South Korea announces end to ‘Parasite’-style basement homes

Seoul, capital of South Korea pledged to evacuate some of the poorest families from underground and semi-underground homes after 13 people died in floods caused by rains records this week, sparking horror and calls for government responsibility from the population.

On Monday night, torrential rains, the heaviest in the city in more than 100 years, caused severe flooding in many neighborhoods south of the Han River, washing away cars and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate.

The deaths, which included a family who drowned after being trapped underground, spurred South Korea’s capital to do away with “banjiha”-style housing – the often cramped and dirty basement apartments popularly known for the South Korean film. korean”Parasite “.

A family of three – a woman, her 13-year-old daughter and her 40-year-old sister with Down syndrome – died after water pressure prevented them from opening the door to their flooded home in the southern Gwanak district. from Seoul.

The family lived in a banjiha – a half-subterranean apartment, usually several steps below street level. In Seoul’s notoriously expensive real estate market, these apartments are some of the most affordable options available, meaning they’re mostly inhabited by young and low-income people.

Often small, dark and prone to mold during the humid summer, banjihas gained global notoriety following the release of Bong Joon-ho’s award-winning film. Oscar 2019’s “Parasite,” which followed a fictional family’s desperate attempt to escape poverty.

Since then, houses have come to represent rampant inequality in one of the richest cities in the world.

For years, there have been increasing calls for the government to provide more affordable housing, improve living conditions in the banjihas, or eliminate them altogether — which officials vowed to do after public outcry over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s handling of the crisis.

“In the future, in Seoul, basements and semi-basements cannot be used for residential purposes,” the Seoul city government said in a statement on Wednesday.

However, experts say the government’s pledge ignores bigger problems that persist beyond basement walls, from skyrocketing costs of living that force the most vulnerable people to seek shelter in substandard housing susceptible to flooding and heat.

Emergence of basement houses

The banjihas were first built in the 1970s to serve as bunkers amid rising tensions with North Korea, explained Choi Eun-yeong, executive director of the Korean Center for Research on Cities and the Environment.

As Seoul modernized over the next decade, attracting migrants from rural areas, shrinking space led the government to allow residential use of basements – even though “they were not built for residential purposes, but for bomb shelters, boiler rooms, or warehouses,” Choi pointed out.

Banjihas have long been fraught with problems such as poor ventilation and drainage, water leakage, lack of easy escape routes, insect infestation, and exposure to bacteria, but their low price is a big draw as Seoul becomes more inaccessible. .

The city is financially unviable especially for young people who face stagnant wages, rising rents and a saturated job market.

The average price of an apartment in Seoul has more than doubled over the past five years, reaching 1.26 billion won in January this year – making them less affordable compared to New York, Tokyo and Singapore.

Safety concerns over banjihas were brought to the forefront when severe flooding in 2010 and 2011 left dozens dead. In 2012, the government implemented new laws banning banjiha apartments in “habitually flooded areas”.

But the attempt at reform fell short, with an additional 40,000 banjihas built after the law was passed, according to a press release from city officials.

The agencies again promised to investigate the issue after “Parasite” highlighted the precariousness of housing, but attention was soon diverted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Choi said.

As of 2020, more than 200,000 banjiha apartments remained in central Seoul – representing about 5% of all households, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Along with a failure to improve housing, the city government came under fire this year after slashing its annual budget for flood control and water management by more than 15% to 17.6 billion won. 70 million).

family drowned

The family who died in Gwanak were unable to escape their apartment due to water accumulating outside their door, said Choi Tae-young, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters.

The fire and rescue chief accompanied President Yoon to the scene of the deaths on Tuesday, where they inspected the building and interviewed some of its residents. The photos show the president crouching in the street, peering through the ground-floor window at the still-flooded basement apartment.

“I don’t know why people here didn’t evacuate early,” Yoon asked during the inspection — a remark that has since been widely criticized online.
“The water came in in an instant,” replied one resident.

“It took less than 10 or 15 minutes (for the water to rise),” added another resident, adding that the victims “led very, very difficult lives.”

In its statement on Wednesday, the Seoul city government said it would gradually phase out basement and banjiha apartments “so that they cannot be inhabited by people regardless of the usual flooding or flood-prone areas.”

Banjihas are “a backward type of housing that threatens housing vulnerability in all aspects, including security and residential environment, and must now be eliminated,” said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

The elimination process will include a 10 to 20-year “grace period” for existing banjihas with building permits, and tenants will be helped to move into public rental housing or receive housing vouchers, the government said in a statement. . Once the banjihas are cleaned, they will be converted to non-residential use, he added.

Choi Eun-yeong, the urban environment researcher, expressed skepticism about the government’s alleged commitment to eliminating banjihas, arguing that the proposal was overly ambitious and lacked concrete details such as timing information or compensation amounts.

“Actually, I think there’s a high possibility that it’s just a declaration and not implemented,” she said, pointing to the government’s various pledges over the years.

The poorest is the hardest hit

Rain has now subsided in Seoul, but experts warn that this kind of extreme and unpredictable weather will only become more frequent and intense due to climate change.

The climate crisis is “increasing the temperature of the Earth and the ocean, which means that the amount of water vapor that the air can hold is getting higher,” explained Park Jung-min, deputy director of the Meteorological Administration’s press office. from Korea. “It depends on the weather, where that bag of water is going to end up.”

As is often the case, it seems likely that the poorest are among the hardest hit.

“Those who have difficulty living and those who are physically sick are more vulnerable to natural disasters,” President Yoon said Wednesday. “Only when they are safe will the Republic of Korea be safe.”

Similar problems have occurred in other countries in recent years; in parts of India, monsoon floods repeatedly destroyed slums; in Bangladesh, many people migrated from villages to urban areas to escape increasingly frequent flooding.

And in the United States, research has found that Black, Latino and low-income families are the most likely to live in flood-prone areas.

In addition to chronic displacement and disrupted livelihoods, the expected increase in rainfall across Asia could bring a host of health risks, including increased risk of diarrheal diseases, dengue and malaria, yet another blow to already impoverished families without access to medical care or means to relocate.

Meanwhile, floods and droughts can cause rural poverty and rising food costs, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In Seoul, banjiha residents face the dual danger of flooding and heat waves, Choi Eun-yeong said.

“The changes brought about by the climate crisis are almost catastrophic, especially for the most vulnerable, as they do not have adequate housing to respond to these conditions.”