Half of Residents Feel Seoul Is Unsafe

More than half of Seoul residents feel the capital is an unsafe city, a straw poll suggests.

Advertisement

In the poll of 800 Seoul residents by the Seoul Institute published Thursday, 42.9 percent said the city is relatively unsafe, and 8.9 percent very unsafe.

Only 1.3 percent of the respondents said Seoul is very safe and 23.4 percent relatively safe. Women were more likely to think of Seoul as unsafe with 54.9 percent, compared to 48.5 percent of men.

The biggest groups who find Seoul unsafe are people in their 30s with 55.8 percent, white collar workers (55.9 percent) and housewives (56.6 percent).

The lower the income, the greater the sense of insecurity.

Respondents also said safety in the city has deteriorated in the last decade. Some 63.4 percent said Seoul has become more dangerous, while only 16.4 percent felt it has become safer.

Asked what the top priority of the city government should be, 32 percent called for more housing, 28.9 percent for reducing youth unemployment, 16.9 percent for better welfare for senior citizens, 11.6 percent for more childcare support and 10.6 percent for more support for the poor.