Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Qinella]

I was sitting in Seoul Station's waiting area tonight and finally came to the conclusion that the scraggly looking guys taking up all the chairs are probably homeless. Every time I go to Seoul, I see mass of these guys just hanging out in the terminal, taking up seats that people who bought tickets should be able to sit in. Today I observed one of them hocking up loogies and just spitting right there on the floor. That's nasty. I'm amazed that the management doesn't run them off.

[visitor q]

You've been in Korea how long and you don't know that Seoul Station is nosukja central?

Sad.

[Qinella]

[visitor q]

Fair enough. Seoul Station is bum central - any Korean in Seoul will tell you, and make jokes, about this. Didn't realise that you didn't live in Seoul - sorry for the mishap.

[itaewonguy]

[caniff]

It's okay, misinterpretation is a common British thing. As to why, theories abound...

[bulgogiboy]

Ah! You're talking about homeless people?? Darn, I thought this was a thread about buttocks.

[mindmetoo]

My GF went into the washroom near the Jackie Chan place at COEX. She came out ASAP. There was some dust up between a female COEX security guard and a homeless woman. I guess the homeless woman objected to the security guard not use polite verb forms...

[kangnam mafioso]

[/quote]
I don't mean to be disdainful of them, but when they're spitting on the floor, it seems like the management would do something about it. [/quote]

don't all korean males spit in public places? why just pick on the homeless?

[schwa]

Rectifying situations like that is easier said than done -- homeless people have rights too. Its a dilemma in major cities the world over. This from the Korea Times about a year ago:

Seoul City Plans to Force Homeless to Enter Shelter
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter

Seoul City plans to force homeless people living in public places to enter shelters run by the city and charity foundations in an effort to minimize problems with the general public.

During a meeting of high-ranking city officials, Vice Mayor Won Sei-hoon instructed his staff to prepare measures to address the problem as many taxpayers claim they have had unpleasant experiences or been inconvenienced by homeless people staying in public facilities such as Seoul Station, central Seoul.

Although the human rights and individual choice of those homeless people as to whether to stay in a shelter or not should be considered, ordinary citizens who have paid taxes to build public facilities also need to be protected and able to use those facilities conveniently and comfortably,'' the vice mayor said.

Seoul City plans to hold public hearings to discuss solutions to this matter among various participants which include citizens, homeless people and city officials while studying similar cases in foreign countries.

The city government said it will lay the legal groundwork for the new regulation with the help of the Seoul Development Institute, a city-run research center.

The move came after a rampage by some 100 homeless people following the death of two homeless men at Seoul Station over the weekend. They destroyed chairs, benches and other furniture at the station's waiting room, claiming that the victims were killed by station security guards.

A homeless man in his early 40s was found dead in the restroom on the second floor of Seoul Station at around 12:50 p.m. on Saturday. Another middle-aged man died after he suddenly fell near the same place at around 5:50 p.m. on the same day before a medical team arrived.

The protest caused inconveniences to passengers at the station.

According to statistics by the Korea Support Center for the Homeless, the number of people sleeping on the street stood at 713 yesterday, which was up from 672 on Dec. 24, 2004.



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01-24-2005 16:40

[Qinella]

[Hollywoodaction]

Just be careful.

Remember the American soldier that was stabbed in Ittaewon by a homeless man? The murderer claimed he had been insulted by the soldier because he was Korean. People ate it up but I've always been suspicious of the story because of a previous incident involving a Korean and foreigners that was heavily covered in the local press.

Many years ago, long before I came to Korea, a Korean-Japanese was convicted in Japan of stabbing to death a couple of Japanese thugs that he claimed had insulted him for being Korean. Despite the fact that he was a known thief and had a large gambling debt with his victims, he became an instant hero in Korea. Many Koreans wanted to believe that he had been defending himself and Korea's honor when he killed the Japanese thugs. Some saw him as a symbol of the 'plight' of Korean residents of Japan.

Upon is return to Korea, after having served his sentence, he was given a hero's welcome . People threw money and gifts at him left and right. I believe the Korean government even gave him an appartment in Pusan. Ironically, the Korean media suddenly lost interest in him a few months later when he was arrested for doing robberies.

[denverdeath]

I only observed one really disturbing incident at Seoul Station. I was with my wife waiting for an early morning train to Boo-sahn when one of the homeless guys started fighting some so-ju demons(or something). He was yelling...loud. He started running around and jumping on the benches. Then, he started shaking and then overturning the benches...a couple actually had people sitting on them. The whole time, he continued yelling, cursing, and screaming. No one did anything until one of the flung benches came close to clocking someone. That guy half-heartedly told the offender to sit down and be quiet. The most disturbing part of it all was that it took security at least five minutes to get there and escort the guy out. Although no one was hurt, there definitely was the potential for disaster. And, spitting inside is gross...the cleaning people should make anyone who does that sort of thing lick the spit up off the floor.

[Hollywoodaction]

[Captain Corea]

I work by this station everyday, and everyday it seems like there are more.

It's sad, and scary.

I try never to mess with people who have nothing to lose.