Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MA_TESOL]

What did you think of the music festival? I felt a bit uncomfortable with all the police there.

[Trip]

Korean police are the least threatening police for I've ever encountered. Standing in the side road next to Phillies, they asked us to move. We argued with them, didn't move (there was no traffic trying to get down that road), and they walked off. Give us a good reason using logic or force and we will comply. No logic? No force? Not going to listen.

[Alias77]

HBC Fest is nothing more than an opportunity for drunk foreigners to show that they're less courteous than stupid foreigners. The police are there because massive numbers of complaints have been registered. It's been printed in the news.

HBC is NOT a "bar district". It is a neighborhood. Half of those "bar" businesses are barely a year old and the residents in the buildings around them do NOT like them. No one wants to hear drunk people screaming at each other, fighting, or making public nuisances of themselves like a bunch of college freshmen until the sun comes up. Nor does anyone want to hear bar music riccocheting off of the buildings because the bar owners want to treat the street as part of their floorspace and leave their doors wide open. Some people, who are not teachers, work on the weekends and deserve the right to sleep at night. It's amazing how alcohol completely strips the ability to understand that noise penetrates the buildings of a sleeping neighborhood.

Just think about how you'd feel back home if a crowd of people were outside of your window laughing, shouting, etc at 2am, 3am, 4am. You'd be on the phone in a heartbeat, calling the cops to make a noise complaint because your rights are being violated. Maybe if you want to party, you should stick to Itaewon or Hongdae and think about the image you project as a guest in this country and not take advantage of a language situation where the police cannot effectively reason with you or relate public concern as a protector of the peace.

So, three cheers for the cops and I hope the greedy pseudo-bars figure out that each time they try this, more government pressure will result from public complaints and that even more cops will be on the street. With any luck, a western-style zoning regulation will be born out of this and put an end to it altogether.

PS: Korean cops, although very tolerant, can and do arrest foreigners. I've watched it happen in HBC several times. And, if you are charged with an offence, the police sometimes call employers. I've known people to lose their jobs and visas for this very reason.

[Trip]

Phillies, Orange Tree, VFW, and The Local are the bars in HBC, they have been there much more than a year. The locals in HBC generally like them as well as HBC Fest. Regular weekend nights can be just as loud. People know this before moving to the area and if they choose an apartment near the main drag, they knew they weren't getting a quiet place.

Regulating late night noise is about as effective as regulating 8am loud speaker trucks selling vegetables. It's ineffective.