Traditional Seoul Village Hopes Curfew Brings Back Normal Life

01In South Korea's capital of Seoul, Bukcheon Hanok village's narrow winding alleyways date back hundreds of years to the Joseon dynasty.

02The area has become a popular place to visit, especially after appearing in a television show about ten years ago.

03Foreign visitors and Koreans visit the neighborhood to see houses with wood columns, courtyards, and tiled roofs.

04The area attracted about six million visitors last year, while the population of the area is around 6,100.

05However, increasing numbers of visitors have become a problem for people who live there.

06They complain about noise, trash, bad behavior, and invasion of privacy.

07Some visitors have been caught on camera trying to enter private homes or looking inside without permission, creating conflict with locals.

08Many local people have chosen to leave, leading to a 27.6% drop in the village's population over the past ten years.

09Village officials now want to set a curfew in the area.

10The curfew will limit visitors to certain areas of Bukcheon from 5 p.m.

11to 10 a.m.

12local time.

13It will start as a trial in November and will be officially launched next March.

14Violators could pay fines of up to $72.

15Chung Moon-hun is the head of Zhongno District.

16Chung said the goal is to protect the rights of local people.

17Chung said the curfew can be changed if necessary to make it more effective.

18The area where curfew hours and fines will be in effect is about 34,000 square meters.

19That is about the size of five soccer fields.

20Kwon Yong-du owns the private Asian Cultural Art Museum in Bukcheon Hanok Village.

21Kwon is concerned about the curfew policy aimed at preventing visitors from overrunning the area.

22Who would want to visit?

23Who would want to visit?

24asked Kwon, who moved into the historic area 18 years ago.

25They'll leave with a bad impression of South Korea.

26Others do not believe the policy will be effective.

27They note measures such as exemptions for visitors staying overnight in traditional houses called Hanok.

28Many of these Hanok are now owned by businesses after officials loosened restrictions on overnight stays.

29People come for just a day to enjoy themselves, and the noise from parties is extremely loud, said Kim Yun-mi, who lives next to a Hanok.

30Clearing trash in the front of her home has become a task she has to perform several times a day.

31It's often difficult to maintain a normal daily routine due to disturbances.

32She said people often make noise moving their suitcases around, even in the early hours, which wakes her up.

33Lee Dong-woo is head of the website Butler.ly, which is used to rent the Hanoks.

34Lee said the business grew when owners who found it difficult to modernize or maintain old houses turned them over to businesses.

35These requests are driving the expansion, not because we are actively evicting current residents to operate Hanok stays, Lee said.

36Lee oversees seventeen Hanok stays in Bukchon.

37Visitors are divided over the curfew.

38Some agree locals' quality of life is important.

39Others are unhappy at the idea of getting fined for simply walking down a public street.

40There are also questions about how the rules will be enforced, how to tell visitors from locals, how to make foreigners pay a fine, and how to deal with the language barrier.

41I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

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