Seoul is without doubt increasing its sophistication with astonishing speed. Yet there are a few points that just do not make sense to the expat enjoying life in this city.
For example, why do the police not ticket the delivery men on motorcycles who rush around causing such chaos, and in many cases kill or cripple small children? it would not be hard to raise the bar and protect us all. Almost every time a man on a motorcycle approaches me on a sidewalk I say to him “This is not the road!” (길이 아닙니다!). And in almost every case he responds “Sorry.” Why? Because he knows what he is doing is wrong.
All we need is for police to start ticketing seriously and this threat to everyone will rapidly disappear–and Korea will shine.
What is fascinating is that the bar is being raised by Seoul local government, Seoul Metro and many other public facilities, but for some reason we just do not manage to do so for those awful delivery men. We have safety doors on the subway platform for a level of safety you will not find many places in the world, but out on the sidewalk, watch out!
And then there is the issue of trashcans.
Korean facilities are increasingly sophisticated and increasingly public architecture and landscaping is improving. At the same time, Seoul parks and streets are littered with trash. Cigarette butts, bottles, wrappers from ice cream bars, beer cans and cardboard. The problem is two-fold. First, Seoul simply does not have any trash cans. People are willing to put up with trash on the ground rather than insisting on trashcans. Planners do not make trashcans a priority.
The decision is a serious mistake.
At the same time, I see extremely educated Koreans simply throw garbage on the ground while walking. Many Korean kids grow up thinking that is just naturalto toss wrappers on the ground. The trend is most disturbing. Sometimes I think the cause may lie with a misinterpretation of “democratization.” Koreans were so happy to escape from the repressive environment of Korea under the strongman Park Chong Hee that being able to just do anything was mistaken for political freedom. President Park may have had many flaws, but when it came to green zones in urban spaces and strict rules for citizens, he was right on the money.
By the way, smaller cities like Gyeongju and Jinju (and many other towns) are as clean, or cleaner, than Japan, so the problem is in part a Seoul problem.
Finally, I want to note that so many food products, bread, kimbap, rice cakes, everything are being wrapped up. More than was true even three years ago.
I almost never see a Korean say he or she does not need a plastic bag when offered one. And very few Koreans bring a cloth bag with them when they shop. Let us hope we see progress on this front going forward.
