'Hannam the Wheel' and 'Banpotter Zai'... Young People's Enraged Memes over "Groundbreaking" Idea

A proposal by Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Hee to convert scrapped buses and supply them as housing to young people has sparked fierce backlash from the younger generation.

Criticism such as "We may lack homes, but we have our pride" and "Are young people homeless people or refugees?" has poured in, along with various AI-generated mocking content.

The controversy stems from the so-called "bus house" proposed by lawmaker Hwang on the 7th.

The idea is to remodel discarded buses and provide them as short-term temporary residential spaces for young people near university areas.

It was inspired by "boat houses" utilizing scrapped ships in the Netherlands.

Lawmaker Hwang explained that remodeling a single bus costs about 50 million won, and supplying 10,000 households would require a total of around 500 billion won, making it a realistic alternative for swift housing supply.

However, as soon as this proposal was unveiled, backlash spread centered around social media.

Criticism continued, such as "You block all loan paths and tell young people to live in a scrapped bus?" and "This is not a policy, but mockery."

This backlash even expanded into various satirical content utilizing AI, and a virtual vlog set in a scrapped bus youth housing where the creator has been living for six months appeared on one social media platform.

The virtual resident in the video satirized the poor living environment of the bus, saying, "It becomes a steam room in the summer and a freezer in the winter," and the video recorded 230,000 views within two days of its release.


Virtual "bus real estate" parodying high-priced apartments in Seoul also appeared.

Examples include "Hannam the Wheel" twisting "Hannam The Hill," "Acro Reverse Park" parodying "Acro River Park," and "Banpotter Zai" applying "Banpo Zai."

AI-generated apartment images created by stacking scrapped buses layer upon layer even spread rapidly.

Criticism poured out from the political circle as well.

The People Power Force stated, "It is a bizarre idea that makes a mockery of youth," while New Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok pointed out water supply and drainage connection issues, criticizing that vehicle living cannot be an alternative for housing.

As the blowback grew, the ruling party leadership also drew a line, and lawmaker Hwang deleted related posts and stepped in to manage the situation.

Lawmaker Hwang explained that it was a proposal on an idea-level, reviewing temporary residential spaces for young people placed in poor environments such as gosiwon (budget studio apartments).

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Source: Instagram @moson_365 | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.