indicted in connection with the crowd crush. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.