After Deadly Storm, Seoul Bans ‘Parasite’ Type Basements

Soul: South Korea’s capital has become a symbol of yawning inequality in an Oscar-winning film after at least four people drowned in basements during the worst storms to hit Seoul in more than a century. We are planning to phase out housing. Parasite.

The city of Seoul is considering banning the construction of underground and semi-underground housing. The landlord gives him 10 to 20 years to demolish the existing building, called ‘Banjiha’. According to the city of Seoul, as of 2020, about 200,000 homes (his 5% of the city’s housing) were underground or semi-basement apartments.

The announcement comes after the worst storm in 115 years brought 525mm of rain to parts of Seoul earlier this week, killing at least 11 people. Among them were a family of three, a woman in her 40s, her younger sister, and her brother’s teenage daughter after being trapped in a submerged semi-basement house in Sinlim-dong, not far from the wealthy Gangnam district. A woman in her 50s who lived in a similar residence also drowned at home. The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper.

central figures of ParasiteKorean-language film that won an Oscar for Best Picture In 2020, they are portrayed as people living in such basements, struggling to make ends meet, largely invisible and neglected by the wealthy.

Inequality in South Korea, Asia’s fourth largest economy, has worsened recently, especially after the coronavirus pandemic. According to a report released by Shinhan Bank in April, the income gap between the top 20% of households and the bottom group has widened since 2019.

Cleanup and recovery efforts accelerated after two days of heavy rain in the capital. Roads turned into rivers jammed with cars, floodwaters poured into subway stations, and landslides crashed into roads and buildings.

Seven people remain missing in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province, and more than 4,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, including about 2,000 residents of apartment buildings in Seoul who were evacuated after power outages caused by floods. It contains.

President Yoon Seok-yeol apologized on behalf of the government for the deaths and chaos caused by the heavy rains at a disaster countermeasures conference.