SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - Even in the early morning, temperatures hovered well above 30 degrees Celsius in tropical humidity — conditions ill-suited to bulldozing work, let alone human protest.
Still, an excavator moved methodically through piles of soil, pipes, twisted metal and torn blue tarpaulins inside Guryong Village, the last surviving shantytown in affluent Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Tuesday. Behind corrugated metal fencing, workers in hard hats continued dismantling what remains of the settlement.
Only about 10 residents remain after Seoul authorities finalized the demolition schedule. They watched quietly as the machinery advanced, largely beyond public attention to what will become of their homes, livelihoods or safety.
AJP returned to Guryong Village as Seoul pressed ahead with another milestone in a decades-long effort to redevelop what the city describes as the capital's last remaining shantytown.
On July 21, Seoul's third public housing integrated review committee conditionally approved plans for the M and B2 blocks of the Gaepo Guryong Village Public Housing Construction Project.
The plans call for 2,120 homes across the two blocks, including 758 integrated public rental units, 1,342 long-term lease homes under Seoul's Mirinae housing program and 20 public-sale units.
Block M would contain 300 homes in buildings of up to 15 stories, while Block B2 would include 1,820 homes in towers reaching 28 stories.
Seoul plans to seek final approval for the housing construction plan in the second half of 2026, begin construction in 2027 and complete the project in 2031. The city said the plans could still change during subsequent approval procedures.
For city officials, the redevelopment promises safer housing and thousands of new public homes in one of Seoul's most expensive districts.
For those still refusing to leave, however, the new apartment plans do little to answer more immediate questions about compensation, relocation and whether they will ever be allowed to return.
Compensation before relocation
Among the remaining residents was Bae, who has become a spokesman for households displaced by repeated fires in the village.
"The first thing we are asking for is not a right to move into the new development or a rental unit," Bae told AJP. "It is for our property to be properly recognized and compensated."
Bae said many dwellings had been classified as temporary structures rather than homes despite having concrete foundations, boilers, support posts, windows and kitchens.
He pointed to numbered doorplates, running water and years of tax payments as evidence that families had lived there as ordinary residences for decades.
AJP has not independently reviewed the official classification or appraisal documents.
Bae said compensation offered to some fire-affected households amounted to only several million won, although payments differ depending on each household's legal and occupancy status.
Temporary accommodation, he said, would not resolve the larger question of whether displaced residents would ever return once redevelopment is completed.
"Being offered temporary rental housing is not the end of the issue," he said. "There still has to be an agreement on how people can return after construction."
He fears only a small number of today's residents will ultimately qualify to move back unless clearer resettlement guarantees are reached before demolition is completed.
Seoul's redevelopment plan says the project will include integrated public rental housing for existing residents, but it does not specify how disputed households will be classified, how individual compensation will be calculated or what each family would have to pay to return.
Machinery with a history
For residents, the arrival of excavators carries memories extending well beyond the current demolition.
On Feb. 6, 2015, the Gangnam District Office began demolishing a temporary structure used as the village residents' hall after saying its permit had expired and citing safety concerns.
Residents resisted, arguing the building served as the community's only gathering place.
The Seoul Administrative Court later ordered the demolition suspended, but not before much of the structure had already been destroyed.
The legal circumstances surrounding the current demolition differ from those of 2015. Yet the earlier confrontation helps explain why heavy machinery is viewed inside Guryong Village not merely as construction equipment but as a symbol that another chapter of the settlement is disappearing.
This time there were no clashes.
Only a handful of residents stood watching as excavators moved through rubble behind metal fencing. Public attention has largely moved on even as those still living in the village say they remain uncertain about where they will go—or whether they will ever come back.
Seoul plans to finalize the housing construction plan later this year before breaking ground in 2027.
For the city, the project marks another step toward replacing Gangnam's last shantytown with more than 2,000 new public homes.
For Bae, redevelopment is measured differently.
He said authorities offered him 5 million won (about $3,500) to move out quietly, —an amount that can hardly cover the deposit for a modest public rental apartment, much less allow him to begin again.
Behind him, another excavator pushed through what had once been a row of homes.
"I have nowhere to go," Bae said.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.