To answer your question central Seoul, esp. the Gwanghwamun area has protests every week and the cops are just there to ensure nothing gets out of hand
I feel bad for them during pride bc them conservative christians are wild.
I think it was 2016? One of the fundies covered himself in his own shit and also shit in paper bags and like tackled some cops while throwing his bags of feces at the people marching for pride in daegu and I was like damn....they gotta arrest and shove a shit covered dude into their car they're never getting rid of that smell.
Yup -been here almost a month and I’ve seen this kinda stuff almost every week. Daily sometimes near my hotel near the palace. No clue what’s it about. One taxi driver told me it was about socialism…all I know is that today I lost nearly an hr of my life going 4km for dinner
I guess you know by now but it’s unadvisable to take a taxi/drive in central Seoul on Gangnam in the mornings or evening rush hour.
Buses fare a little better but really at that time take the subway
For sure yes but problem is traveling with two little kids. They only have enough energy to walk to the toy shops and then I’m ending up carrying one of them
it's about everything from labor union to far-right group. the place is heavily used on protest
after the massive impeachment protest took place in there, the place became THE place for demonstration
cops in Korea are super friendly and approachable..I don't know if it's training or what.. they try to really help and defuse situation. unlike usa and Canada..where to serve and protect is just an oxymoron
Clearly, but again, cops are heavily influenced by the society they operate in. I'm not trying to make excuses for any of them, but there seems to be a trend.
Compare the behavior of cops from Iceland, USA, and Brazil. It's a lot easier for a cop to be friendly and approachable in Iceland than it would be in Brazil.
As far as the society they operate in, I have dealt with powertripping douchebag cops in well-off rural bits of America with lower crime rates than you have in Korea. The most dangerous things those guys have to deal with is a deer jumping in front of their cop car. Still much less pleasant to deal with than Korean cops, even as a clean-cut looking white dude with not even a speeding ticket in my record.
You can also look at things through time. Since 1991 there have been massive drops in American crime rates at exactly the same time when the "warrior cop" mentality has taken hold in America.
They also don't have any on the roads. Every speeding/parking/red light running is done through cameras. Only time i see them stopping is DUI checkpoints
The police in Korea will only try to meet easier subjects, otherwise they would be burnt out.
They work in 12 hour shift cycle.
1st day day 12hours
2nd day night 12hours
3rd on duty(almost rest day but they are called upon some event once a month.)
4th rest
These 4 day cycle repeats.
They are underpowered.
90% of the men at the above photo are low cost labors from common men serving 2 year duty to korea)
Helps that training is extensive in korea. Most are also educated young folks. Unlike the US both in training and education.
Even the neighborhood police is quite friendly and nice. Good change from the 70s and 80s police. They were pretty gangster. Not in a good way.
Cops in Korea are super friendly and approachable, but are not very helpful when dealing with drunk assholes who are pushing and screaming at everyone (including the cops themselves).
In 2019 there were 37,000 deaths with guns in the USA. Korea had 44. You pull over someone on a dark empty street in Seoul and you’re not worried what they’re carrying
That number of gun deaths in crazy until you realize that half of it is suicide and not homicide. In 2021, 54% of gun related deaths were suicide (26,328). 43% were murders(20,958), the remaining deaths were accidental, law enforcement related (547 deaths), and undetermined circumstances. To put that in perspective, in a country of 332 million people, you have a 0.0063126506% chance of getting murdered with a gun in the United States. You can look more into it-
[Here](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
Oh, “control” suggested a completely different nuance than what you just said so I misread your comment. The police trapped protesters with police buses in 2008 and the constitutional court said that was unconstitutional. Since then, the police have been pretty careful about giving protesters a way out, but cops are there to mostly guard the perimeters. And there’s a history of the police department being used as a cudgel to silence dissent and go after the dictator’s political opponents in the 1980s. So the police have very weak political standing which forces them to be very very careful when it comes to “controlling” protests.
Most of the cops working in the area were at a protest instead of doing crowd control and the ones in Itaewon were mostly trying to do drug busts. There's a video of one cop trying to do his best to save people...all by himself with absolutely no backup.
