It’s all about APEC now in Busan. Riot police has manned downtown Seomyeon. Every third person I passed today while walking was a police officer. A Korean newspaper today said that they plan to increase the security from 7,000 to 22,000 police officers. A rumor has it that Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi is staying at Lotte Hotel. But I doubt the leaders would be that stupid to announce where they will be staying, particularly Koizumi, with all the anti-Japan sentiment here. Nonetheless, the hotel has police tape all around it, and Lotte Department store, which is adjacent, has installed metal detectors.
Our hogwon, which is downtown Seomyeon will be closed on Friday, Day One of the big meeting. Apparently, everything will be closed on Friday including subways and bus routes. Big protests are expected both Friday and Saturday, so the city is shutting down everything. Yet my hogwon is open on Saturday because as my boss said, the parents won’t be happy.