Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
House fires have become far less common since most homes shifted from charcoal to hot
water as the primary
ondol
(under-floor heating) source, but check to make sure your resid-
ence is equipped with smoke detectors and an emergency call system, both fairly standard
in newer apartment blocks.
The Korean peninsula is blessedly free of earthquakes when compared to neighboring
Japan, but forest fires, typhoons, and flooding are almost annual occurrences. These are
rarely serious enough to present a real threat or even disrupt the normal flow of business
in places like Seoul, but it's best to keep an eye on weather conditions when planning any
trips or activities, particularly in the tumultuous summer months.
South Koreans adore children and dote on them almost obsessively; indeed, the gravest per-
il a foreign child will probably face is an excess of spoiling by strangers. While incidences
of kidnapping or abuse are certainly not unknown, they're generally less of a concern than
in most Western nations. However, extra care must be taken not to lose a child in the coun-
try's ubiquitous fast-moving crowds, and some parents may find that for all their affection
toward children, South Koreans seem to do little to protect them in some situations. Many
young ones frolic in the streets unsupervised well after dark; quite a few taxis lack seat
belts; and a lot of children's play areas look like they have seen better days.
The possibility of another all-out conflict with North Korea has loomed since the Korean
War ended in 1953 with no peace treaty and a very uneasy armistice. The bellicose rhetoric
seems to ebb and flow with every change of government in the South, or the North's need
to wheedle more aid out of the rest of the world. Unfortunately the last couple of years have
seen tensions spike, with the sinking of a South Korean submarine and North Korea's first
shelling of South Korean territory since the Korean War in 2010, and the death of former
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2011. Still, even these high-profile incidents have failed
to stoke wider conflict, or to prevent the millions of people living in Seoul, just a few dozen
miles south of the border, from going about their daily lives.
None of this is to discount the possibility of further conflict, but most analysts believe
the North knows any move to mobilize its dilapidated military forces would be its last, and
will remain content with issuing the odd dire threat. New arrivals soon discover the situ-
