I think this is most Korean thing ever. Not the aesthetics of 80's to 90's low stories '빌라' but the ever changing status of the places in Korea. Simply nothing lasts forever. I understand that this era's 동네 style is much mean to you but the thing is since Korean War it has been constant developments and deconstructions again and again. We(Koreans) never good at keep things remain as possible or appreciate them and keeping it as original(if we have one). There are few reasons but it is hella complicated topic to cover here I guess. Usually artists, newer(younger) generation and foreigners appreciate this undeveloped area and give them new value to it. Then rent suddenly goes up gentrification begin. However not all the places are successful at keeping their aesthetics sometimes they wanted to be just re built the place for various reason. It is a good thing that you film this place as an archive and I appreciate that.
Yes, Korea is ever changing. I'm used to it by now. I read a couple of good research papers on the topic. One of them was focused on all the New Town projects announced in 2003 and 2005. It explained the purpose behind them and examined how they had progressed. They were intended to help raise property values more equally around the city to encourage more development outside of Gangnam. The paper's conclusion was that it's hard to say they've been successful.
Thank you so much for taking the time effort and patience of producing these videos for us all , As jayne said a couple of comments down we will be visiting Korea in a few weeks due to your videos will will be exploring some the areas that will be gone and hopefully capture just an essence of what was thank you again
Thanks for that! If any unresolved questions come up in your planning or while you're here, feel free to ping me at qna@mikefromkorea.com and I'll see if I can help.
Thank you for this vlog it really sad to hear that those changes are going to be happening , my husband and I will be in Korea in April and will make make it part of our visit to have a wander around this area , we have enjoyed watching all of your vlogs, your wanderings are just the way we like to wander.
I'm glad you're getting something out of my videos! The deadline for residents to move is May 15, so April will still be a good time to visit the area. After May, there's no telling when they'll start closing the streets off to public access. I hope you enjoy your trip!
Oh man, that juxtaposition of "Life Dream Passion Future" and a defunct real estate office...hits a little hard. There really isn't anything wrong with these old areas, and they have a lot of charm. It is sad to see them modernized in many ways.
There are a couple of areas I used to hang out in from time to time where everything over a city block or two was replaced with tower apartments. But this Hannam New Town thing is on an entirely different scale, both in terms of the project's scope and my connection to the area. It's going to feel very strange once all of those buildings are gone.
@@MikeFromKorea It's definitely one thing if property is slowly bought up and conjoined until organically a larger building can built...and then that happens a lot of a long time, the area still has an organic character with lots of variety. But when a few square miles of new development drop out of orbit, it will take a long time for the sterility to fill in with the evidence of people's lives and small decisions accumulated in the structure of the place.
I spent three years in the military housing in Hannam-dong, I know its gone now, it makes me sad but I know it was always going to happen. I plan on returning to Seoul for a visit this summer and I just know there will be some tears.
I went inside Hannam Village many times to use the little commissary and visit friends. It was convenient when I lived nearby. If the last time you were there was before 2012, you'll be in for a surprise at how much the area around it has changed.
I walked the streets of this neighborhood a few weeks ago to show my friend some of my fave spots and I was horrified. It felt like a scene out of the apocalypse, I wasn’t sure what was going on. So, thank you for this video. So many memories had there and…. Sad to see it gone.
Even having known for years that it was in the works, seeing it in action was a bit of a shock. I've seen several of these projects over the years, but this is the first one in a place that's so familiar to me.
Hey Mike what a great video and presentation of Hannam-dong. I had no idea it was being re-developed like this, but it must build a lot of emotions, especially since it's a place you can go to reminisce about your earlier days in Korea. Makes me really curious where those people will go too, as there aren't many neighbourhoods left in Seoul that are truly affordable. Hope they can find somewhere to live, and thanks for the video!
Thanks, Matt! My wife worked as a real estate agent in Hannam-dong and Itaewon for 20 years. I've been hearing about it off and on the whole time. I'd come to think it would never go anywhere because of all the issues surrounding it (competing stakeholder interests, height restrictions on new construction around Namsan, etc.), so it did surprise me when I heard it was actually moving forward. The woman I mentioned that we know who lives in Hannam-dong ended up finding a place in Haengdang-dong. She also decided to close her Itaewon restaurant and is opening a gimbap shop near Sindang station. She'd been thinking of closing her restaurant and moving on to something else for a while. In the end, this was the impetus to actually do it. So for her, at least, it worked out.
