Friday, November 21, 2008

The Slums of Seoul

You wouldn't think it. But despite the meteoric rise of the Korean economy in the last 50 years, there are those who have been left behind. Today, Jaepil took me to visit one of the poorest neighborhoods in Seoul, which is ironically only a 5 minute drive from one of the richest neighborhoods in Seoul.





Foreground - a slum on the outskirts of Gangnam-gu, one of the most affluent districts in Seoul

Background - the towers in the distance represent some of the most expensive real estate in Seoul















4 comments:

Alice in Wonderland said...

Fascinating. An underclass that is not based on racial/ethnic differences. I'm not used to the idea of ghettos consisting of inhabitants of the same race as the dominant class (of course it happens, but it's more rare). It would be interesting to see the faces of these slum dwellers.

Seoul-searching said...

That's been one of the interesting discoveries about the social dynamics in Korea. Although there is a small but growing number of migrant workers from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc, almost everyone is Korea is Korean. Stratification doesn't occur along racial/ethnic lines, but is determined by educational pedigree, salary, neighborhood of residence and conspicuous consumption.

Anonymous said...

Wow I’m amazed...I thought slums in Korea only existed in the 50s-80s. How long ago where these pictures taken and is this slum gone now?

Pete said...

hmm.. dun slums exist in all countries / places? they have things similar to that in hong kong...