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‘Nowhere else to go’: The squatters in the richest part of Seoul
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Guryong, a 28.7ha, unauthorised settlement surrounded by some of the country’s richest people, symbolises the economic gap in Seoul and the struggle the poor face to own a home.
PHOTO: CHANG W. LEE/NYTIMES
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Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL – Madam Lee Chang-wol lives on a sliver of some of the most coveted real estate in Seoul, South Korea, in the city’s rich Gangnam district.
But her life does not exude any of the glamour of “Gangnam Style”, the K-pop smash that gave the upscale area global fame. For nearly four decades, she has made her home in a cramped, one-room hut that does not even have a toilet.
