Well, I’m feeling happier already!
Seoul will kick off the “Happy Seoul for Foreigners” project to make the city a better place for foreign residents, officials said yesterday.
“Several surveys have shown that foreigners’ level of satisfaction with their lives in Korea has steadily risen over the past years,” said a city official.
“We will now focus on providing more detailed, customized service and support, reflecting the different needs of various foreigners’ groups.”
[...]
In order to respond to the general complaints of all foreigners, the Global Cluster Building will be constructed in Jongno-gu from next month by June 2012, said officials.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
This is not so much about making Seoul better for foreigners as it is how Seoul City takes care of everyone. Case in point:
We have had a run-down playground out behind our apartment that became a magnet for middle-school gangs that would smoke, drink, burn fires, drag sofas into the playground make noise and sleep out at night. The place was terrible and the police did nothing about it (as if you didn’t know). It was so bad that none of us could keep a window open at night during the summer.
As a result, over thirty of my neighbors got together and had a meeting with a Gwanak-gu official about this problem, which had been going on for more than three years and was getting worse each year. My neighbors were very upset and yelled at the Gwanak-gu people too. The result of the meeting was that Gwanak-gu would put in a kindergarten-size playset that the middle-school punks could not sit and sleep on and take out all the benches.
Today, I look out side and see that the planning and blueprints that were drawn up and the promises made to me and my neighbors have been ignored. They are putting in *exactly* what we did not want — a two-story large playset that has even more room for people to eat, sleep, drink, smoke, have sex, you name it. Our problem is going to get worse now since the city has made the space even better for the punks that have harassed my neighbors. I don’t think the police will change their low-key style of dealing with problems.
The moral of this story is only until city government acts in a professional and consistent manner in answering the needs of ALL the people, only then will Seoul get better. As it is out here, this is what we get when we have a middle-school gang camping out in the neighborhood playground — either no action or the wrong response.
I drive or walk past the Yeouido International Financial Center construction site nearly every day and believe me, there won’t be any Foreign Business Center or much else going in there either next year or in 2013.
Considering that project was mostly put together by AIG, you can imagine how construction has progressed over the past couple years.
Why do Korean governments, which ever level, come up with some stupid English phrase, that just makes them look like the yokels they are ? Who makes these phrases up ? It’s like the English ad for “have a happy period”. Is some Korean-American responsible for these ? Maybe a local with the language skills of a 4 year old ? Seoul just seems to have these really stupid ads trying to promote itself. They have never been successful. Korea is not on the tourist map, except for Japanese matrons who shop til they drop, and the gushy teenagers, who just love Korean movie stars. They might make sense to a Korean, but to the intended target, they just look stupid.
Happy Seoul ? they have absolutely no idea of what a foreigner wants. Perhaps if you fired 3/4 of the police force ( who do basically nothing ), you could have Happy Seoul. If you cleaned up Happy Seoul, so it doesn’t look like a grimy pit, you could have Happy Seoul. Perhaps if you got the Happy Seoulites to stop gobbing up loogies, you could have a Happy Seoul. When a friend visited Happy Seoul, he had a flash-back to 1970 Poland. Row after row of nondescript apartments with a number on them. Just like an East Bloc city. Perhaps if you got the bus & taxi drivers to obey traffic laws, you’d have a Happy Seoul, but I forgot you just got rid of 3/4 of the police department, but wait … that doesn’t matter, cause they never did anything about it anyway. Happy Seoul – what a joke!
Brett not Happy?
I agree with everything you say. Starting one massive project after another project under crappy slogans, constantly digging up and not closing so that most neighbhourhoods look like half-finished construction sites is not the way to go. We don’t need Pak Junghee style “Let’s build our way into prosperity” anymore yet that’s what we are stuck with for the moment, until there emerges a decent enough personality in the Korean politics.
sigh
I think the problem with Seoul is that it has no soul…
I love parts of that city–and detest many more. I have had both the best and worst experiences of my life there. I long to go back and as soon as I’m there I regret having spent the time and money.
