Crime in Korea

So… crime in Korea… wait what crime? I think it’s pretty safe to say that South Korea, in my experience (so far) has made me feel safer and more comfortable than even in my home town or where I went to university.

I’m pretty sure that whenever I go back to the western world, I’m going to suffer some reverse culture shock when it comes to crime and safety. In Korea no matter what time of day or night it is, I can freely go skipping in a park with my cell phone in hand, wallet out in the other hand, and I never feel threatened or concerned for my safety. I never feel like I’m going to run into a gang of Korean high school boys in hoodies who are all like: “what are you doing in this part of the park, this is my park”. In England, I have to think twice about going to the corner shop because there might be a gang stood outside it equipped with knuckle dusters and bikes for a quick escape. Honestly, I have never felt that way or ever seen anything like it while I’ve been in Korea. Even when Im alone at night and I see someone with a hood up walking towards me. There just isn’t that chav stigma attached to hoodies here.

In Korea a lot of shops even have their products outside of the store, including alcohol, and no one ever steals it. Skooters of fast food delivery guys leave their scooters by the road, still running with the keys in. People leave their cars running with the kids in if they have to do a quick errand in a bank or something. And guess what, no body takes it.

I’m not saying that there aren’t bad school kids or there aren’t gangs in Korea, because there are, they’re just not as prevalent or as public as they are in England. As I mentioned in my last blog, after kids finish school here, they’re expected to go to an after school, or a night school of some kind. They’re constantly in school, studying. So the bad kids in Korea are being bad by not studying, or by going to the park and secretly smoking with their friends. Before now I’ve stumbled upon such an example and they react as if: “omg we’ve been caught, run!” but then they realise I’m a foreigner and they carry on.

If you go out at 1 or 2 am in Korea you’ll see lots of couples in cafes snuggling up, or friends just having a chat, minding their own business, as should be. In England on a Friday or Saturday night, you don’t want to be on the street. Someone’s gonna stab you if you look at them funny, or some random drunkard will try and start a fight with you.

Tbh I do think that unfortunately things in Korea could change. My co-teacher and I were talking, today infact, and she was saying how much Korean kids have changed since she was in school. The things they do and don’t have the nerve to do. And with the west having a stronger and stronger influence in Korea these days, in another 10 years the streets might not be quite so safe…but still, I find it hard to imagine Korea ever being like an episode of Shameless.

In England, whenever you walk down the street you always have a certain element of cautiousness about you. You where is and isn’t safe to go at certain times and if you feel threatened by any particular obstacle, you always know an alternative route. Whenever you’re in public you make sure to keep your belongings close to you and don’t leave anything where someone could make a sly grab when you’re looking the other way. But I’ve completely lost that air of cautiousness while I’ve been here.

I’m pretty sure that this is a public advertisement for the Korean mafia to rob me, walking down the street with my phone in one hand wallet in the other. I sure wouldn’t be hard to find in a crowd here.