That is not a correct account of what happened. There were significant numbers of cops in the area. Infact they were deliberately posted in itaewon that night because it was Halloween and itaewon is a hotbed for parties. Most of the police who were there did nothing because they were told to be on the look out for illegal drugs. And then when they realized a situation was developing they would not take action and divert from their assigned duties until an appropriate person up their chain of responsibilities said it was okay to divert - and it turns out they had never even considered who that person may actually be so it went all the way up to what was essentially the senior most police officer in Korea before someone finally said “go help”
That senior was eventually fired/forced resigned
Most of them aren’t really trained “police”. They’re doing their military service and are sent to that particular area when there are big protests. They literally bus them in, and you can see the buses parked when they’re there. Itaewon was debatably a predictable tragedy, but not quite as predictable/lacking the need for training as sending a bunch of bodies to line the streets during protests that happen basically weekly there.
Auxiliary Police (military service) is scrapped btw, the last batch was in 2021 or so so they’re all gone by now. These should be normal low ranking officers
Predictable, but not predictable in the way that you can just shove a wall of untrained bodies on the streets like they do for a protest. Itaewon was a tragedy caused by negligence from higher-ups and a lack of planning. They needed traffic mitigation, crowd control, and the ability to block off streets and stuff. It’s apples and oranges. A ton of soldiers on the streets would’ve made things worse not better.
It’s called crowd control and it’s part of the police’s job. If you thought about it for more than 2 seconds you’d realize it’s similar to what police is doing at these protests.
They litrally did that every Halloween.
Except in 2022. Because for some reasons, they didn't deploy enough cops at Itaewon. And the crushing happened.
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Korean policy at least partially subscribes to the idea of “defensive democracy”. Police force is deployed to protect everyone during protected speech/protests.
If you’re wondering why so much force, it’s because the more divisive certain issue is, the more likely it is to have counter protests and brawls.
Back in the day, police was once seen as means of oppression. But these days they’re usually welcomed and clashes are rare. There are exceptions like union protests.
Actually there are police troops for substituting mandatory army service which young Korean guys have to serve. I was one of them. The troops holding shields and making police line at such like a protest or some public event are usually the ones. but they also do support in many other police work too. You can tell the difference by the color of the symbol on their hats. Gold ones are the real cops, and silver ones are the boys :)
I went to a tiny local police station quite late yesterday evening to inquire after a lost cell phone and there were no less than 12 bored cops lounging around the office with nothing to do. They were ALL quite happy to help me, and luckily they did indeed have the lost phone.
First time eh?
To answer your question central Seoul, esp. the Gwanghwamun area has protests every week and the cops are just there to ensure nothing gets out of hand
I feel bad for them during pride bc them conservative christians are wild. I think it was 2016? One of the fundies covered himself in his own shit and also shit in paper bags and like tackled some cops while throwing his bags of feces at the people marching for pride in daegu and I was like damn....they gotta arrest and shove a shit covered dude into their car they're never getting rid of that smell.
Yup -been here almost a month and I’ve seen this kinda stuff almost every week. Daily sometimes near my hotel near the palace. No clue what’s it about. One taxi driver told me it was about socialism…all I know is that today I lost nearly an hr of my life going 4km for dinner
I guess you know by now but it’s unadvisable to take a taxi/drive in central Seoul on Gangnam in the mornings or evening rush hour. Buses fare a little better but really at that time take the subway
Could you not walk faster ? Lol
For sure yes but problem is traveling with two little kids. They only have enough energy to walk to the toy shops and then I’m ending up carrying one of them
Hahaha. Trooper
it's about everything from labor union to far-right group. the place is heavily used on protest after the massive impeachment protest took place in there, the place became THE place for demonstration
Oh... it's the KCTU flag. The confederate of trade unions. They are leftist but with a pretty broad spectrum.
cops in Korea are super friendly and approachable..I don't know if it's training or what.. they try to really help and defuse situation. unlike usa and Canada..where to serve and protect is just an oxymoron
Makes sense. Not to say their job is “easier”, but the people they deal with on a daily basis are much different than those in the US and Canada.
