USA TODAY International Edition
Mass shootings unfathomable in South Korea
Strict gun laws allow low-key security
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – While the United States is grappling with another school shooting, thousands of Americans at the Winter Games are getting a firsthand look at a country with tough gun control laws and an extremely low violent crime rate.
Security at the games has been lowkey, without the heavily armed presence of previous Olympics.
“It’s really strange because it seems like the security is almost non-existent,” said Dana Feehan, 41, a Denver resident attending the Winter Games. “I would have expected heavy artillery at an event like this.”
The lack of a highly visible security presence reflects the low levels of violent crimes, officials said. There were 356 homicides in South Korea in 2016, a nation of 51 million, according to South Korea’s National Police Agency. By contrast there were 762 murders that year in Chicago alone.
Guns for hunting or target practice must be registered and kept at a local police station. Even biathletes couldn’t bring their rifles to their rooms and had to place them in a guarded warehouse, unlike previous Olympics.
“Korea is a very safe country,” said Sung Baik You, a spokesman for the Pyeongchang organizing committee. “In the capital city of Seoul, you can walk around at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and still be safe. I know that’s not the case in many big metropolitan cities around the world.”
Mina Lee, a 20-year-old student, said a tragedy such as the Florida shooting wouldn’t likely happen in South Korea. “Students in our country don’t have guns,” she said. “There are violent people and bullies in school,
but they can’t shoot everyone.”
South Korea, which has fewer guns per capita than any developed nation, has about 510,000 registered guns compared to about 300 million in the U.S.
Multiple-victim shootings in South Korea are extremely rare, though the country has the ignominious distinction of being the site of the third-deadliest mass shooting in world history, though it was more than 35 years ago. In 1982, a South Korean policeman went on a drunken shooting spree, leaving 56 dead before killing himself.
Most police don’t carry sidearms, and few citizens can legally possess guns. The U.S. State Department notes in its travel advisory for Americans that crimes involving guns are uncommon because of the stringent gun laws.
“I haven’t seen any guns or anything,” said Faye Stokley, a 76-year-old spectator from Houston, Texas.
The lack of a visible armed presence shouldn’t be confused with lax security, organizers say. South Korea’s 625,000person active-duty military is well trained and equipped.
Visitors said they feel safer without the heavy presence of security forces.
Odd Sverre Ostlie, a 40-year-old Norwegian, said he attended the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, four years ago, where the security presence was pronounced.
“We don’t call that security,” he said. “We call it the armed forces.”