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from movies...
The movieParasite - A parasiteBong Joon-ho's film has just won four prestigious Academy Awards. This is the first Asian film to win Best Picture and also the first foreign film to win Best Picture in the nearly 100-year history of the Oscars.
ParasiteThe film successfully portrays the stark wealth gap in modern South Korean society. While the wealthy and upper class live in expensive mansions or luxurious apartments, the impoverished are crammed together in dirty, damp, and dark houses.
Guryong is a grim symbol of income inequality in South Korea.
In reality, amidst the modern and glamorous Seoul, there is a suburban slum called Guryong. A city with two contrasting scenes – light and darkness; two contrasting aspects of rich and poor, just like in the raw, unvarnished films that...ParasiteIt has been depicted. Guryong is a grim symbol of income inequality in South Korea, where nearly half of the elderly live in poverty, the highest rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
The skyscrapers of Gangnam District are right behind the slums.
The fact is, it only takes 20 minutes on foot from that dilapidated slum to reach Gangnam – an area in Seoul's wealthiest and most luxurious neighborhood, with its towering skyscrapers. Many photographers have come here to capture the daily lives of the residents through their lenses, aiming to portray the most authentic image possible.
...into real life
This slum area first appeared in 1988 and covers an area of nearly 300,000 square meters.2Guryong Village is essentially a makeshift settlement of nearly 4,000 people, mostly impoverished elderly individuals living on government subsidies. The residents build their homes or temporary shelters using whatever materials they have available, such as plastic, tarpaulins, advertising banners, wooden planks, etc., and share toilets.
This slum area first appeared in 1988 and covers nearly 300,000 square meters.
In 2014, a fire broke out, destroying dozens of homes and killing one person. This was the 11th fire in the area since 2009. In recent years, residents of Guryong have connected to postal services. They have also received temporary residence permits, granting them the right to vote in elections.
The majority of those living here are poor elderly people who rely on government subsidies.
Several years ago, the Seoul government planned to clear this slum and build resettlement housing for the poor, but so far it remains only a plan.
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