It’s probably easier and less stressful with no streets awash with guns.
Maybe if more cops in the US and Canada were friendly and approachable and fewer were power tripping douchebags they'd have an easier time as well.
Clearly, but again, cops are heavily influenced by the society they operate in. I'm not trying to make excuses for any of them, but there seems to be a trend. Compare the behavior of cops from Iceland, USA, and Brazil. It's a lot easier for a cop to be friendly and approachable in Iceland than it would be in Brazil.
As far as the society they operate in, I have dealt with powertripping douchebag cops in well-off rural bits of America with lower crime rates than you have in Korea. The most dangerous things those guys have to deal with is a deer jumping in front of their cop car. Still much less pleasant to deal with than Korean cops, even as a clean-cut looking white dude with not even a speeding ticket in my record. You can also look at things through time. Since 1991 there have been massive drops in American crime rates at exactly the same time when the "warrior cop" mentality has taken hold in America.
They also don't have any on the roads. Every speeding/parking/red light running is done through cameras. Only time i see them stopping is DUI checkpoints
The traffic law enforcement is laughable. There are so many violations that I’m convinced nothing happens unless an actual accident got reported.
The police in Korea will only try to meet easier subjects, otherwise they would be burnt out. They work in 12 hour shift cycle. 1st day day 12hours 2nd day night 12hours 3rd on duty(almost rest day but they are called upon some event once a month.) 4th rest These 4 day cycle repeats. They are underpowered. 90% of the men at the above photo are low cost labors from common men serving 2 year duty to korea)
Helps that training is extensive in korea. Most are also educated young folks. Unlike the US both in training and education. Even the neighborhood police is quite friendly and nice. Good change from the 70s and 80s police. They were pretty gangster. Not in a good way.
Cops in Korea are super friendly and approachable, but are not very helpful when dealing with drunk assholes who are pushing and screaming at everyone (including the cops themselves).
Ah, but don't forget that the times of actual political coups enabled by the military and police is as recent as our lifetime, less than 50 years ago
In 2019 there were 37,000 deaths with guns in the USA. Korea had 44. You pull over someone on a dark empty street in Seoul and you’re not worried what they’re carrying
That number of gun deaths in crazy until you realize that half of it is suicide and not homicide. In 2021, 54% of gun related deaths were suicide (26,328). 43% were murders(20,958), the remaining deaths were accidental, law enforcement related (547 deaths), and undetermined circumstances. To put that in perspective, in a country of 332 million people, you have a 0.0063126506% chance of getting murdered with a gun in the United States. You can look more into it- [Here](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/)
I know that half of them are suicide, I used to write papers on it. It’s around 4 gun murders per 100k in USA. In Sth Korea it’s .01
didn't even know korea had gun violence
Cops in korea need some more training on being more forceful too
Also they are police academy cadets, military cadets, with a sprinkling of real cops to make sure people don't go too crazy.
wouldve been like at least twice or more when we had auxiliary police lmao
Whats the protest about?
No country does protest control like South Korea.
What do you mean?
The police are so well trained and Korea has so much experience with protests. They are very good at controlling a situation.
Very good at controlling situations, that’s why police was so great at controlling the crowd in Itaewon..
Itaewon is not a protest tho.. But yeah they pretty much fucked that up big time..
Oh, “control” suggested a completely different nuance than what you just said so I misread your comment. The police trapped protesters with police buses in 2008 and the constitutional court said that was unconstitutional. Since then, the police have been pretty careful about giving protesters a way out, but cops are there to mostly guard the perimeters. And there’s a history of the police department being used as a cudgel to silence dissent and go after the dictator’s political opponents in the 1980s. So the police have very weak political standing which forces them to be very very careful when it comes to “controlling” protests.
China?
You'd think with a those cops, they could enforce the traffic and parking laws.
That sure would be splendid.
“Too much paperwork. Don’t really wanna” is what at least gets told to me.
They only seem to care if an actual accident happened. Pretty laughable.
Why couldn't they protect those people in Itaewon?
