Comments on: Chuseok: A lazy day picnic for Thanksgiving.

By: torgodevil

torgodevil — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:30:47 +0000

I knew someone that got paid in cash from his school, went to the bar with the money in his bag. Worked at the bar (second job) all night with about 2000 dollars sitting in his bag. Bag was left in the bar over night when he went home. He forgot about it. No one looked inside. The bag was returned to him unopened. Tell me that would happen at any bar in the United States and I’d be very surprised. Outright theft just doesn’t happen very often between Koreans. Most people assume everyone knows Tae Kwon Do and can kick your ass I guess.

Personal theft isn’t very common here at all. Muggings are probably more common in bigger cities, but other than random drunks, they don’t happen in much frequency that I hear about. Organized crime occurs, but no one has guns here, and that’s a very good thing. There also isn’t a significant drug problem here. Nearly all violence problems are alcohol related violence/domestic violence sorts of things.

Daejeon had a serial rapist a few years ago, but they eventually caught him. I’m sure that was a tense time, and people might have worried about personal safety, but it’s never been a concern of mine in Korea.

By: daeguowl

daeguowl — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:19:09 +0000

I would agree that Korea is very safe. Of course there is plenty of crime but my impression is that it is more fraud/conmen than violence. I would also say that random violence is quite rare.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:27:10 +0000

Your reflection is interesting. So, is there no personal theft in Korea at all? I’d find that hard to believe. I think you just live, or were picnicing, in a safe area. Although I’ve never been to Korea so this is just my wrong-headed American assumption. But, since it is an American assumption, by logical deduction, it must be correct >:0

I also find the level of pork consumption in Korea fascinating.