Hi! I live in Hannamdog, just across the street from the bar. Charlie's is the meeting point for the locals, mostly foreigners. A few months ago he started selling hotdogs again!!! I wrote the menu board :) I hope to see you here one of these Saturdays!!! (We usually meet on Saturdays at the bar)
I feel your 😢. I grew up in kings bridge in the Bronx NY. I went back to walk the streets I walked in the 60’s They changed. Stores are gone. School is still there but not my ballet school 😢
I hear you. Every time I get back to the States, I see another part of my childhood has been transformed in some way. So many wooded areas and fields have disappeared, replaced by gated communities and those big, ugly shopping centers with Wal-Marts and Home Depots. I'm a stranger in my own home town.
Just walked through here last summer. Can still recognize some of the storefronts, but most of it was still in business at the time. I heard the development was coming and everyone knows how quickly things move once the trigger is pulled, but this is still something to watch. Thank you for the video and your thoughts
Hope that renters get some government assistance for relocation. Over 6000 tenants, that's a lot to relocate and to where would they go. Best wishes for them.
The developer's association behind the project is accepting applications to cover relocation costs for owners and renters, so most of them should be okay in that regard. In theory, anyway.
I was born in Hannam-dong and lived on the border of Hannam-dong and Bokwang-dong until my early 40s. I was very happy to see the neighborhood where I lived in the snapshot. I was discharged from the army in 1995, so I guess I lived in the same neighborhood at a similar time. Now there is a big apartment complex coming up, but I should go visit it before then. It's bittersweet to see the alleyway where I played as a child completely disappear. My hometown is disappearing.
The area you are talking about in the video looks very similar to places in eastern Seoul near Achasan. Guri, too. You have to think, where there are 15-20 story apartment buildings, there used to be 8 story apartments. Where there are 8 story apartments, there used to be 5 story villas. Where there are 5 story villas, there used to be two story homes (주택). And not too far back, thatched roof homes with hand-plastered walls. By the way, this video was a first class presentation.
Your stories of your early years in Korea are fascinating -- how does an American navigate his way through a totally different culture? What made you decide to try and make a life in this place when I think you had mentioned in a previous video that most foreigners you knew at the time went back to their home countries? I think saying good bye to the old neighborhood in some ways is like saying good bye to your youth and recognizing that despite rich and powerful memories, one truly cannot go back. Excellent and thoughtful video, Mike. You have a heart of a poet.
Thank you for that. I've often thought about why I never moved back to the States before I met my wife. I went through that "should I stay or should I go" stage for several months after a trip home in September of '97. I was torn. I felt like my life wouldn't go anywhere good if I stayed. It was difficult to pull completely out of the lifestyle I was living. I scaled back, but I was always dipping into it. Everyone I knew was in it. At the same time, I knew that going back would mean a new career and a very different lifestyle. I wasn't sure I wanted either, but I was leaning in that direction. When I met my wife, everything changed. Our relationship gave me a new focus. The thought of leaving became a vague idea of something that would happen "someday". Then one day I realized I didn't want to go back. I told my wife, she agreed, and that was that.
