Day 32: A Critical Eye On Korea

My whole point with this blog has been to observe and experience as much as I can. I try to be as open-minded as possible and to avoid judgement. I often make comparisons, but that's only human nature, and I don't think it can be avoided (there is not hot if you don't know what cold is, or as the Koreans firmly believe, there is no ying without the yang.) I think a balance of views is important as well, so here is a list of things that I've noticed with Korea that are less than pleasant.

1) Pollution - Korea is a stunningly beautiful country, but, at times, the Koreans do not treat their landscapes very well. Pollution in the form of smoggy air, litter all over the place, piles of garbage in random places, and especially with polluted waterways has been very evident. Korea has experienced rapid industrial development in the last few decades, and I think that this has been the unfortunate side effect. Economic gains in exchange for Mother Nature's pains. The Han River, for example, is absolutely disgusting in places and you would never want to swim in it. And most creek or smaller river that I have seen has appeared to double as a garbage dump for locals. It's quite sad actually. I've also recently found out that Bukhansan National Park (where I was hiking just his past weekend) is about to become under threat by some new developments. A massive ring road freeway is currently under construction, being built to circumnavigate Metro Seoul. Unfortunately, a section of this ring road is slated to go right through the middle of Bukhansan. It will be terribly sad if this does in fact go through because it's such a beautiful park and it would be a shame to have its peace and solitute destroyed by this highway. Let's hope they decide to either move the highway to outside park boundaries, or tunnel through the park instead.

2) Political Instability - You may have already heard this, but just last week Korea's President was impeached by his own parliament. I'm not even certain of the details of this, or why it happened, but apparently this is a fairly common thing here? Political parties and leaders seem to come and go like the wind, and the media is constantly filled with stories of Scandal! and Corruption! with the Korean government. It has apparently been very frustrating for Koreans as, at times, the political future of their nation can be very uncertain, and national economic/social/political/environmental policies seem to come and go, depending on who happens to be in power at the moment. Here's hoping that the Koreans get the stability that they so strongly wish for in the near future.

3) Drivers! OMG are Korean drivers insane!!! haha! I remember reading in my Lonely Planet: Seoul book before coming over here that Korea is, in general, a very safe country, but that the greatest risk to a person was in crossing the street. I thought that the author was just being sarcastic, but it really is the truth! Korean drivers really are quite crazy, and I feel fairly confident in saying that local traffic rules and regulations are 'mere suggestions' rather than laws! Speed limits are rarely adhered to, nobody ever signals, people will drive into oncoming traffic to pass other drivers, they'll park just about anywhere they damn well feel like it, and 'pedestrian-only' zones are only a dream! I've seen vehicles driving in places that you just can't imagine - apparently some people prefer not to use the road here? They can't be blamed entirely though - Seoul has seen a massive population explosion in recent decades, and as a result the number of vehicles on the road has increased exponentially. They're building roads and bridges and highways at a frantic pace, but infrastructure development for the private automobile just can't keep up with growth. I guess this ginormous increase in traffic has caused the locals to use 'creative driving methods' to get from A to B. Either way, crossing the street can be very dangerous here as drivers will often go through red lights without skipping a beat, or drive right over pedestrian crosswalks if they don't feel like waiting. I've certainly learned to look both ways, several times, before crossing the street here. No day-dreaming while using the crosswalks here, that's for sure!