10) MASSIVE PROJECT LEAVES SEOUL NEIGHBOURHOOD AN EMPTY SHELL

By Sean Burton, April 30, 2013

     A multi‑billion dollar real estate project in Seoul's Yongsan district was terminated in early April. The project was projected to cost $27 billion, of which over $2 billion was spent preparing a large amount of the land around Yongsan Station.

     That land once formed a vibrant neighbourhood. True, it had some unappealing aspects, such as a red‑light district right in front of the station, but it was where many people lived in simple apartments or ran small street restaurants. Readers may recall a January 2009 incident when six people were killed and twenty‑four injured in an apartment building in the demolition zone. A group of anti‑development protesters and several residents of the neighbourhood reduced to squatter status occupied the roof of one building. Seoul's SWAT team stormed the roof, resulting in a clash of Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons. Five demonstrators and one police officer died as a result.

     If one visits the site now, there is nothing but large empty lots surrounded by ugly fences. Some of the lots are full of weeds and garbage; no serious work has been done there for a while. On the west side of the station is a similar scene. A former rail yard owned by Korail is converted into a vast expanse of dirt.

     Apartments lining the Han River were also slated for destruction. Their walls are painted with messages of defiance, condemning the redevelopment and the government, as people cling to their homes. The project would have driven them out and transformed the area into yet another shopping mall and financial office district. (There's already a large mall inside Yongsan Station!) The street restaurants are back, setting up tents in a different area amidst the empty land around them. There's no shortage of customers, it seems, but the desolation around the neighbourhood is obvious.

     So, people struggled and died against South Korea's powerful conglomerates and their government buddies. Billions of dollars were spent to ruin an entire section of city. The termination was no change of heart; the main developer went bankrupt. It seems that this $27 billion project had not started with anywhere near that much, getting a large number of loans and hoping that the real estate market would go their way.

     Instead, land prices skyrocketed. Lawsuits are starting to fly as investors try to get their money back. The land itself is to be returned to Korail and to the former residents, who are now demanding compensation. But the land is empty, and it is not clear what will be built there. So, back to square one, at great cost in materials and human lives. Given the results, surely we can all agree that this is no sane or humane way to run an economy.

(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)