General News
Seoul Ignores Special Needs for Visually-Impaired to Get Around
By Kwon Mee-yoo, Staff Reporter
The sidewalk along Namdaemun Street was revamped in February as part of the city's Design Seoul Street campaign.
But Seoul City is under fire for changes it has made that are inconveniencing the sight-impaired.
Guide blocks in place to help them are black in color - though the color complements the new landscape, it makes it difficult for those with poor eyesight to see them.The blocks were yellow before.
The Design Seoul Street campaign is an effort by the city to make its streets more beautiful and people-friendly by improving the pedestrian environment.
The current law designates the color of guiding blocks to be yellow, allowing other colors only when yellow would blend in with nearby objects.
Some district offices changed the color of their guiding blocks from yellow to black, ignoring the needs of the visually-impaired.
A Jung-gu District Office said, "The yellow bricks were not good for the appearance of the streets. I heard that other countries do not use yellow blocks, except for Japan."
Lee Seung-chul, a researcher of the Korea Blind Union, pointed out that specifications in the relevant law intended to help those with weak eyesight were removed when it was revised in 2006.
"There is a trend of removing Braille guiding bricks during maintenance projects for aesthetic reasons. However, it is a dangerous idea to ignore this special need," Lee said.
The city said that all 13 Design Seoul streets were completed.
A city official said, "The new sidewalks are wider than the previous ones and streetlights and trash cans are integrated to minimize obstacles in walking, making the special pavement blocks unnecessary for the eyesight-impaired."
Additional Information
Country: Republic of Korea
Website: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/11/113_54889.html
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Source: Mail from: MORI Soya
When: 09/11/2009
