Redevelopment — Blessing or Curse?
Guryong Residents, Gangnam Office, Seoul City Split Over Rezoning Plan
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Against the backdrop of Tower Palace and other luxury residence complexes in affluent southern Seoul, tiny, shoddy shacks unevenly built with boards, vinyl and cloth stand side-by-side.
These unregistered houses don't have addresses and mail doesn't reach them. The residents pay their water and electric bills together and share toilets.
Located at the foot of Mt. Daemo in Gaepo-dong, Guryong Village is one of the largest unlicensed shack clusters. Currently, some 1,300 households are in the village of about 491,000 square meters, according to the local district office.
The village was created around 1988 when the government removed illegal houses under redevelopment projects ahead of the Seoul Olympic Games. The people who lost their houses were driven into the village and built their shacks on private land owned by others.
The fate of the village residents has been thrown into uncertainty after an unidentified owner of about 40 percent of the land in the village recently filed for redevelopment. The Gangnam District Office announced the plan to let private construction firms redevelop the area with apartment complexes, a school and a park in May, the first solid development plan to emerge after years of endless rumors.
This has already brought real estate speculators to the village.
The residents are roughly divided into two groups - the original dwellers who can't afford housing and the speculators or their proxies aiming to get rights to buy new apartments after redevelopment. The district office is to propose the redevelopment plan to the city in the near future.
"We spend some 200 million won a year to watch over and prevent fire and speculation at Guryong Village. If the area is properly developed, we can save money. Actually, we accepted the private development plan because it accorded with the district's benefits," Chung Jong-hak of the district's housing division said.
The district office said most residents would be resettled in the village after the redevelopment. However, it fell short of disclosing details about the terms of the provision of the apartments. Most of the residents are extremely poor, which means they don't have money to buy new apartments.
Some hung a sign agreeing to the redevelopment plan at the entrance of the village.
"The villagers can't have resident registration here because it's not our land. We are not acknowledged as residents and had to stick together to make our own voice heard," said Kim Woun-sin, the vice president of the self-governing committee, who arrived in the village in 1987 and is one of its oldest residents.
The committee has prevented speculation by closing down empty houses and blocking newcomers from moving in since May 2008. They report any suspected speculator to the district official dispatched to the village.
"We know that we illegally occupied this area and cannot exercise any rights. However, the developer and the district office included us as a part of the plan and we are thankful," Kim said.
Residents' Rights
But the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been negative about the plan, opposing redevelopment led by private builders.
"We will review the plan when Gangnam-gu submits it," said a city official. "However, the development of the village is strictly restricted as it sits on an area designated as a green zone. We can't say whether it is going to be redeveloped or not right now."
Some residents don't welcome the plan. They are skeptical about the Gangnam office's pledge that all residents will be able to live in the village even after the redevelopment is finished.
"We cannot afford to pay for even a long-term lease apartment. I doubt they will provide us with an apartment for free or at a price we can afford," one said.
At the same time, the village Web site has been split between opponents and proponents of the plan. A resident with the nickname of "Hayoung" said, "The redevelopment plan is not for the residents. Speculators will be the main beneficiaries."
Park Jae-hoon, 25, a university student living in neighboring Gaepo-dong, said, "I have seen some luxury cars parked in front of the village. There have been rumors about the area for years and it is said that people buy these illegal shacks for speculative gains. I don't understand why they want to get rewarded for unlawful land use over some 20 years."
Since this is the first development plan for an illegal urban shantytown, the future of Guryong Village might affect other unlicensed villages. The Korea Center for City and Environment Research said the residents should be taken care of in the process of redevelopment.
"As these illegal residents do not have any rights to the land basically, so it is not appropriate to give them apartments after development," Kim Yoon-yee, a researcher at the center, said. "However, their housing rights have to be protected and I suggest that the government should diversify housing policies for them to live in a decent house."
Kim said that the best thing for these illegal villagers would be to provide them with some long-term lease housing units - taking into consideration each household's characteristics and economic capability. "Some residents might want to keep the location and neighborhood relationship they already have. The housing plan should care for these needs as well."
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs came up with a plan to provide rental houses to unlicensed residents in 2007.
"It is a positive sign that the competent ministry issued a policy regarding these people, but this hasn't produced much of an outcome so far," Kim added. "The most important thing is whether the development plan will guarantee the housing rights of current residents."