Ahahay! Two foreign couple were caught on CCTV running on the streets of Sinchon around 1am of July 7th. The foreign couple were in their birthday suit shocking the people they passed by. It seems that they were drunk. The police are investigating who they are and why they were running naked.
Sinchon is a popular place among young Korean. There are lots of restaurants and entertainment establishments in the area. There are a couple of universities nearby. Many foreign tourists stay in the area as there are a number of guesthouses.
So what could the foreigners be doing running naked in Seoul’s foreign friendly streets? Could it be that they were playing a game like truth or dare?
A few weeks ago, police were also in search of a “naked thief”. A naked man who was only wearing a black plastic bag on his head stole money from the cash drawer of a beauty salon. It happened on June 25th in Gunsan City. He was identified as a high school student and he claimed to be inspired by a scene he saw in an American crime show.
Koreans are exposed to public nudity from when they were young. There are bath houses or “mogyoktang” wherein people of the same sex bathe together without clothes. At health clubs and swimming pools, there are no private shower rooms. Everyone takes a shower in a common room. People running naked in the street? Not acceptable though.
When I first experienced the bathhouse, I was shocked to see women walking around casually without any clothes on. I had never seen a naked female in person before then. My mom doesn’t count. I lived in a dormitory when I was in high school in Manila and I had never seen any of the girls living in the dormitory fully naked. We had private shower stalls at the dorm and no one walked around without a bathrobe on. Being comfortably naked in the shower room of the bathhouse, health club and Caribbean Bay is something I had to get used to here in Korea.
Last year, a woman was caught after taking a video of naked women inside the shower room of Caribbean Bay. The almost 10-minute video was all over the internet. Unfortunately for the woman who took the video, she made the mistake of including a selfie shot in it.