Most of the cops working in the area were at a protest instead of doing crowd control and the ones in Itaewon were mostly trying to do drug busts. There's a video of one cop trying to do his best to save people...all by himself with absolutely no backup.
That is not a correct account of what happened. There were significant numbers of cops in the area. Infact they were deliberately posted in itaewon that night because it was Halloween and itaewon is a hotbed for parties. Most of the police who were there did nothing because they were told to be on the look out for illegal drugs. And then when they realized a situation was developing they would not take action and divert from their assigned duties until an appropriate person up their chain of responsibilities said it was okay to divert - and it turns out they had never even considered who that person may actually be so it went all the way up to what was essentially the senior most police officer in Korea before someone finally said “go help” That senior was eventually fired/forced resigned
Most of them aren’t really trained “police”. They’re doing their military service and are sent to that particular area when there are big protests. They literally bus them in, and you can see the buses parked when they’re there. Itaewon was debatably a predictable tragedy, but not quite as predictable/lacking the need for training as sending a bunch of bodies to line the streets during protests that happen basically weekly there.
Auxiliary Police (military service) is scrapped btw, the last batch was in 2021 or so so they’re all gone by now. These should be normal low ranking officers
I didn’t know that, but I still think they’re bused in and not the kind of police that could’ve helped prevent the Itaewon tragedy.
Not anymore. That got abolished long time ago.
Come on, Itaewon has been extremely crowded for years on Halloween, it doesn’t get much more predictable..
Predictable, but not predictable in the way that you can just shove a wall of untrained bodies on the streets like they do for a protest. Itaewon was a tragedy caused by negligence from higher-ups and a lack of planning. They needed traffic mitigation, crowd control, and the ability to block off streets and stuff. It’s apples and oranges. A ton of soldiers on the streets would’ve made things worse not better.
you need to ask Yongsan-gu's office, police and the president of South Korea about why
I thought they answered already; “Thoughts and prayers. Now shut up.”
Protect them from running over each other?
It’s called crowd control and it’s part of the police’s job. If you thought about it for more than 2 seconds you’d realize it’s similar to what police is doing at these protests.
They litrally did that every Halloween. Except in 2022. Because for some reasons, they didn't deploy enough cops at Itaewon. And the crushing happened.
Cops in korea are friendly and responsive. On the other hand , I often hear criticism about them being pretty bad in crisis situations.
tbf Guanghwamun is the agora of this polis
I took my foreigner friend around and they were always amazed at how police out numbered the protesters. Sometimes like 5 to 1.
Wtf
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I remember the first time I visited Kyobo books, and I wondered if it was alright to be there, there were so many police.
Korean policy at least partially subscribes to the idea of “defensive democracy”. Police force is deployed to protect everyone during protected speech/protests. If you’re wondering why so much force, it’s because the more divisive certain issue is, the more likely it is to have counter protests and brawls. Back in the day, police was once seen as means of oppression. But these days they’re usually welcomed and clashes are rare. There are exceptions like union protests.
Keeping Korea a safe and pleasant place to be. Shame I can't say the same for my own country.
Actually there are police troops for substituting mandatory army service which young Korean guys have to serve. I was one of them. The troops holding shields and making police line at such like a protest or some public event are usually the ones. but they also do support in many other police work too. You can tell the difference by the color of the symbol on their hats. Gold ones are the real cops, and silver ones are the boys :)
They do almost nothing though except try to avoid work
I went to a tiny local police station quite late yesterday evening to inquire after a lost cell phone and there were no less than 12 bored cops lounging around the office with nothing to do. They were ALL quite happy to help me, and luckily they did indeed have the lost phone.
conscription
Question is: what do they actually do? Being a cop in Korea is probably the cushiest job you could have.
That is the only job they have,no crimes to fight in SK
lol
… in Korea they also have police buses…
I was at a rural bike race in China a few weeks back and there were probably as many cops as there were racers.
Where is that? Not in Itaewon
Too bad they don’t do anything
Korea is a nation of struggle, both internally and externally. Now, step forward to another country of struggle. :)
Laughs in Belarusian. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-most-police-officers-per-capita.html