Like a scene from 'Parasite': Floods lay bare social disparity in South Korea

Aftermath of record level of torrential rain in Seoul

Wed, August 10, 2022 
By Hyonhee Shin and Hyeyeon Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - Using a plastic bowl, Ha In-sik bailed water out of his lower ground apartment in the low-income housing district of Sillim in southwestern Seoul on Wednesday, where flooding caused by torrential rain forced his family to sleep at a nearby park.

The 50-year-old man, along with his wife and daughter had collected home appliances, furniture, books and even cutlery, and put them outside to see what was salvageable.

The scene bore uncomfortable similarities with the sewage-flooded semi-basement flat depicted in the 2020 Oscar-winning South Korean film "Parasite," that was a tale of growing social disparity in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The floods have caused inconvenience and monetary losses in the wealthier parts of the capital, like the glitzy Gangnam neighbourhood a few miles away.

But in places like Sillim, the floods have snuffed out what little hope desperate people like Ha had clung to in order just to keep going.

"I've got no money, nothing. But I had come here to live in this basement, as it was only option I had to live with my daughter," Ha told Reuters.

"But I'm hopeless now. Everything is gone, there's no help and I don't even have a spoon to eat food with."

Ha wasn't alone in his misery. Other residents in Sillim were scooping up water with large bowls or combing through the detritus to see whatever was still usable.

On Monday, three family members living in the neighbourhood, including a woman with developmental disabilities, drowned in their lower ground apartment. President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Sillim a day later.

On Wednesday, Yoon apologised for the tragedy and called for measures to improve housing safety to protect old, poor or disabled people and families, like Ha's, whose homes were most vulnerable to flooding.

At least 10 people have perished as a result of the torrential rain that has swept across the northern part of the country since Monday, knocking out power, causing landslides and flooding roads and subways.

This week's deluge brought the heaviest rains in 115 years in Seoul, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

As of Wednesday, it said, six people were still missing, 570 have at least temporarily lost their homes, while 1,400 have been evacuated, mostly in Seoul, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.

As the rain clouds moved southwards on Wednesday, the recovery effort kicked into high gear, at least in the better off districts.

While large swathes of Sillim remained flooded, and residents likened conditions to a "mudbath", in Gangnam most roads had been cleared and traffic was back to normal.

Ha said it would take about 10 days to get his apartment back to the point where he would move back in. He said the only help the government had offered was for temporary shelter at a gymnasium, which he rejected.

An official at the Gwanak district office, which covers Sillim, said that recovery efforts can be slower there due to the concentration of tiny apartments and houses lining the narrow streets, unlike Gangnam, which has wide boulevards and office buildings.

The official said the number of soldiers involved in the recovery would be raised from 210 to 500 on Thursday.

"We're making all-out efforts to help residents, bringing everyone from our office, troops and volunteers," the official said.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Hyeyeon Kim and Daewoung Kim; Additional reporting by Minwoo Park; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Seoul floods: 'Parasite-style' flats to be banned after deaths

Melissa Zhu - BBC News
Wed, August 10, 2022 

The two women and a 13-year-old girl were trapped inside this basement flat

South Korea's capital Seoul will move to phase out semi-basement flats after two women and a teenager died during flooding earlier this week.

The tiny flats, featured in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, are usually rented out to people on low incomes.

Seoul will no longer give out permits to construct such homes from this week on and will gradually convert existing apartments, officials said.

This comes after the city was hit by the heaviest rains in 80 years.

As of Wednesday, at least 11 people were confirmed dead or missing as a result of the floods, which have gone on for three days.

On Monday night, two sisters in their 40s and a 13-year-old girl were found dead in their flooded semi-basement flat.


They had reportedly sought help as their home filled with water, but rescuers were unable to reach them.

The tragedy has renewed attention on income inequality and the dangers of living in the semi-underground flats - or banjiha - which are known for cheap rents and poor living conditions.

The real people living in a 'Parasite' basement

On Wednesday, officials said that the city would consult with the government to revise the building law to completely ban the use of basement or semi-basement spaces for residential purposes, according to a Yonhap report.

The city will give owners of such flats 20 years to convert them for non-residential uses such as storage or parking lots.

Authorities will also provide support for existing banjiha tenants to move to public rental housing, according to reports.

"Underground and semi-underground housing threatens the vulnerable in all aspects," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon told Yonhap.

The family in Parasite (left) lived in a banjiha in Seoul

Bong Joon-ho's 2019 film Parasite, which featured a low-income family living in a banjiha in Seoul, raised awareness of these flats internationally.

Following the Oscar-winning movie's success, the city government said it would financially support 1,500 households living in semi-basement apartments so that they could improve their living conditions.

As of 2020, there were about 200,000 such flats in Seoul - making up 5% of all households in the capital - official data shows.