One of the advantages of winter is that it's a great time for getting out and enjoying oneself. The first snowfall of the season is usually nice to look at, pleasant to walk around and fun for children to play in. Sledding, skiing, skating, having a snowball fight, making snow angels and building snowmen are among the most popular outdoor activities for kids during the winter. While icy roads and frigid temperatures can get people down, it's nice that there is fun to be had.
Recently, however, Korea's winter wonderland has become spoiled. A cafe in Daejeon had popular snow sculptures of the Disney characters Elsa and Olaf, from the animated film Frozen, out in front of its entrance but the former was decapitated by an anonymous individual in the middle of the night. The vandal approached the sculpture and swiped her head of before walking away.
Vandalism is nothing new. Young people have been defacing public and private properties in cities all over the world for years and in various forms. But this act doesn't appear to have been committed by an angst-ridden teenager but by an adult who should have known better. But, then again, if it's reasonably common to find broken soju bottles and discarded cigarette butts lying around on sidewalks and in parks then is this really all that much different?
Korea's vast online community has been discussing the incident. Some have been saying that this individual could be a violent person, with the possibility that they could also harm animals and people. Others disagree but there's no question that such an antisocial act puts a damper on an enjoyable winter that was helping cheer people up.
Vocabulary:
✓ frigid: very cold
✓ former: when listing two items, it is the first one (the second is the 'latter')
✓ decapitated: having a head removed
✓ anonymous: someone whose name is not known
✓ vandal: a person who commits an act of vandalism
✓ defacing: to spoil an object by writing or drawing on it
✓ angst-ridden: a young person who is usually depressed and bitter
✓ antisocial: an individual who does not wish to participate in society; someone who displays hostile behaviour
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