If that subject made any sense to you, congratulations. Otherwise, feel free to bone up.
Nail house entry is here, and I just got a shock that the photo I included for the
moon village entry is of the exact same neighbourhood this post is about, albeit in a much different state.
1. If you click on the moon village entry, you'll note that the highrises in the distance are identical to the ones in this picture.
2.
3. The writing on the house shows in blue that they refused to sign a relocation contract, and the red is an update that they accepted.
3. Meanwhile, across the valley, there's one more house where I could see an elderly woman looking down as an excavator actively chews up the dirt meters from her property.
4. I was interested in how the landscape, which had previously been such a complex little refugee village, had become just this.
5.
6.
I was with a reporter and we went up to the nail house and knocked on the door and interviewed the woman inside, but her daughter later called us asking to leave her name and pictures out of our article, which I will honour here.
It turns out, this land was previously owned by Prince Yangnyeong, the eldest son of a 15th-century king. He was due to ascend to the throne, but he saw greatness in his youngest brother so according to legend he acted improper in court in order to take himself out of the running. His brother went on to become the most beloved king in Korean history. He is now buried in a fancy grave about 300 meters south of here.
Following the Korean War, refugees moved in and occupied this land, so due to the illegitimacy of their land claim, almost 70 years later, the construction company had no difficulty evicting them. And, I was told, everyone wanted to leave anyway. The remaining evictees claimed they had legitimate ownership of the land and asked for more compensation so they could be allowed to remain in the capital city.
7. On my way out as the daylight faded, I noticed the cross on this church in the lower part of the picture was lit up. Also, the two mid-size brick apartment buildings are both still partially inhabited.