Miscommunication in public transportation

By Robert Neff

For many expats living in Seoul, public transportation is a less-than-enjoyable part of daily life. The crowded buses and subways, the jostling and bumping and the mad dash for the rare empty seat are all made worse by the hot and sultry weather that Seoul has been experiencing over the last couple of weeks.

Thus, it is no surprise that tempers flare as evidenced by the rash of incidents on the subways between young and elderly commuters.

So, it is not surprising that the biggest story this past week on the blogs was an incident involving a young foreigner and an elderly Korean man on a bus in Seoul.

Apparently there was a misunderstanding in both Korean and English and things escalated to the point that some passengers on the bus feared for their lives. The video of the incident rapidly spread and was just as quickly picked up by not only expat blogs in Korea but overseas blogs as well.

The number of blogs covering this incident are just too numerous to mention but some of the key ones were The Marmot’s Hole, Scribblings of the Metropolitician, Roboseyo and Gust of Popular Feeling.

The violent episode incited a lot of anger, not only among the citizens of Seoul but the expatriate community as well. Expathell wrote about his own experience on the subway the day after the incident.

“This morning’s ride on Seoul’s illustrious Line 4 was notably more peaceful than usual. And when I say ‘peaceful’ what I really mean is ‘quiet.’ And when I say ‘quiet,’ what I really mean is ‘uncomfortably quiet.’ I experienced neither the pushing nor the shoving, nor even the elbows to the ribcage that I am accustomed to on my 6 a.m. commute to the gymnasium. In fact, the air was thick with tension. Passengers seemed wary and eyed me with the kind of suspicion usually reserved for convicted criminals.”

That is when he noticed that some of his fellow commuters were reading about the bus incident.

For the most part, the blogs were critical of the young foreigner for losing his temper with the elderly Korean man. The Korean ― a guest blogger on The Marmot’s Hole ― suggested that the young man “compose a letter of apology in Korean. Kneel before the old man, and read the letter out loud. Then bow,” as a way of diffusing the public uproar.

Fortunately, the two gentlemen have come to an agreement and appear to have apologized to one another ― both acknowledging some degree of fault.

Scribblings of the Metropolitician brought up an interesting observation ― one that bothers him a great deal ― the empty seat. According to him, regardless of how crowded the bus is and the number of people standing, the seat next to him is always empty. It is insulting to him that no one wants to sit next to him.

But not all expatriates in Korea have that problem ― some find themselves with unwanted seatmates.

Mchao, a young Japanese-American backpacker who traveled from Busan to Jeju on a ferry, titled one of his travel log postings as “Busan: Confusion, Conversion and Consternation” because of the inconvenience he felt from one of his fellow passengers. According to Mchao;

“I am sitting here on the ferry to Jeju with a smile on my face, which belies an inferno of annoyance in my belly. This is because I am stuck sitting next to an old man who has usurped my sleeping space and is currently trying to convert me to Christianity. He is digging through his bag for English language material, which I sincerely hope he does not find. And he will not let the awkward silence between us euthanize this conversation.”

Mchao continued to listen politely to the elderly Korean man for sometime but, in his own words, “finally, I just turned Korean and booted up my laptop and pretended to be absorbed in this blog. But he continued to flip through his notes. Luckily there was no useful English to be found and after an hour of really teeth on edge awkwardness, he decided to leave and find sleeping quarters somewhere else.”

Fortunately, the rest of Mchao’s visit to Korea went well and he seems to have taken back a favorable impression of the country.

Sometimes people sit next to foreigners because they want to be friendly, are curious or want to practice English. But that isn’t unique to Korea as evidenced by Marianne, a young Norwegian woman with a great interest and love for Korea. Her blog, Lifeofmari, describes not only her school life in Seoul but also her summer vacation spent back home. While on summer vacation in Norway she wrote:

“All of a sudden I saw a big black tourist bus with some Korean writing … all of my insides turned and I got so excited ― Korean tourists! Finally, I can get the chance to speak Korean again, or even just listen to people speaking Korean!”

Marianne and her friend quickly rushed to a popular tourist site where they thought the tourist would surely visit. The bus was there but the Korean tourists weren’t. Disappointed they began to walk back but as they passed a McDonalds, they discovered a group of Koreans sitting outside eating lunch and chatting in Korean.

Listening to them speak in Korean made her feel better but Marianne didn’t approach them because she “didn’t want to interrupt their lunch.” As an afterthought on her blog she added, “And, yes, I do realize that this probably makes me seem like a crazy stalker of some sort.”

Robert Neff is a Korea Times columnist. He is a historian specializing in the research of ancient Korean history. He can be reached at robertneff103@hotmail.com.