Fire at Yeonhyang-dong 유흥주점 this morning, and other local news.

A fire broke out this morning at one of those singing rooms in Suncheon's Yeonhyang-dong, burning for an hour and doing 43,000,000 won worth of damage. The owner and five customers escaped without injury. Along those lines comes news that Suncheon police booked 50 in a bust at a local massage parlor. In May, according to an article from the 26th, Suncheon police booked without detention the owner, six women, and 43 customers at an 안마 in Jangcheon-dong. In case you're curious, the article says that the women took in 160,000 won each "time," with 75,000 going to them and 85,000 going to the owner. If this happened where I think it happened, I'm not sure what stopped police from busting the whole goddamn street.

In other Suncheon news, a painting at Songgwangsa will be promoted from treasure to national treasure (difference explained here), and the body of a 61-year-old who drowned last January was pulled out of the water at Juam Dam yesterday. And, they broke ground on the new culture center, which will occupy the site of the old express bus terminal and army base, across from Suncheon National University. Here's what it will look like when it's done:



When I first wrote about this in December it was named "시민교육문화공간" and was to open in June 2010, but the latest article says the name has been changed to "순천문화건강센터," and the opening pushed back a year.