Cheongsujang is a squatter village at the entrance to Bukhan National Forest. A couple who are friends of mine run a foster home there in a small, humble but comfortable home. To me, an old fuddydud who would rather Seoul had stopped developing in 1970, Cheongsujang is a beautiful place, with winding paths and hills and trees and lots of character. But when a denizen of the village caught me taking photos, she scolded me for publicizing the village's shameful poverty.

There used to be a lot of squatter villages similar to this, but the developers wiped out one after another to erect their high-rise apartment cities within the city, chasing the residents far out of the city or into cramped rental hovels in the city. The people who live in Cheongsujang, though, somehow held on to their village, and, despite what the very humble appearance of the homes would make you believe, live quite comfortably. Within a couple years, though, at the initiative of the city government and with the agreement of the residents, the village will be developed into one of low apartments for the residents themselves. The concept of human rights has come a long way in Korea--for Koreans, anyway.