I am very interested in this, as I lived in Seoul in the 90s. I am more and more saddened by Seoul neighborhoods with character being flattened and modern buildings being put up in their place. When I look, it seems to be mostly tall apartment complexes replacing them I've seen videos where residents are sad about it. Your video Is lovely and something I am saving to look at again and again in the future. If you do more videos about this topic, I'd love it!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have mixed feelings about most big redevelopment projects. The new facilities that typically go up tend to have a lot more room for greenery than what was there before, and many of the buildings they're replacing are falling apart to some degree. From that perspective, there's significant benefit. But then very few of the people living in the old buildings would be able to afford an apartment in the new ones, and many will potentially end up relocating somewhere they'd rather not be, maybe with a longer commute to work or higher rent. It's incredibly disruptive to replace such large areas in one go, and I hate that so many people are affected. Particularly in this project, given its large scope. As for character, many neighborhoods change organically on a small scale through individual buyers replacing old buildings with new ones one at a time. In that case, a neighborhood's character is evolved, not erased. But that only happens when there's incentive to buy a building in the area. Sometimes you'll see that kind of development start in a neighborhood, with new villas going up here and there, only to fizzle out when the apartments in the new villas go unsold or unrented for months on end. Then the area stagnates, and the old buildings continue to degrade. There are so many sides to consider. There's a spot near Yongsan Station where there used to be an old sort of shantytown with a market that looked like it was plucked out of the countryside. Right before I left the Army, I lived in a little hotel for a couple of months near there and used to walk through the market on my way back and forth to work. I loved it. Now there's a tower apartment complex there. One of the Blackpink members lived in it for a while, I hear. When I walk by, part of me is happy to see all the trees and loves the atmosphere of the shops and restaurants on the ground floor, but another part really misses that old market, even though it was such a rundown old place where no one would live by choice if it were still around. I can't recall if I mentioned this in the video, but one of the issues that has delayed Hannam New Town for so long is that the developers want to build tower apartments like they build elsewhere, but the government has height restrictions on new construction near Namsan. The developers have been pushing for exceptions, but from what I've read there's been some confusion about whether they'll be granted. The final decision on that will have a big impact on what the development actually looks like. I do want to put out more videos like this in the future. There are several locations to choose from where development is either complete, under way, or planned.
I don't think you mentioned in the video that the developers want to make taller buildings than what the municipality allows.... Either way, I will be upset to not be able to see that hill full of brick houses and to lose the ability to see that church at the top. They're what makes Seoul, Seoul!
Does the government just pay owners and then mark up the land for developers? I think and interview with someone who went through this would be interesting! I'd also love to see updates on the earlier areas you saw being ripped down--are any completed yet? I used to live near Sewoon Sangga and I loved walking down all those little alleyways of craftsmen.
I don't know the details of the process. I haven't yet looked into it in depth. Most of the New Town projects announced in 2003 and 2005 have been completed, some only partially. I'm not completely sure, but I think Hannam New Town may have been the last one to get started.
In my city in Canada if you displace a resident due to development you must relocate them to another unit at the same rental rate (sometimes in the new building). I'm sure Seoul doesn't have a similar program, but is there any subsidization for these residents? I imagine it would be hard for them to find affordable housing in other parts of Seoul.
All I know for sure is that the residents can apply for reimbursement of the cost of relocation. I don't know if there's any assistance available beyond that. My wife and I know a woman who had to relocate. My wife helped her find a new place, and she's expecting to recover 100% of the cost of the move, but nothing more than that.
As always, I tend to get easily confused. I've always thought that Hannam-dong is where many embassies are located, and where rich people lived. I remember walking around the area with my daughter and remarking that it was relatively more peaceful and quiet. The place located east of Yong-san was (is) called HBC, a run down area where many expats lived (live). I'm going to guess that HBC is what this video is about and maybe you can correct me.
HBC is Haebangchon, right outside Main Post Gate 21 to the left. That's a nickname it picked up long ago. The neighborhood is actually Yongsan-dong (specifically, Yongsan 2ga-dong). The link below is to a map with some colored polygons that may help. The gray one is HBC. The orange one is roughly the quiet part of Hannam-dong with the embassies, though the western end of it isn't so peaceful and quiet these days. The yellow one is the part I showed that's gentrified. The pink one is a rough outline of the part of Hannam-dong that's slated for demolition as part of Zone 3. The purple one is the part of neighboring Bogwang-dong that's also in Zone 3. www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Ozo53xM1umD4-uXXoGHOxUsXtLcry90&usp=sharing For reference, here's a link on Naver Maps that shows the full boundaries of Hannam-dong. naver.me/F3OVrzIP
@@MikeFromKorea Wow, i lived near Geumho station for a year back in 2018 before we had to flee the high housing costs and move to Namyangju. Didn't realized how close I was to the areas you are taking about. Sorry I comment so much, this all (your videos about Seoul resonates with me quite a bit.
![Bogwang-dong & Binggo-dong Street •[4k] Seoul, Korea](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kWJX5g4FEjY/mqdefault.jpg)
I think this is most Korean thing ever. Not the aesthetics of 80's to 90's low stories '빌라' but the ever changing status of the places in Korea. Simply nothing lasts forever. I understand that this era's 동네 style is much mean to you but the thing is since Korean War it has been constant developments and deconstructions again and again. We(Koreans) never good at keep things remain as possible or appreciate them and keeping it as original(if we have one). There are few reasons but it is hella complicated topic to cover here I guess. Usually artists, newer(younger) generation and foreigners appreciate this undeveloped area and give them new value to it. Then rent suddenly goes up gentrification begin. However not all the places are successful at keeping their aesthetics sometimes they wanted to be just re built the place for various reason. It is a good thing that you film this place as an archive and I appreciate that.
Yes, Korea is ever changing. I'm used to it by now. I read a couple of good research papers on the topic. One of them was focused on all the New Town projects announced in 2003 and 2005. It explained the purpose behind them and examined how they had progressed. They were intended to help raise property values more equally around the city to encourage more development outside of Gangnam. The paper's conclusion was that it's hard to say they've been successful.
Thank you so much for taking the time effort and patience of producing these videos for us all ,
As jayne said a couple of comments down we will be visiting Korea in a few weeks
due to your videos will will be exploring some the areas that will be gone and hopefully capture just an essence of what was
thank you again
Thanks for that! If any unresolved questions come up in your planning or while you're here, feel free to ping me at qna@mikefromkorea.com and I'll see if I can help.
Thank you for your take on this neighbourhood…bitter sweet…
I think this one hits a bit more for me just because so much of the area is going to vanish all at once.
Thank you for this vlog it really sad to hear that those changes are going to be happening , my husband and I will be in Korea in April and will make make it part of our visit to have a wander around this area , we have enjoyed watching all of your vlogs, your wanderings are just the way we like to wander.
I'm glad you're getting something out of my videos! The deadline for residents to move is May 15, so April will still be a good time to visit the area. After May, there's no telling when they'll start closing the streets off to public access. I hope you enjoy your trip!
Oh man, that juxtaposition of "Life Dream Passion Future" and a defunct real estate office...hits a little hard. There really isn't anything wrong with these old areas, and they have a lot of charm. It is sad to see them modernized in many ways.
There are a couple of areas I used to hang out in from time to time where everything over a city block or two was replaced with tower apartments. But this Hannam New Town thing is on an entirely different scale, both in terms of the project's scope and my connection to the area. It's going to feel very strange once all of those buildings are gone.
@@MikeFromKorea It's definitely one thing if property is slowly bought up and conjoined until organically a larger building can built...and then that happens a lot of a long time, the area still has an organic character with lots of variety. But when a few square miles of new development drop out of orbit, it will take a long time for the sterility to fill in with the evidence of people's lives and small decisions accumulated in the structure of the place.
I spent three years in the military housing in Hannam-dong, I know its gone now, it makes me sad but I know it was always going to happen. I plan on returning to Seoul for a visit this summer and I just know there will be some tears.
I went inside Hannam Village many times to use the little commissary and visit friends. It was convenient when I lived nearby. If the last time you were there was before 2012, you'll be in for a surprise at how much the area around it has changed.
Appreciate your sentiments for those who will be affected. And, your optimism. What memories you must have
Thank you!
Thank you for another truly lovely, informative presentation w/ beautiful music. 👍
I walked the streets of this neighborhood a few weeks ago to show my friend some of my fave spots and I was horrified. It felt like a scene out of the apocalypse, I wasn’t sure what was going on. So, thank you for this video. So many memories had there and…. Sad to see it gone.
Even having known for years that it was in the works, seeing it in action was a bit of a shock. I've seen several of these projects over the years, but this is the first one in a place that's so familiar to me.
Hey Mike what a great video and presentation of Hannam-dong. I had no idea it was being re-developed like this, but it must build a lot of emotions, especially since it's a place you can go to reminisce about your earlier days in Korea. Makes me really curious where those people will go too, as there aren't many neighbourhoods left in Seoul that are truly affordable. Hope they can find somewhere to live, and thanks for the video!
Thanks, Matt! My wife worked as a real estate agent in Hannam-dong and Itaewon for 20 years. I've been hearing about it off and on the whole time. I'd come to think it would never go anywhere because of all the issues surrounding it (competing stakeholder interests, height restrictions on new construction around Namsan, etc.), so it did surprise me when I heard it was actually moving forward.
The woman I mentioned that we know who lives in Hannam-dong ended up finding a place in Haengdang-dong. She also decided to close her Itaewon restaurant and is opening a gimbap shop near Sindang station. She'd been thinking of closing her restaurant and moving on to something else for a while. In the end, this was the impetus to actually do it. So for her, at least, it worked out.
