A fresh cold snap gripped the nation on Wednesday with the mercury dipping to -15.3 degrees Celsius. With the wind chill factor temperatures were being experienced as below -20 degrees Celsius.

The Seoul city government was inundated with calls from citizens reporting burst pipes, and subway passages, which are usually packed with the homeless at night, were sparsely populated. "When it was warm around 100 people slept here. But as it got cold there are now less than 20," said one person who has lived on the streets for a year and a half.

Facilities for the homeless were crowded with the homeless seeking to avoid the freezing cold.

People wrap up against the freezing cold on Wednesday, when the mercury fell to this winter's low of -15.3 degrees Celsius in Seoul.

As people stayed indoors, the number of crimes plunged. Seoul police said 607 crimes occurred on Jan. 4, when the city had a heavy snowfall and the temperature was -5.9 degrees Celsius. As the weather got even colder on the following days, the number of crimes continued to decrease to 330 on Jan. 5 (-9.9 degrees Celsius), 312 on Jan. 6 (-11.2 degrees Celsius), and 246 on Jan. 7 (-10.1 degrees Celsius). On Monday, with the mercury climbing a little to -5.2 degrees Celsius, the number rose to 455, but it fell again to 301 on Tuesday as temperatures plunged to -10.3 degrees Celsius.

"The fewer people on the streets, the less opportunities for fights and violent crime. And as people stay at home, there are fewer burglaries," said Lee Yoon-ho, a professor of police administration at Dongguk University.