gentrification

Jieun Choi
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Broken Clocks, Rising Dust: Death of a Street

If the places with history all close one after the other, what will Insadong be? * Read our in-depth coverage about the end of the Insadong of the past: Insadong: Breathing Its Last

Youjin Do
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"The Brooklyn of Seoul"

Beyond the photogenic nature of the neighborhood, Seongsu is remarkable for its resistance to gentrification. Jeong Won-oh, the head of Seongdong district, where Seongsu is located, is spearheading efforts to protect rent from skyrocketing — by trying to meet property owners 1:1, limiting corporate franchises from entering the neighborhood

Steven Borowiec
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The Last Gulps of the Canary in the Itaewon Coal Mine

After climbing a dusty, graffiti-strewn staircase to the entrance to Seoul Pub, one encounters a handwritten sign hanging on the glass door: “No drunken, fighting, sleeping, bothering, picking up.” Inside the bar, owner Jung In-chul explains that the sign is an expression of his desire to maintain a family-like atmosphere

Ben Jackson
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A Complex Issue: The Apart-ization of South Korea

Itaewon has a reputation as Seoul’s ‘foreign’ area. Standing next to U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, it has long catered to the off-base needs and urges of military personnel, gaining a sleazy reputation in the process. Many South Koreans were afraid to set foot there until a few years

Steven Borowiec
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Ikseon-dong: Seoul's Hottest Poverty Porn Destination

If you plug Ikseon-dong, the name of a central Seoul neighborhood, into your preferred search engine, you’ll come up with countless photographs, many of which look the same: shabby low-rise buildings with wooden doors along narrow alleyways. One recurring image is Ikseon-dong shot from above, contextualizing it as a