Charging your mobile phone in Korea

Is it really necessary to write a post about charging the mobile phone?

In my opinion - YES! Just because this is something that is so different from Germany.

Koreans use their smartphones, and they use them a lot! They use it for messaging (they get several messages within a minute, no kidding), calling, taking pictures (especially taking pictures of themselves), as mirrors (every strand of hair has to be perfect; this process can take a few minutes and will be repeated after five minutes), for gaming, etc... You hardly see a Korean without a smartphone in the hand. I bump into at least three people a day, who only look at their phone while walking. What's another consequence? They drop their phones! A LOT! I have seen soooooo many smartphones with broken displays (but still usable).... Seriously....  (ヘ。ヘ)

One of my Korean friends told me that her battery only lasts seven hours! Mine, in contrast, lasts normally about 1,5 days without calling people. So what do they do?

#option no. 1
They carry portable, external battery packs. Once your battery's low you can just link the smartphone to the battery pack and it starts recharging.

#option no. 2
Carry your charging cable with you. You will have a lot of possibilities to use it in Korea. There are several sockets in every coffee shop - just help yourself. You can also ask a waiter at a restaurant to charge your phone, while you eat. They will take it to the counter (where you have to pay after your meal; usually at the entrance of the restaurant) and charge it for you. I even saw a smartphone in my flight from Korea to Germany. Someone (probably Korean) plugged it into the socket at on of the washrooms and left the phone stuck in the hand paper dispenser (what's the correct English term for this??? @_@;;). Near the end of the flight there was an announcement that a phone was found in the washroom. I think that a German probably reported it, not knowing that this is a normal thing to do for Koreans ∩(︶▽︶)∩

#option no. 3
Using charging stations. The first time a saw this I didn't really know what it was. You can find this charging stations on the CNU campus in different buildings, e.g. Student Cafeteria 3 or W7...
One of my friends showed me how it works. I already forgot the exact process...
I think first you have to choose an empty box, type in four digits (like a pin code), e.g. the last four numbers of your phone number, connect your battery or the whole smartphone to one of the cables inside, close and come back after some time. The pictures tells me that it costs 500KRW (~0,34€).

Charging station for mobile phones