Guryong and Gangnam

Guryong, a shanty town in Seoul,

is adjacent to South Korea's wealthiest Gangnam district.

The sprawling slum of plywood and tarpaulin shacks

has more than 2000 residents scrabbling out a subsistence

living with Third World poverty levels

and little or no proper sanitation.

Guryong is about as far removed as possible 

from the opulent, glitzy world of neighbouring Gangnam -

an upscale district of luxury boutiques and night clubs.

Guryong is only separated from Gangnam 

by a highway and covers an area of 70 acres.

The irony of Guryong's squalor is that

it sits on an area of prime real estate.

The land is privately owned,

but the squatters have been there for so long

that they have acquired a quasi-legal status.

Guryong is a concentrated embodiment of everything

that is wrong with South Korea's rapid economic development.

It is a powerful symbol of inequality in our society.

Widening income gaps,

the lack of support for rapidly ageing population

and the marginalisation of those left behind

by the country's industrial drive.