The pope is in Seoul, and it’s kind of a big deal. It’s the first time a pope has come to Asia in 15 years. Also, North Korea threw a bit of a tantrum at his arrival, launching some rockets into the ocean. I don’t know what they were hoping to accomplish with this action.
Seoul practically shut down at his arrival. There were police EVERYWHERE. Seriously, everywhere. Estimates put the police numbers at around 30,000. Estimates also put the number of attendees at the pope’s mass to be around a million people. An actual million people. So the streets and train stations within a 5 kilometer perimeter were all shut down.
There were also some protests when the pope arrived. These protests weren't against the pope, but were using his arrival as an opportunity to highlight the issues going on in Seoul. Two of these big issues are workers’ rights and wages, as well as the ferry tragedy, which took the lives of hundreds of people, mostly high school aged children.
Overall, it's been an interesting experience to see just how a city reacts when the pope comes to town. Also, pope shirts...
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