Korea does that to all of us. To paraphrase a tired saw about someone else, you can tell a Korean, but you can’t tell ‘em much…
Meanwhile, I’m saving up for my next visit to the in-laws and looking forward to being a tourist again… I’m sorry that there are gangs in Brett’s neighborhood; but we even have ‘em in Texas…
@3:
Wuhahah! You have discovered our evil global network of KA copywriters and copy editors who have infiltrated the Motherland™ at every level to make the Land of the Morning Yawn look like the can’t-speak-English-worth-a-dime nation that it is.
From our English-language headlines found in every Korean daily packed with smutty double entenderes that only fratboys who’ve seen Porkies and Animal House a dozen times could fully appreciate, to unappetizing and nausea inducing copy for consumer products, to maudlinesque letters ghostwritten for absent CEOs of local conglomerates to foreign shareholders, KA’s are responsible for it all! (As well as a few of our Jew™ friends who control us night and day.)
Heck, we’re even responsible for a few tear-inducing apologies by government officials for alleged acts past, present and future; as well as doing the final markup and putting a few ad lib touches on the various OPLANs in circulation for Korean War II, NK regime change and the various contingencies related to the occupation of Pyongyang.
Yes, we KAs are a varied and diverse bunch of clever mofos. Most of all, we seem to know how to have a good time at the expense of the natives.
If the purpose of Korea was to pander to your personal tastes, likes and dislikes, you’d be totally right! Now, let’s assume that you are right and that Seoul has no idea about what a foreigner wants. Does that make it any less of a place, or does Brett just have a bad attitude? I have a solution for you: Four years in the infantry. ‘Nuff said.
You seem to be totally unfamiliar with Korea’s recent history. Perhaps you think that just b/c there are a bunch of shiny and sexy skyskrapers on Teheran Road, that all of Korea should look that way? Not in your dreams baby. (You should’ve visited Seoul 20 years ago — you would’ve thought you were in East Berlin.)
What do you care? (Unless you’re riding a bike everywhere like one of those cliptie-wearing missionaries who look like they should be managing a A&P or Safeway store ca. 1963.)
Anyway, assuming you AREN’T riding your bike everywhere, just turn up the volume on that ipod and mind your own f#@%ing business like the rest of us do on any given day in Seoul, and, trust me, voila — you’ll have no problems!
And if that doesn’t work, just up the dosage on that Prozac™ baby. (You sound like you could use some mo’.)
@4:
Oh you younger generation people! Don’t you know that Pak was exactly what Korea needed not only at the time, but now, and that his imprimatur on Seoul today is mostly nostalgic? The way things are being run in Korea today are but a mere shadow of that past, tacky slogans notwithstanding, which is why the older generation waxes nostalgic for Park, especially in the face of a Korea that is imploding from within, especially with an epidemic suicide rate, divorce rate, abortion rate, etc.
At least, Park Chung-hee knew how to run things, choose capable men and pursue what he honestly thought was in Korea’s best interest. The past several administrations, on the other hand, are so weak, corrupt and ineffectual that it just brings tears to my seoul.
If you compared Park’s military dictatorship and totalitarian rule that was still pro-US and staunchly anti-North, with today’s oligarchy of corrupt chaebol and weak government officials whose agenda of pacifying the North at all costs under the guise of promoting peace and economic development is a contributing cause to Korea’s high suicide rate, divorce rate, and other social ills that were unimaginable 40 years ago, I think you’ll find a lot of older generation Koreans who believe they had it better off under Park. (Younger generation don’t know shit b/c they weren’t even around then.)
@5:
Obviously, you are from the “Me so HORNY. Me love you long time” generation. So, let’s see, the last time you were in Korea was when, 1968 Dongducheon? Well, you’re in for a big surprise. Not only have they cleaned up the villes, the girls have all been replaced by Russians and filipinas…you know, lowest bidder stuff. So, you better change your maxim to, “You can tell a Russian, but you can’t tell ‘em much.”
We don’t need hardware, we need software. LMB is all about software.
At least the previous two had soul, though to a lot of righ wingers and Americans you’d think they were the devil incarnate.
LMB is all about the hardware.
righ->right
“Why do Korean governments, which ever level, come up with some stupid English phrase, that just makes them look like the yokels they are ?”
–Brett M.
What you are describing is not a Korean phenomenon; it’s a human phenomenon, which can be found everywhere and through time. Instead of getting annoyed by the mutilation of your language by non-native speakers, learn to enjoy the strange and often hilariously unexpected forms such mutilation may produce. Incidentally, I find that some of the funniest butchery requires native speakers to do complex grammatical gymnastics to enjoy in the first place. And I think pidgin is beautiful.
