Seoul City, Criticized for Slow Response to Heavy Snow, Now on Emergency Snow Removal Duty (Comprehensive)

Snow Removal Raised to Level 2... Over 8,000 Personnel and 1,078 Equipment Deployed
Extended Operation of Increased Public Transit Frequency During Commute Hours on 12th-13th

On the 12th, when heavy snow fell mainly in Seoul, the metropolitan area, and the west coast, citizens were bustling on the streets of Sinchon, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Starting from the afternoon of the 12th, heavy snowfall hit Seoul and the metropolitan area, causing traffic congestion during the evening commute. In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government elevated its snow removal emergency operations to Level 2 and deployed personnel and equipment to carry out snow removal work.

Seoul announced that, with a forecast of 1 to 3 cm of snowfall in the metropolitan area that afternoon, it began Level 1 snow removal emergency operations from noon. When a heavy snow advisory was issued at 3:40 p.m., the city escalated the emergency operations to Level 2.

The city deployed over 8,000 personnel and 1,078 snow removal vehicles and equipment to spread de-icing agents across Seoul around 3 p.m. as the first round, and continued additional spreading. Around 3:33 p.m., disaster alert messages related to the snowfall were sent to citizens, and access to Bukaksan-gil was restricted starting from 4 p.m.

Additionally, anticipating traffic congestion due to the heavy snow and an increase in public transportation usage, the city decided to extend the peak operation hours for public transit during the evening commute and the following morning rush hour. Subway peak service hours were extended by two hours from the usual 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. until 10 p.m., and city buses on all routes extended minimum dispatch intervals until 8:30 p.m. The temporary nighttime bus service reductions due to COVID-19 were also lifted for the time being.

The heavy snow advisory currently applies to the southeastern districts of Songpa, Gangnam, Seocho, and Gangdong, as well as the southwestern districts of Gangseo, Gwanak, Yangcheon, Guro, Dongjak, Yeongdeungpo, and Geumcheon. A heavy snow advisory is issued when snowfall is expected to accumulate 5 cm or more within 24 hours.

Han Je-hyun, Director of Seoul’s Safety General Office, said, "Since the snow may continue through the evening commute, we urge citizens to refrain from using private cars and to use public transportation."

Earlier, Seoul faced heavy criticism for failing to conduct timely snow removal during the worst snowfall exceeding 13.7 cm between the evening of the 6th and the morning of the 7th. Numerous vehicle accidents and traffic congestion caused city buses to become immobilized, leaving many citizens stranded and inconvenienced in harsh weather conditions.

At that time, the Korea Meteorological Administration forecasted on the morning of the 5th that 1 to 5 cm of snow would fall in the metropolitan area from 6 p.m. on the 6th to early morning on the 7th. On the morning of the 6th at 11 a.m., it updated the forecast to 3 to 10 cm of snow and requested Seoul to prepare snow removal measures.

Seoul began preemptive spreading of de-icing agents around 5 p.m. on the 6th, and when snow started falling after 6 p.m., it escalated response levels around 7:20 p.m. and deployed snow removal vehicles. However, this was insufficient to cope with the heavy snowfall reaching up to 7 cm per hour. The sudden heavy snow caused severe traffic jams during the evening commute, effectively turning roads into parking lots, which prevented snow removal vehicles from moving and hindered proper snow removal operations, according to Seoul officials.

Following strong criticism of the city’s delayed response, Acting Mayor Seo Jeong-hyeop held an online briefing on the 8th and apologized deeply for the great inconvenience and concern caused to citizens. Seo stated, "Going forward, we will shift from reactive snow removal after snowfall to proactive measures before snow arrives and will review the entire disaster response system. We will introduce snow detection systems and snow removal systems that emit heat energy when temperatures drop in accident-prone and traffic-congested areas. We will also introduce small snow removal equipment to quickly apply de-icing agents such as calcium chloride to narrow streets and alleys where large equipment cannot access," he promised.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.