Patrons buy train tickets on the first day of Metro subway service in Songtan, near Osan Air Base in Pyongtaek, South Korea, in January. Since then, base officials have begun weekend subway trips in which they take servicemembers on trips to key cities and points of cultural interest in the region. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Patrons buy train tickets on the first day of Metro subway service in Songtan, near Osan Air Base in Pyongtaek, South Korea, in January. Since then, base officials have begun weekend subway trips in which they take servicemembers on trips to key cities and points of cultural interest in the region. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
At Songtan Station, near Osan Air Base in Pyongtaek, South Korea, the Korean National Railroad’s No. 1. Metro subway pulls in Jan. 20, the day service began at the station. Osan airmen can travel from Songtan to Seoul for 1,600 won (about $1.60); the trip takes about 80 minutes. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Osan Air Base servicemembers who want to shop, dine and see the sights in the Seoul-Pyongtaek region now can learn to do it by subway under a new recreational program launched here.
The base’s Family Support Center began the weekend trips this month, only weeks after the Korean Railroad Corporation began its first Metro subway service into the Pyongtaek region. The service opened Jan. 20 and extends the Metro line subway service from Seoul south to Chonan City.
Among the line’s new stops are one at Songtan Station, just minutes from the Osan Air Base main gate, and Pyongtaek Station in downtown Pyongtaek, not far from the Army’s Camp Humphreys.
English-speaking South Korean staffers from the Family Support Center serve as guides for the subway trips, which take servicemembers to points of interest around the region. They include Suwon City; the Korean traditional folk village known as Minsokchon, in Yongin; and Seoul, South Korea’s teeming capital.
The trips are free and open to anyone from the base community, active-duty or civilian, said Kyo Rhoades, multicultural program manager at the center.
Those wanting to take one of the trips are asked to bring at least 30,000 Korean won (about $30) to cover transportation, meals and other incidentals, said Rhoades. They can sign up for the trip or get information about what trips are scheduled by calling the center at DSN 784-5440.
The trip between Songtan and Seoul, for example, takes 1 hour, 20 minutes and costs 1,600 won (about $1.60).
“Now we have subway, so we … try to show them how to use the subway system,” Rhoades said. “Even I’m Korean, and I get confus(ed), because, ‘Which way do I have to go?’ So we try to explain.”
The first trip, to Suwon City on March 5, a Saturday, drew 16 base community members, Rhoades said, with the group meeting at the base main gate at 9 a.m.
Once at the station, center staffers showed them how to buy a ticket, and how to insert the ticket into a machine that admits them to the subway system. They also were shown the large station map that shows not only the layout of the station but where they are in relation to key points around the station, including Osan’s main gate.
After the 20-minute subway ride to Suwon Station, the group got a look at Suwon’s many stores and restaurants. They were back on base by 5 p.m., Rhoades said.
The following Saturday, March 12, the center took a group of 15 to Minsokchon. They met at the base main gate at 8:15 a.m. and were back by 5 p.m.
Also scheduled for this month are two separate trips on March 26 — one to the shopping mall beneath the Kangnam Express Bus Terminal in Seoul, the other to Suwon’s historic Hwasong Fortress — and, on March 30, to Seoul’s Dongdaemun Market.
The center plans to conduct two to three subway trips monthly.
