Seoul City to Repair Multilingual Tourist Information Signs with Typographical Errors by End of August

A Total of 643 Error Reports Filed Through Foreign Field Inspection Team and Citizen Campaign in May
559 Errors Confirmed After Review by Seoul Foreign Language Advisory Committee
Emergency Repairs to Be Completed by End of August

[Asia Economy, reporter Lim Cheolyoung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on June 28 that it will carry out emergency repairs on 559 multilingual tourist information signs determined to have typographical errors, following inspections conducted by a team of 30 foreign field inspectors and a citizen campaign. The repairs are scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

From May 17, Seoul City accepted reports of errors in multilingual tourist information signs for about a month, utilizing a team of 30 foreign field inspectors and a citizen campaign. As a result, 643 error reports were received. After review by the Seoul Foreign Language Advisory Committee, 559 cases were ultimately confirmed as typographical errors.

One of the most notable cases confirmed as a typographical error by the Seoul Foreign Language Advisory Committee involved the English translation of 'Seoul Jungbu Police Station,' which was incorrectly written as 'Seoul Regional Labor Administration.' The police station was mistakenly labeled as a regional labor office; the correct term should be 'Jungbu Police Station.' Another example is 'Tapgol Park,' which was written as 'Tapgolgongwon.' The correct term is 'Tapgol Park,' as using the romanized Korean word 'gongwon' instead of 'park' fails to convey the meaning of a park.

The 'foreign field inspection team' consisted of 10 people each from English-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and Japanese-speaking backgrounds, totaling 30 members. From June 1 to June 15, they conducted intensive inspections at 10 major tourist attractions in Seoul, including Hongdae, Cheonggyecheon, and N Seoul Tower. Through this process, a total of 475 typographical errors were reported (168 in English, 169 in Chinese, and 138 in Japanese), of which 421 were determined to be actual errors.

The 'citizen campaign for reporting erroneous signs' was introduced this year to encourage public interest and participation, resulting in 168 reports (44 in English, 28 in Chinese, and 96 in Japanese). Seoul City determined that 138 of these were errors, and will provide a 10,000-won Seoul Sarang gift certificate for each of the first 100 accepted reports. The list of selected participants can be found on the Seoul Metropolitan Government website (by category: Information?Culture?News) on June 28.

Seoul City plans to complete emergency repairs on all signs confirmed to have foreign language errors by the end of August, ensuring that foreign tourists can travel around Seoul without inconvenience. In addition, if further errors are reported through platforms such as the Seoul Smart Inconvenience Reporting app, the city will continue to make corrections as needed.

Joo Yongtae, Director of Tourism and Sports at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "Multilingual tourist information signs are as important as a first impression for foreign visitors to Seoul, so we conduct regular inspections to ensure there are no typographical errors." He added, "We will do our best, starting with the smallest details, to make Seoul the most attractive tourist city that foreign visitors want to visit first in the post-COVID-19 era."

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