Guryong Village

Guryong Village (Korean: 구룡마을) is a shanty town in Seoul, South Korea. It is just across a six-lane motorway from Dogok-dong of the affluent Gangnam District. It has been called "the last slum in Seoul's glitzy Gangnam district", "the last shanty town in Gangnam", and "the last remaining urban slum in Seoul", although this claim has been treated skeptically due to the continued existence of at least two other notable areas: Baeksa Village, in the northeast of Nowon District; and Gaemi Village, in Hongje-dong on the slope of Mt. Inwang. The settlement first arose around the time of the city's rapid development prior to the 1988 Olympic Games. It was an illegal settlement at the time, as it was built on privately owned land. The settlement persisted over decades, despite multiple efforts to resettle the residents. Beginning in the mid-2010s, the Seoul government has been gradually moving residents out of the area, and offering them apartments in the area or elsewhere at significantly reduced rents. By 2019, it was reported that 406 of 1,107 households (36.7%) had been relocated. History The area the village is on has been inhabited since October 1925, although it only turned into a shantytown beginning in 1988. This was due to the city's rapid development prior to the 1988 Olympic Games, in which people in low-income areas were evicted from their houses and became squatters at the site. Its exact number of inhabitants is unknown, and has also changed over time. When the village first arose, it had around 8,000 people living in 2,000 households. In 2005, it was reported that the area had 4,000 inhabitants. Between 2012 and 2014, the population was given as 2,500. The residents are primarily impoverished elderly people who earn extremely little per day. In 2011, its inhabitants received temporary residence cards. In 2014, it was reported that the area the village sat on was around 286,929 square meters (about 70 acres). The impromptu structures on the area are estimated to be around 1,200 to 2,000. The area of each individual house is estimated to be around 16 to 99 m2 (170 to 1,070 sq ft). Due to the lack of enforced safety standards, the village has been affected by a number of fire accidents. This includes one in January 2023, when a fire destroyed more than 60 homes in the town and forced the displacement of 63 residents. Another fire hit in January 2026, with 258 residents evacuated. The village reportedly has a number of services, including a post office, a kindergarten and church, a security service, and even utilities like water, gas and electricity, for which payments are communal. Plans to demolish the village In the past few decades, there have been a number of efforts to demolish the village and relocate its residents, but progress has been slow due to disagreements on which course of action to take and how to deal with the village's residents. In 1991, a proposal to redevelop the land was interrupted by a real estate scandal in the Suseo-dong area. In 2015, it was proposed that the government would demolish Guryong and arrange subsidized housing for its former residents. In 2016, the Seoul Metropolitan Government designated the area an official district and announced a series of efforts to relocate residents and redevelop the area. In 2019, it was reported that 406 out of 1,107 households (36.7%) had been relocated. In 2020, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it had approved an action plan that was set to be completed by 2025. As part of the plan, the village would be gradually demolished and apartments would be built in its place. Villagers would be offered a drastically reduced rent to live in these apartments. Gallery See also Poverty in South Korea References