“In the future, in Seoul, basements and semi-basements (banjihas) will not be allowed to be used for residential purposes,” the Seoul city government said in a statement on Wednesday. Korean Federation of Service Worker's Unionįor years, there have been growing calls for the government to provide more affordable housing, improve living conditions in banjihas, or phase them out altogether – which officials pledged to do following public outcry over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s handling of the crisis.

The homes have since come to represent rampant inequality in one of the world’s wealthiest cities.Ī small crowd holds a candlelight vigil in Seoul on August 11 to commemorate a family that died after their home flooded on August 8. Often small, dark and prone to mold during the humid summer, banjihas gained global notoriety following the release of Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning 2019 movie “Parasite,” which followed a fictional family’s desperate attempt to escape poverty. In Seoul’s notoriously expensive housing market, these apartments are some of the most affordable options available – meaning they’re mostly inhabited by young people and those on low incomes. The family lived in a banjiha – a half-underground apartment, typically several steps below street level. On Monday night, torrential rain – the city’s heaviest in more than 100 years – caused severe flooding in many low-lying neighborhoods south of the Han River, sweeping cars away and forcing hundreds to evacuate.

Floodwaters over a parking lot and pedestrian area, which were submerged by the burst banks of the Han River in Seoul on August 10.

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