Another huge advantage to the cultural norms in Korea is that no one deliberately breaks anything. No one nicks stuff which is made available as a service to the general population. This means that the subways can be made attractive.
Here is a particularly lovely practice which we saw in many places:
We don't know exactly what this was about. Either it was a new tree, and the ribbon was added by the person who put the tree in the subway in the first place, or maybe a member of the public liked the tree and added the ribbon as a vote of thanks. Over time, the ribbon or rosette will become grubby and be removed. For the time being it draws attention to the tree and everyone who passes it will take note and gives silent thanks for it, as I did.
In a myriad of places there are artworks or murals decorating the walls. Many of them portray historical scenes. Some are more modern. Whatever, they make the subway a pleasant place to be.
The above three photographs are not the norm in all the subways. It is the norm for this subway. Different subways have different themes. This subway is into art. The first picture is some sort of exhibition in a completely different place from the latter two pictures. The latter two are an exhibition of child art, possibly from a school or an art academy. There are no special people policing the area to ensure that no one damages or steals the art. All subways are staffed with a few people who wander around the stations ensuring that everything is running smoothly. There is one of them sitting on one of the chairs provided in the first picture. These staff do not carry batons or weapons of any kind. There is no need to do so.
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