South Korea’s capital Seoul can move to phase out there semi-basement flats right after two women and a teenager died during flooding earlier this week.
The small flats, featured in the Oscar-winning film Parasite, are usually rented in order to people on lower incomes.
Seoul will not give out permits to construct such homes out of this week on and will gradually convert existing apartments, officials stated.
This comes after the town was hit with the heaviest rains within 80 years.
As of Wed, at least 11 people were confirmed dead or missing as a result of the particular floods, which have eliminated on for three days.
On Monday night, two sisters in their 40s and a 13-year-old girl were found dead in their flooded semi-basement even.
They had apparently sought help as their home filled with drinking water, but rescuers were unable to reach them.
The tragedy provides renewed attention upon income inequality as well as the dangers of living in the semi-underground condominiums – or banjiha – which are known for cheap rents plus poor living conditions.
On Wednesday, officials said that the city would consult with the government to revise the building regulation to completely ban the usage of basement or semi-basement spaces for home purposes, according to the Yonhap report.
The city will give proprietors of such flats 20 years to transform them for non-residential uses such as storage or parking lots.
Authorities will also provide support for existing banjiha tenants to go to public rental housing, according to reports.
“Underground and semi-underground casing threatens the susceptible in all aspects, inch Seoul Mayor Also Se-hoon told Yonhap.
CJENM/BBC
Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 movie Parasite, which showcased a low-income household living in a banjiha in Seoul, elevated awareness of these flats internationally.
Following an Oscar-winning movie’s achievement, the city government mentioned it would financially assistance 1, 500 households living in semi-basement apartments so that they could improve their living conditions.
As of 2020, there were regarding 200, 000 such flats in Seoul – making up 5% of all households in the capital – public data shows.
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