Women-only subway cars will be reintroduced in Seoul next year as part of the local transportation authority's efforts to crack down on sexual harassment of female passengers, officials said Wednesday.
The Seoul Metro and the Seoul Metropolitan Transit Corp., which operate eight subway lines in the Seoul metropolitan area, said they will designate the cars in 2008 on all of their lines.
"Seoul's subway system first introduced the women-only cars in 1992, but the system was immediately suspended after undergoing some operational problems," an official at the Seoul Metro said.
"This time, two cars of each subway train on all the lines will be designated exclusively for women. There might be some side effects, but the advantages of the cars in terms of crime prevention will surpass the disadvantages. We will work to reduce the negative effects," said the official.
He said the subway operators aim to maximize the convenience of female passengers by providing some amenities in their exclusive cars.
Last week, the National Assembly's construction and transportation committee asked the Seoul metropolitan government to consider the reintroduction of women-only cars, saying that incidents of sexual harassment account for nearly half all subway crimes here.
"The Seoul government has to take all possible measures to help protect women passengers in the subway," said Rep. Lee Jae-chang of the main opposition Grand National Party.