@@MikeFromKorea oh yeah it must have been a really hard project to finally green light. Glad it worked out for the woman you know though!
Hi! I live in Hannamdog, just across the street from the bar. Charlie's is the meeting point for the locals, mostly foreigners. A few months ago he started selling hotdogs again!!! I wrote the menu board :) I hope to see you here one of these Saturdays!!! (We usually meet on Saturdays at the bar)
Cool! I haven't been by there in a long while. I do need to pop in sometime.
I feel your 😢. I grew up in kings bridge in the Bronx NY. I went back to walk the streets I walked in the 60’s They changed. Stores are gone. School is still there but not my ballet school 😢
I hear you. Every time I get back to the States, I see another part of my childhood has been transformed in some way. So many wooded areas and fields have disappeared, replaced by gated communities and those big, ugly shopping centers with Wal-Marts and Home Depots. I'm a stranger in my own home town.
Absolutely. One day I’ll go to Korea. It looks like a beautiful country
Just walked through here last summer. Can still recognize some of the storefronts, but most of it was still in business at the time. I heard the development was coming and everyone knows how quickly things move once the trigger is pulled, but this is still something to watch. Thank you for the video and your thoughts
Hope that renters get some government assistance for relocation. Over 6000 tenants, that's a lot to relocate and to where would they go. Best wishes for them.
The developer's association behind the project is accepting applications to cover relocation costs for owners and renters, so most of them should be okay in that regard. In theory, anyway.
I was born in Hannam-dong and lived on the border of Hannam-dong and Bokwang-dong until my early 40s. I was very happy to see the neighborhood where I lived in the snapshot. I was discharged from the army in 1995, so I guess I lived in the same neighborhood at a similar time. Now there is a big apartment complex coming up, but I should go visit it before then. It's bittersweet to see the alleyway where I played as a child completely disappear. My hometown is disappearing.
The area you are talking about in the video looks very similar to places in eastern Seoul near Achasan. Guri, too. You have to think, where there are 15-20 story apartment buildings, there used to be 8 story apartments. Where there are 8 story apartments, there used to be 5 story villas. Where there are 5 story villas, there used to be two story homes (주택). And not too far back, thatched roof homes with hand-plastered walls.
By the way, this video was a first class presentation.
Thank you!
Your stories of your early years in Korea are fascinating -- how does an American navigate his way through a totally different culture? What made you decide to try and make a life in this place when I think you had mentioned in a previous video that most foreigners you knew at the time went back to their home countries? I think saying good bye to the old neighborhood in some ways is like saying good bye to your youth and recognizing that despite rich and powerful memories, one truly cannot go back. Excellent and thoughtful video, Mike. You have a heart of a poet.
Thank you for that. I've often thought about why I never moved back to the States before I met my wife. I went through that "should I stay or should I go" stage for several months after a trip home in September of '97. I was torn. I felt like my life wouldn't go anywhere good if I stayed. It was difficult to pull completely out of the lifestyle I was living. I scaled back, but I was always dipping into it. Everyone I knew was in it. At the same time, I knew that going back would mean a new career and a very different lifestyle. I wasn't sure I wanted either, but I was leaning in that direction.
When I met my wife, everything changed. Our relationship gave me a new focus. The thought of leaving became a vague idea of something that would happen "someday". Then one day I realized I didn't want to go back. I told my wife, she agreed, and that was that.
Thanks for another great video, Mike! Love learning about Korea through your eyes.
Thanks for watching, as always!
I am very interested in this, as I lived in Seoul in the 90s. I am more and more saddened by Seoul neighborhoods with character being flattened and modern buildings being put up in their place. When I look, it seems to be mostly tall apartment complexes replacing them I've seen videos where residents are sad about it. Your video Is lovely and something I am saving to look at again and again in the future.
If you do more videos about this topic, I'd love it!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have mixed feelings about most big redevelopment projects. The new facilities that typically go up tend to have a lot more room for greenery than what was there before, and many of the buildings they're replacing are falling apart to some degree. From that perspective, there's significant benefit. But then very few of the people living in the old buildings would be able to afford an apartment in the new ones, and many will potentially end up relocating somewhere they'd rather not be, maybe with a longer commute to work or higher rent. It's incredibly disruptive to replace such large areas in one go, and I hate that so many people are affected. Particularly in this project, given its large scope.
