<Anchor> The



day before the Lunar New Year holiday, the residents of the village lost their livelihood in a devastating fire.



Fire accidents are frequent here in Guryong Village, and one resident died in 2014, and since then there have already been 12 fires.



<Reporter>



In November 2014, a fire that started in a village junk shop took the life of one resident.



Since then, the following year and last year, until today (20th), only 12 fires occurred in Guryong Village.



Guryong Village is a place where evicted people who were kicked out by the government in the 1980s for harming the city's aesthetics in preparation for an international event settled down.



Since most of the shacks are over 30 years old, heating is difficult in winter, so electric heaters are used a lot.



[Lee Hyeon-gyu/Seoul Guryong Village Resident: The internal line is a mess.

It shorts out and catches fire.

Then, when the briquettes are removed, the briquettes start a fire.

Even if you throw something like a cigarette on the street, it will catch fire again...

.]



Another risk factor is that once a fire starts, it spreads easily to a large scale.



Buildings throughout the town are so densely packed that it is too cramped for one adult to pass through.



In particular, if you look at it, it is covered with combustible materials such as vinyl or cotton, making it a more vulnerable structure in case of fire.



Briquettes and LPG gas cylinders are placed outside between buildings, and most of the villagers are elderly in their 60s and 70s, so there is great concern about large-scale casualties.



The city of Seoul has set a goal of completing the entire redevelopment project by 2025, but the situation is sluggish as conflicts continue between the city authorities, landowners, and villagers.



[Kim Jeong-ryeol/Guryong village resident, Seoul: I buy a lot of ancestral rites on the same day as yesterday.

There is a bowl, there is something.

It's all burned up.

I couldn't get a single piece of clothes or anything.]



The Lunar New Year's holiday is approaching even colder for the victims of Guryong Village, who lost their place of living.



(Video coverage: Kim Seung-tae, Video editing: Won-hee Won)



▶ Big fire in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu...

500 residents evacuated