When it comes to South Korea, many young female tourists yearn for it, thinking that life in South Korea is as exquisite and lofty as in Korean dramas, but in fact, people who have been to South Korea know that the development of South Korea’s cities is not as good as a second-tier Chinese city.
And South Koreans are running around at work every day, because South Korea’s food, clothing, housing and travel are very expensive. In fact, only they know whether the Korean people live happily or not. In recent years, one thing that is very obvious is that many elderly and middle-aged people in South Korea have immigrated to Japan. The most critical factor is that the cost of living in Japan is much lower than that in South Korea.
The largest slum in Seoul, South Korea, living 3 people on 5 square meters
This is Gyulong Village, the largest shanty town in Seoul, South Korea. It is full of dilapidated houses, broken roofs and untidy streets.
And the street opposite Jiulong Village is indeed another scene, because this is Seoul city of South Korea’s largest rich district Gangnam district, which not only has a large number of villas, and a variety of high-grade leisure facilities are also very complete, can be called the first rich residence in Seoul. Compared with the skyscrapers of Gangnam district in Seoul, Guryong Village is a hell. Just a street away, but two different worlds, money and wealth, at this moment, obviously do the dominant position.
In the late 1980s, people left behind by South Korea’s “economy” began arriving here in droves. Here, you can see the densely packed shanty towns.
The wiring is messy, it’s old, there’s no heating, just coal, and many of the houses are shared. Many residents live near garbage dumps. The village is so shabby compared to Gangnam-gu, the capital of Seoul, that many visitors find it surprising. It is also a ghetto in South Korea, where only the poor are unemployed.
Most of the residents in Jiulong Village are poor and poor, and the life of these residents is not very good. Occasionally, a few foreigners come here, but most of these foreigners are smuggled in. Over time, Jiulong Village gradually became a slum.
The famous Korean movie Parasite was shot here, and there are often three people living in a 5-square-meter apartment. Most of the village’s residents are unemployed, without stable jobs and dependent on state handouts.
The real Kowloon City did not exist until 1988, when the Seoul government set up a “clean up the streets” policy to improve the city for the Olympic Games and evict low-income residents, the unemployed and the disabled.
A group of people were driven out of the Gangnam district, and gradually became what is now Jiulong Village. Behind the high wages of South Koreans is an unequal society, resulting in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Two different places, one in Jiangnan, one in Kowloon City, this is a stark contrast, but also the status quo of society.
It takes the average office worker 27 years to buy a house in South Korea, which is a very difficult thing for Koreans to do. And the life of the elderly in South Korea is also very difficult, in the center of Jiulong Village is a South Korean playground, specially used for children to play there, in Jiulong Village, there are a lot of old people, most of them rely on the playground to support their families, some old people do construction workers next to.
Some old people depend on the playground to support their families. Most of the residents in Jiulong Village are low-income families, most of whom have no permanent jobs and rely on the relief provided by the state to support themselves.
In 2022, South Korea’s GDP reached 33,591 dollars, ranking 28th in the world. Although South Korea has recovered from the economic crisis, it is not difficult to see that social conflicts in South Korea are very sharp, and a bright light is shining on each country.
One is that Seoul is shrouded in darkness and divided into two different worlds. Many people are still living in houses like this one in Kowloon Village, where the houses are in disrepair, the streets are littered with garbage, and the sanitation in Kowloon Village is very bad, and people are living like “parasites”.
After leaving the village, they walked towards Gangnam District of Seoul, where the skyscrapers are very beautiful. After this comparison, many people know how different the village is from Gangnam District of Seoul. If a country wants to develop well, it must narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Only in this way can it maintain social stability.
