Covid-19 in Seoul (July-October 2021)

Studying abroad in a foreign country is challenging enough without a global pandemic underway. I have just participated in an ISEP panel, where many students asked me about life in Korea. I am living in one of the most strict countries with Covid-19 regulations. When I first arrived in Seoul, I had to wear a mask at all times and could not gather in groups of more than 4 at any time. After 6 pm, you can only be in groups of 2 people. This made eating dinner as a group or going to events very difficult. On the second day, with my three other roommates, we went to a chicken restaurant and were turned away because we were two groups of two (so four people), and that was against the rules. Since it was our second day outside of quarantine, we were quite flustered and just ordered food into the dorm, which is also not very easy because the deliveryman always calls us and we cannot translate what he is saying fast enough. Also, with only foreign credit cards, you can only use one delivery app; the technology system is not very foreign-friendly. You need a Korean phone number, a Korean ID, and a Korean visa card to do 99% of things in the country.

COVID measures also require you to leave your information at every place you visit. If you go eat, you must put your name down, if you go to a café, or a mall you must call in or leave your number in case there is a covid case in the vicinity then you will get a personalized alert. In my opinion, this is very effective in keeping track of cases. We have not had a case where we are in a building with a confirmed COVID case, and fingers crossed, we won't have to get tested if this does happen.

The final measure taken by the government is restricted hours of operation. When I arrived, all businesses (with the exception of convenience stores) had to close at 10 pm. No movies, bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, NOTHING was open to do after 10 pm. If you wanted to have fun, it was outside or inside your dorm during this time. It made our nights end early and sleep easily because we never needed to know when the day would end; it was just over once it hit 10 pm. There were still delivery options for food after 10 pm, and public transportation runs until about 12. The hours of businesses in November have now been extended to 12 am for clubs and bars, with no restrictions on other businesses. Now, many 24/hour shops are allowed to open and operate. Having almost a year of nothing open past 10 pm has hurt the economy greatly and basically destroyed nightlife except in the college areas. Even now, the city seems to die down at around 10 just from habit. If you go to a popular neighborhood (not where my university is) many bars are open and popular but also many tourist shops, and foreign attractions are closed. Travel is very limited during COVID; there are fewer flights and trains running across and into the country. I know I never saw the neighborhoods before COVID hit, but Myeongdong and Dongdaemun (very, very popular tourist areas) both have lines of streets that are all empty spaces for rent now. These spots were known as foreigner shopping areas, and space in Seoul is a hot commodity, so for these places to go empty is a shocking sight.

I wonder how the city and businesses will recover during this time and in the future. I hope that in the next few years, many new businesses can rise up and the economy and tourism will help bring back the busy streets that you think of in a city with a population of 10 million.