Movie 'Parasite' Neighborhood Transformed into a Large Complex with 3,000 Households

Ministry of Land and Seoul City Select 8 New Candidate Sites... 10,000 New Housing Units to Be Built

The area around 699 Ahyeon-dong, Mapo-gu, a candidate site for Seoul's public redevelopment. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

The ‘Pig Supermarket’ in Ahyeon-dong, Mapo-gu, which gained international fame after appearing in the movie Parasite, and the surrounding stairway area are preparing to be transformed into a large-scale apartment complex with 3,000 households. Among the eight newly selected public redevelopment candidate sites announced by the government on the 26th, the most notable is the area around 699 Ahyeon-dong. This place is famous as the filming location of director Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 film Parasite.

The area around 699 Ahyeon-dong spans 105,609.2 square meters, making it the largest in area and expected number of households?3,115?among the new candidate sites. It is located near the furniture street in Bukahyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, where many furniture stores are clustered. It is a triple transit station area within walking distance of Chungjeongno Station (Kyonggi University Entrance), a transfer station for Seoul Subway Lines 2 and 5, Ahyeon Station on Line 2, and Aeogae Station on Line 5. Among the Ahyeon New Town developments, including Mapo Raemian Prugio and Mapo Prestige Xi, it is widely regarded as having the best location.

Pig Supermarket, the filming location of the movie Parasite. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

However, the residential environment is outdated enough to have appeared in the movie. Although there has been steady demand for redevelopment projects, progress has been sluggish due to divided opinions among residents regarding the redevelopment method. It is known that there are relatively many shared ownership rights holders, which has also been a factor reducing the project’s feasibility.

The public redevelopment policy presented by the government in the May-June 2020 measures opened the way for project promotion. This is a project led by public entities such as the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) or Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) participating as implementers in areas where projects have stalled due to low feasibility or other reasons. Various public supports are provided, including urban regulation relaxation such as zoning upgrades or floor area ratio increases (allowing up to 120% of the legal limit), exemption from the price ceiling system, project cost loans, and simplified approval procedures. However, half of the newly constructed housing units, excluding those allocated to association members, must be supplied as public rental housing or publicly supported private rental housing.

The area around 699 Ahyeon-dong applied for the first public redevelopment recruitment in 2020 but was put on hold. After the reasons for the hold were resolved, it participated in the second public redevelopment recruitment starting December 29, 2021. At the time of the first application, the consent rate among residents was close to 63%, indicating strong redevelopment willingness. It is expected that the number of households will increase due to incentives under public redevelopment, improving project feasibility.

The area around 26-21 Dorim-dong covers 102,366 square meters and is expected to accommodate 2,322 households. This area has experienced project delays due to controversy over ‘hasty administration.’ The public redevelopment project was put on hold because part of this area overlapped with another public development project candidate site, the ‘Urban Public Housing Urban Complex Project,’ last year. It is reported that there was no coordination between the relevant departments during the candidate site selection process. Project progress and consent form collection were delayed sequentially. However, on January 14, the overlapping area issue was resolved, removing obstacles to project promotion, making it easier to secure owner consent, and accelerating project progress.

The area around 527 Myeonmok-dong is located about 10 minutes from Saja-jeong Station on Line 7. It covers 47,780 square meters and is expected to house 1,022 households. It is right next to the Hanyang Sujain Saja-jeong Park site, which was completed in 2019, and there are two nearby urban public housing complex project sites, raising expectations for surrounding environment improvements. Development was not easy compared to the poor environment filled with old villas. About half of the district is zoned as Type 1 General Residential Area with a focus landscape management zone, which reduced project feasibility. This is why public redevelopment has attracted attention. This area also participated in the first public redevelopment candidate site recruitment in November 2020. In October last year, it also participated in the rapid integrated planning recruitment, showing strong redevelopment enthusiasm among residents. It is reported that the consent rate during the rapid integrated planning recruitment was close to 70%.

Location Map of Public Redevelopment Candidate Sites

The area around 4, Sihung 4-dong, Geumcheon-gu (67,255 square meters) is expected to transform from 1,090 households in an old residential area to a new large complex with 1,509 households. The area around 101 Eungam-dong, Eunpyeong-gu (38,515 square meters) will change from 573 households to 915 households, and the area around 77 Sinwol 5-dong, Yangcheon-gu (30,079 square meters) will transform from 492 households to 775 households. The area around 305 Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu (14,153 square meters) will expand from 110 households to 447 households, and the area around 252 Guro-dong, Guro-gu (11,428 square meters) will change from 196 households to 287 households.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, “In addition to the areas selected as public redevelopment candidate sites, we plan to cooperate with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to implement anti-speculation measures to prevent share splitting, gap investment, uneconomical construction activities (new construction), and sales fraud in areas not selected.”

Location Map of Public Redevelopment Candidate Sites

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.