[KS] Officially condoned cultural vandalism: the destruction of hanok in Kahoi Dong

[J.Scott Burgeson]

--- Afostercarter at aol.com wrote:
> ... and found the sorry tale of official vandalism
> below.
> 
> Is this widely known? (it was news to me).
> How can such things happen now, in the C21, 
> in a country which has a strong Green movement


It is the official policy of Seoul Mayor Lee
Myung-bak, under the "New Town" project, to redevelop
at least 15 neighborhoods in North Seoul in order to
bring land prices within parity of those of Kangnam.
(One of the complaints of hanok owners in areas like
Kahoe-dong is that cultural preservation policies
stifle land prices by limiting redevelopment.) The
forces of commercialism seem to be winning out over
tradition, it seems. In the last year near my place in
Chongno-1-ga, a huge stretch of the famed P'imat-gol
has been levelled to make way for a massive high-rise,
and the last yojong or gisaeng house in Insa-dong,
which occupied a beautiful 50-year-old kiwa-jip, was
levelled last month under the direction of Chongno-gu
in order to build a giant parking lot there.
   --Scott Bug      

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