"I Want to Die," Residents Tremble and Weep as Guryong Village is Reduced to Ashes Again

"I could die... I really want to die."

As the fire that broke out in Guryong Village, known as Seoul's last shantytown in Gangnam-gu, was finally extinguished after 12 hours and 50 minutes today (the 28th), a woman in her 70s surnamed A stamped her feet and wept at the entrance of the village.

Visiting Guryong Village at around 7 a.m. today, a pungent smell of burning drifted in the wind from long before reaching the village entrance.

While firefighting helicopters were still busy clearing out remaining embers, firefighters and police officers drenched in sweat moved about busily.

Passing lined-up police cars and fire engines to enter the village entrance, dejected sighs from residents filled the smoky air everywhere. From residents engaging in a small argument with police blocking the village entrance, asking "Why won't you let us in?", to others sitting on chairs set up on the street just letting out sighs.

Plunging overnight temperatures combined with the sense of loss over losing their homes caused some to tremble.

Resident A lost her shop around the shantytown where she had done business for over 40 years and her car all at once in this fire.

A, who had taken the bus to go out because oil prices are expensive these days, heard about the fire while going to deliver medicine to an acquaintance.

She had already used up all 23 million won received as compensation for moving out of Guryong Village.

The money had gone into repairing her shop and holding the funeral for her mother, who passed away this year.

Having lost her livelihood, A wiped away tears repeatedly, saying, "I don't know how I'm supposed to live from now on."

There were also residents who questioned and complained about the firefighting process with voices mixed with grievance.

Smoking a cigarette with an anxious expression at the village entrance, a man in his 70s surnamed B claimed, "Does it make any sense that the fire burns down this entire neighborhood?" adding, "It doesn't make sense logically."

A heavy silence hung over the displaced persons shelter set up in the nearby Gaepo Middle School gymnasium.

When a grandson approached an elderly person eating cup ramen with vacant eyes and worriedly said, "Don't eat that, eat something else," the elderly person replied in a feeble voice, "I'll take care of it."

A man in his 60s surnamed C, who said he entered the shelter yesterday, trailed off, saying, "How come every time something like this..."

He sighed, saying, "It feels like they never put out the fires properly, so they always grow large, and (this time) the fire grew way too big."

He then rubbed his hands together, saying, "The shelter is a bit better because it has some warmth."

Guryong Village is an unauthorized shantytown formed by evicted residents and others during the Gangnam development process in the 1970s and 1980s.

After being designated as an urban development zone in 2016, Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) has taken charge as the project operator to push forward with redevelopment.

Once redevelopment is completed, a residential complex totaling 3,739 households will be established in the Guryong Village area.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.