Peace, quiet and safety

I hope everyone enjoyed the peace and quiet yesterday. I certainly did. I was getting a little tired of the noise - and sight - pollution.


Not everyone agrees, I guess:

As I entered a subway station on my way to work yesterday morning, I witnessed the local elections being treated with contempt. As I stepped down the stairways, I saw hundreds of candidate name cards had been thrown on the floor. Campaigners started giving these cards to voters at the station early in the morning, but apparently no one bothered to look at them. The voters don’t care to think about the elections. Inside the station and on the platform, it was easy to spot “election materials” receiving disdainful treatment. It was a scene I’m sure was repeated across the nation, and it simply depicts a pitiful portrait of the June 2 local elections.

Uh, do you think that 'contempt' was because those people had already received the same cards eleven times over the past few weeks? This article doesn't exactly make it clear what the hours were supposed to be for broadcasting speeches and jingles from trucks and vans:

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), candidates running for mayors, provincial governors, district chiefs and city or province council members can use only one speaker. They can make speeches from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with car speakers and from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. with portable speakers. "For recorded songs or speeches, we reduced the hours to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. starting in 2010 to mitigate inconveniences," an NEC official said.

I'm surprised to see the DP did so well. It's nice to see LMB get a bit of a kick in the pants (I've never been a fan).

Moving from speakers to CCTV, I'm sure everyone's seen these posters telling citizens that if they're worried about crime happening to kids on the way to school, they should tell them which streets have CCTV cameras installed. [Correction made]

Seoul is good!

I guess the CCTV cameras will help police identify killers and kidnappers... after their victims are already dead or missing.

Speaking of safety, has anyone else noticed police in subway stations lately?


I've never noticed police at local stations before, but now I see them every day. I wonder if their presence is related to this:

Oh found out Kim was a spy in June 2007, but continued to supply her with information including contact information for officials working at Seoul Metro’s main command and control center and at the control center for subway line No. 1, which cuts through the heart of the Korean capital. Oh also allowed Kim to access reports filed by late-shift workers. Authorities here feared that such information could be used to plan terrorist attacks on the Seoul subway.

On a more light-hearted note, I took this photo in Express Bus Terminal's Line 9 station:


How exactly did they get two cars down into the station?

Oh, and it seems 'The Housemaid' is no longer being shown with English subtitles. And in mentioning that, I can segue into this article about Seo Woo.