Kathreb

A few weeks ago my flatmate and I were arguing whether it was a good thing or not that GIs had discovered Hongdae since the curfew had been imposed. I argued in favour saying that *a few* GIs in Hongdae was not a bad thing, it added variety to the nightclub scene and promoted interaction between the Koreans and Americans. It gave young GIs a better chance to see Korean life and even Korean women who were not the regular prostitutes you see at Itaewon's notorious "hooker hill" and hopefully gave the Koreans a chance to see GIs out of uniform just having a good time like regular people the world over.

My flatmate argued that GIs are crass, rude and prone to get into fights and would serve no purpose other than to spread their well-deserved bad reputation to other parts of Seoul.

My flatmate was right; I was wrong. The emergence of signs around Hongdae refusing entry to GIs based on previous bad experience shows that in the one year since the curfew has been imposed the American serviceman has proved that they just cannot play nice with others and cannot mingle in their host city without causing a rucuss.

On another note. Time this week has a special feature about North Korea.

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