“The moral of this story is only until city government acts in a professional and consistent manner in answering the needs of ALL the people, only then will Seoul get better.”
–R.Elgin
I’m sorry to hear that your local elected officials are non-responsive to your valid concerns. Unfortunately, the only way to get local officials to take notice of your plight is to punish them through elections. But, of course, that is not always so simple to do. The most difficult part is to get someone sympatheitc to your concerns to run for office. Or maybe you could get Brendon Carr, with his enormous taxable wealth, to bribe your local officials to do something about the gangs. Of course, then, that would mean that you would be beholden to him…
“At least, Park Chung-hee knew how to run things, choose capable men and pursue what he honestly thought was in Korea’s best interest.”
– 8675309
The older generation may feel nostalgic–and I do feel that Park Chung Hee is the greatest leader in Korean history–but, in today’s ROK, the younger generations are better off without him. And I think you would agree.
“At least the previous two had soul”
–yuna
I do agree that KDJ and RMH are and have been subject to partisan hack jobs. But everyone gets their share. Even LMB. In fact, you have, above, with the featheriest of touches, dismissively slighted the current president, who I think is doing a marvelous job, over all, and who has a sweet “soul.” If you can’t find it, I suggest digging deeper through his concrete and steel exterior. There, you will find a man making a giant heart with his arms over his head.
s2
=^-^=
i don’t think the kee-jee-beh understands the connection btween pak chong hee and her jet set lifestyle funded by daddy’s dime. perhaps she should stick to her lattes and showing off her bmw.
i lived in korea in the early 70s. she should feel lucky that she didn’t.
pak chong hee is one of the greatest men of the 20th century.
Don’t you think you should show a little more respect for 박근혜 ?
I suspect Brendon has far more pressing needs to attend to than such.
I guess this is just the slow, grinding process of all of the people in the neighborhood yelling and raising hell to change things, however this problem with kids running amok in the neighborhood has been growing steadily over the last four to five years. Last year I saw a group of fourteen or so middle school boys wearing colors, meaning this was definitely a gang though maybe they think of it as a club. They left one of these shirts spread out on the ground in the playground one time as a calling card too, demonstrating that they own that place.
The end result is that my neighbors are afraid of these kids coming back and setting fires in their garages if they complain too much. If this gets any worse, I may have to consider moving or simply deal with these punks myself and that *would* bring the police out since they would have to deal with me — the foreigner — after they have failed the people they supposedly protect.
Building installations to help foreigners is a fine idea and Seoul City does help many foreigners with learning Korean and in other ways, however, on the whole, I truly believe that this issue can best be dealt with by providing good services and governance to ALL of Seoul and not just the foreign population.
“The result of the meeting was that Gwanak-gu would put in a kindergarten-size playset that the middle-school punks could not sit and sleep on and take out all the benches.”
–R.Elgin
I have to tell you that your strategy gave me a good chuckle this afternoon. You gave me an even bigger laugh when you wrote about how the city decided to act on your request. Who came up with your idea? And I wonder why the city acted as they did. Clearly, the city went out of its way to buy the set. They just happened to choose a solution, which aggravated the situation. Maybe they sincerely did try to satisfy your concerns–and the bureaucrat who actually made the purchase just didn’t get the right memo.
It seems that this park is very close to a residential area. One of the more interesting anti-loitering strategies I have read about is the use of piped classical music. I don’t know how successful this strategy really is or whether it would be a viable solution in your situation, but the adoption of this strategy by some neighborhoods did make the world news this mid-decade. Maybe you can organize a neighborhood fund, which would allow you to install such a system in your park.
Not sure I want to be woken at 3 or 4am by Beethoven’s 9th.
Wry graffiti ought to put a smile on your puss.
Google images for banksy.
As an update, my neighbors have told me that Gwanak-gu will not just put in a video camera in the aforementioned playground but will connect this to the local police, who can threaten any punks there through a speaker system.
That is an important improvement but I will wait to see if it will actually work. These punks have become very brazen and I don’t know how the police handle monitoring video feeds.
Hopefully, no clever punk will leave a graffiti message for the police saying: neoga mo bo nya.
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