![]() ![]() ![]() It also brought media attention to the poverty issue and the divide between the have and have-nots here.Īlong with “banjiha” semi-basement homes, Guryong Village has somehow become a symbol of the Korean wealth divide, a place where real-life aspects of the dystopian Korean shows can be found. The Oscar-winning film “Parasite” did not just put Korean cinema in global spotlight. The dark tale of Netflix sensation “Squid Game,” for example, has 456 desperate Koreans putting their lives on the line for a chance to win a fortune in a criticism of inequality and brutal competition in today's Korea. The newfound interest in the Gangnam shantytown comes amid a global craze over Korean TV dramas and films which often share an element of social critique, depicting Korea as a society with a deepening economic polarization, injustices and other issues. The Seoul Housing & Communities Corp., the developer, offered public rental homes for the would-be evictees, but villagers rejected it, demanding they each be given a unit of the new apartment complexes that would be built there - each likely to be worth millions of dollars.Ī three-bedroom unit at Raemian Blestige, the apartment complex located just across the road from Guryong Village, was last traded at 3.1 billion won ($2.2 million) late last year. Last June, the city government approved a city-run housing developer’s plan to build 2,838 new homes there, some 1,107 of which will be allotted to low-income households. Now, about 600 people are still living there, with 454 households having been relocated as of last year.Īfter Gangnam property prices exploded, Guryong has drawn much attention as one of the last remaining plots of land for new home construction.īut any plan to develop Guryong has proved tough, due mainly to disputes over compensation for land owners and villagers. The residents of Guryong are mostly squatters who were evicted from illegal homes in the Gangnam area before a massive building boom turned the area into Seoul’s equivalent of Beverly Hills.Īt its peak, the village, which occupies some 320,000 square meters of land, had over 1,100 households. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |