Choi Won-suk is a photojournalist at The Korea Times. Before joining the newspaper, he also worked as a photojournalist with AFP and St. Joseph News-Press in Missouri. He spent 13 years in the United States, graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism degree (Cum Laude) from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a Master of Arts in Photography from Ohio University - Athens. Over the past 11 years, Choi covered various news events such as presidential elections, the 2019 North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit and 2022 Qatar World Cup. But above all, Choi believes in local journalism and finds a lot of joy telling life stories of ordinary citizens in small neighborhoods.
Seoul tries flashy fix for its 'smartphone zombies'
A city in South Korea has installed flickering lights and laser beams at a road crossing to warn “smartphone zombies” to look up and drivers to slow down, in the hope of preventing accidents. Grace Lee reports.
South Korea has a 'smombie' epidemic.
That's short for 'smartphone zombie,' a word used for pedestrians glued to their phones in local media.
They say they're often seen bumping into people, poles or worse.
That's why the government has come up with this: a 'smombie' warning system.
It's a combination of an app, a laser beam and some flickering lights.
The beamed message says: "Wait! A car is coming."
Photo illustration of a person with smartphone in a hand after accident on a pedestrian crossing. Gettyimagesbank
By Choi Won-suk
SENIOR RESEARCHER AT KOREA INSTITUTE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, KIM JONG-HOON, SAYING:
"When the radar sensor and thermal imaging camera detects a vehicle and a pedestrian - it'll trigger the flashing lights on the road, and the smart phone app sends a warning message too."
The system was designed by government engineers and costs about $13,000 to install per crosswalk.
There's been headlines in South Korean media about the dangers of these so-called 'smombies', and how they might drive up the country's already high road death rate.
Data from South Korea's traffic accident records show that in 2017 more than 1,600 pedestrians were killed in auto-related accidents, making up about 40 percent of all traffic fatalities.
23-YEAR-OLD SOUTH KOREA'S PEDESTRIAN, KIM DAN-HEE, SAYING:
"This flickering light makes me feel safe as it makes me look around again, and I hope that we can have more of these in town."
The smombie warning system is currently installed at only one crosswalk in a suburb near Seoul.
But its makers they expect officials will take it nationwide in the future. (Reuters)