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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A closer look at redevelopment in Yongsan

Matt Lamers has an article well worth reading in the Korea Herald about the people who were evicted in Yongsan's District 4 - where 5 protesters and a police officer died a year ago.
On a mild Nov. 4, 2008 morning, Choi says sledgehammer-wielding "gangsters" hired by construction companies showed up at her restaurant as diners sat down to brunch and smashed to pieces everything they couldn't carry away. This occurred even though the government had said she had until Nov. 28 to close shop and relocate. Her restaurant sat on land slated for redevelopment and the men, officially referred to as movers, were carrying out an eviction order issued by Seoul City.
The article looks at the redevelopment from the point of view of those who were evicted; later articles will look at things from the city's point of view.

I've looked at redevelopment in Yongsan before here and here.

6 comments:

  1. great article.
    Robert Neff

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  2. The KH is doing some real pieces. I want to read the follow up on this as well. I wonder if the sledgehammers will even be acknowledged.

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  3. Interesting, but still one-sided. Undocumented facts and figures. Awful situation, yes. My instinct tells me that there was a good chance that there was greed on both sides.

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  4. on a similar theme, any more photos of the how the AREX construction is going ?
    Any news on when it's going to open? I might come over to see it when it opens.

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  5. Missed your comment, Jon. Sorry about that. I'll go explore the construction in my neighbourhood one of these days. I thought it was supposed to open this year, but I'll have to dig around to find out more...

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