As for character, many neighborhoods change organically on a small scale through individual buyers replacing old buildings with new ones one at a time. In that case, a neighborhood's character is evolved, not erased. But that only happens when there's incentive to buy a building in the area. Sometimes you'll see that kind of development start in a neighborhood, with new villas going up here and there, only to fizzle out when the apartments in the new villas go unsold or unrented for months on end. Then the area stagnates, and the old buildings continue to degrade.
There are so many sides to consider. There's a spot near Yongsan Station where there used to be an old sort of shantytown with a market that looked like it was plucked out of the countryside. Right before I left the Army, I lived in a little hotel for a couple of months near there and used to walk through the market on my way back and forth to work. I loved it. Now there's a tower apartment complex there. One of the Blackpink members lived in it for a while, I hear. When I walk by, part of me is happy to see all the trees and loves the atmosphere of the shops and restaurants on the ground floor, but another part really misses that old market, even though it was such a rundown old place where no one would live by choice if it were still around.
I can't recall if I mentioned this in the video, but one of the issues that has delayed Hannam New Town for so long is that the developers want to build tower apartments like they build elsewhere, but the government has height restrictions on new construction near Namsan. The developers have been pushing for exceptions, but from what I've read there's been some confusion about whether they'll be granted. The final decision on that will have a big impact on what the development actually looks like.
I do want to put out more videos like this in the future. There are several locations to choose from where development is either complete, under way, or planned.
I don't think you mentioned in the video that the developers want to make taller buildings than what the municipality allows.... Either way, I will be upset to not be able to see that hill full of brick houses and to lose the ability to see that church at the top. They're what makes Seoul, Seoul!
Does the government just pay owners and then mark up the land for developers? I think and interview with someone who went through this would be interesting! I'd also love to see updates on the earlier areas you saw being ripped down--are any completed yet? I used to live near Sewoon Sangga and I loved walking down all those little alleyways of craftsmen.
I don't know the details of the process. I haven't yet looked into it in depth. Most of the New Town projects announced in 2003 and 2005 have been completed, some only partially. I'm not completely sure, but I think Hannam New Town may have been the last one to get started.
In my city in Canada if you displace a resident due to development you must relocate them to another unit at the same rental rate (sometimes in the new building). I'm sure Seoul doesn't have a similar program, but is there any subsidization for these residents? I imagine it would be hard for them to find affordable housing in other parts of Seoul.
All I know for sure is that the residents can apply for reimbursement of the cost of relocation. I don't know if there's any assistance available beyond that. My wife and I know a woman who had to relocate. My wife helped her find a new place, and she's expecting to recover 100% of the cost of the move, but nothing more than that.
@@MikeFromKorea Sadly this might be yet another factor contributing to the elderly poverty crisis in Seoul.
As always, I tend to get easily confused. I've always thought that Hannam-dong is where many embassies are located, and where rich people lived. I remember walking around the area with my daughter and remarking that it was relatively more peaceful and quiet. The place located east of Yong-san was (is) called HBC, a run down area where many expats lived (live). I'm going to guess that HBC is what this video is about and maybe you can correct me.
HBC is Haebangchon, right outside Main Post Gate 21 to the left. That's a nickname it picked up long ago. The neighborhood is actually Yongsan-dong (specifically, Yongsan 2ga-dong).
The link below is to a map with some colored polygons that may help. The gray one is HBC. The orange one is roughly the quiet part of Hannam-dong with the embassies, though the western end of it isn't so peaceful and quiet these days. The yellow one is the part I showed that's gentrified. The pink one is a rough outline of the part of Hannam-dong that's slated for demolition as part of Zone 3. The purple one is the part of neighboring Bogwang-dong that's also in Zone 3.
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Ozo53xM1umD4-uXXoGHOxUsXtLcry90&usp=sharing
For reference, here's a link on Naver Maps that shows the full boundaries of Hannam-dong.
naver.me/F3OVrzIP
@@MikeFromKorea Wow, i lived near Geumho station for a year back in 2018 before we had to flee the high housing costs and move to Namyangju. Didn't realized how close I was to the areas you are taking about. Sorry I comment so much, this all (your videos about Seoul resonates with me quite a bit.
I'm happy to see the comments. Keep 'em coming!