London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks

David and Jade Kilburn
David and Jade Kilburn (bottom right) at the lecture on 25 March 2010 (Photos by Sandy Soh)

MUST READ: David Kilburn's scathing critique of Seoul's conservation record, in a talk given at the National Human Rights Committee Study Centre: Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks http://bit.ly/9Eff2D #. Here’s a sample:

Since 1976, the Seoul Government has claimed it has policies to preserve the hanoks of Bukchon. Yet the simple fact is that the government repeatedly sanctions exceptions to its policies. The result is a continuing decline in the number of hanoks. When we first went to live in Kahoidong in 1988, there were about 1,500 hanoks in Bukchon. Today there are only about 900, and the number keeps falling. Only a week ago, another hanok in our own street in Kahoi-dong was demolished. Ours is now the only original building left.

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