Beautiful picture of the snow falling in one of my favorite areas of Seoul.

Via Robert Koehler’s Photoblog.

 The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to raise public transportation fares by 150 won (US$0.13) next month to make up for rising deficits from transfer fee discounts and energy costs, officials said Wednesday.

The city government has come up with a proposal to raise bus and subway fares from 900 won to 1,150 won (traffic card fares for adult) next month, while freezing prices for students and children, officials said.  [Yonhap]

A popular stream running through downtown Seoul, which is visited by millions of people annually, has been severely polluted by bacteria, a report by the city government showed Tuesday.

According to the report, submitted to the Seoul council member Jang Hwan-jin of the Democratic Party, parts of the Cheonggyecheon stream contain as many as 53 times the legal limit of colon bacillus. The standard for the number of bacteria for a body of water suitable for swimming is 1,000 per 100 milliliters.

The study checked for water quality from January to September this year at three different locations along the stream, which stretches for 8.4 kilometers under more than a dozen bridges through Seoul.

The water under the Mojeon Bridge upstream had 7,201 bacteria per 100 milliliters, more than seven times the limit. But farther downstream toward the eastern end, water samples contained 53,303 bacteria.  [Korea Herald]

The last time I visited the Cheonggyecheon earlier this summer it didn’t look polluted to me though I did notice what appeared to be more litter around the stream than I had seen in prior years.  Well at least they haven’t blamed the pollution on USFK yet. 

Over at Robert Koehler’s Travelblog he has some beautiful photos posted of the sunrise over Seoul from Mt. Ansan that are definitely worth checking out.

South Korea will sell new multiple-ride transit passes from December to foreigners visiting the capital area for their convenience, the government announced on Wednesday.

The plan was part of a set of measures jointly announced by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to improve the nation‘s public transportation system through deregulation.

The transit pass, called “M (metropolitan)-Pass”, allows passengers of the mass transit system linking Seoul with adjacent cities to take a certain number of pre-purchased trips within a fixed period of time.

The pass would help save foreigners time and money, especially those making short-term trips, as it may offer varying discounts compared with trips that are purchased individually, officials said.

A one-day pass that allows 20 subway trips would be 10,000 won ($8.8), they said, adding that there will also be two-day, three-day and seven-day passes.

The passes currently are only for travel on subway lines and a railway linking Incheon International Airport to Seoul, but will later be expanded to include all regular buses in the capital area.

Discounts on admissions to royal palaces and other tourist destinations will also be given to foreigners with passes, they said.  [Korea Herald]

I can’t even remember the last time I ever used actual money to ride the subway in Seoul because of my subway card that makes using the mass transit system in Seoul extremely easy.

Via Robert Koehler’s Flickr page.

All That Beer rated best place to watch sports in Seoul.

As the Samsung Lions’ formidable closer Oh Seung-hwan slings curveballs toward Lotte Giants’ slugger Lee Dae-ho in the bottom of the ninth, many zealous baseball fans in Seoul find themselves glued to smartphone screens on the metro or watching the game on flat-screen TVs in their living rooms. But isn’t a game-winning change-up much more satisfying when there’s a shattered Busan fan to heckle?

Perhaps sports bars — and the obnoxious fans inherently associated with an NFL or EPL upbringing — are most often found in Western cities. But Seoul, the host of some of the world’s largest sports competitions, has evolved into a major athletics hub.  [CNN GO]

You can read the full list at the link but I haven’t heard of any of these places.  Has anyone tried out any of these places before?

A bronze statue of the nation’s first president, Syngman Rhee, was unveiled to the public in Jung District, central Seoul, by the Korea Freedom Federation yesterday. Present at the unveiling ceremony were KFF Chairman Park Chang-dal, National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae, former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo, and U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens.

Via the Joong Ang Ilbo.

You can read more about this photo at the link.

Parts of Mt. Umyeon in Seocho in Seoul are washed by torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday.   [Chosun Ilbo]