Korean Man is Last Person Standing in Seoul Neighborhood Set to Be Demolished

Pretty interesting profile below from Yonhap about a man in Seoul fighting to keep his home after his neighborhood was selected for redevelopment:

In the morning of Jan. 20, 2009, six people — five protesters and one police officer — were killed in a blaze atop a gutted building in Yongsan, central Seoul. The five civilian victims were protesting against a forceful eviction by the authorities for a mega urban renewal project.

Nine years has passed. And one man has risked his life for a similar reason: to protect the house that he built in 1986 in Jangwi-dong, northern Seoul. On November 7, he stabbed himself in the abdomen when officials came to forcibly remove him and his wife from the two-story brick house.  (…….)

The redevelopment project divided Jangwi-dong into 15 zones and Cho’s house belongs to the seventh zone. On March 20, 2009, the zone’s redevelopment union was established after 76.61 percent — slightly over the minimum requirement of 75 percent — of the land owners approved the plan. Those opposed had to sell the house according to real estate values determined by certified public appraisers.

In Cho’s case, along with those of many others, the value failed to properly reflect market prices. Having injured his back while serving in the military, he doesn’t have a regular income. His family lives on the rent from the tenants of four small shops on the first floor and one in the basement.

With the cash compensation, it is impossible to find a house that can provide him with similar monthly income, as the redevelopment project has pushed up real estate prices in nearby areas.  [Yonhap]

You can read much more at the link, but Mr. Cho’s house now has become a hardened fortress complete with activists protecting it to stop people from trying to evict him.