The Hanok at Kahoi-dong 31-34 and others

[David Kilburn]

Dear All,

One of the hanoks in the National Trust’s exhibition is almost certain
to be Kahoi-dong 31-34. I thought you might be interested to read some
documents about how it came into being.

In the FILES section of the group, I have uploaded a PDF called
“Letter to Jongno and reply 2002.pdf “

This includes a complaint to the police by a former neighbour Chung
Tae-Bong, and earlier documents regarding a complaint to the
Jongnoguchung and their reply.

Here is a rough translation of the complaint to the police that
encapsulates the story, followed by a rough translation of the
Jongnoguchung’s reply. This is significant because it says that the
construction of Kahoi-dong 31-34 was entirely illegal.

I am also putting this note in the FILES section of the group as a
WORD doc since some formatting gets lost in this posting. Look for "
The Hanok at Kahoi-dong 31-34 and others.doc "

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Report to the Jongno-gu Police,
February 2002

1. Chung Tae-Bong resident at Kahoi-dong 31-37 complains about damage
caused by
2. Lee Dong-Ki, Resident at Kahoi-dong 31-34 [Lee had recently bought
this house]

And also about the procedures followed by:

3. Jongnoguchung Construction Department
Section Head: Mr. Lee Han-Gu
Deputy: Mr. Lee Hyung-Chan
Housing Dept Section Head: Mr. Lee Jong-Kwon
The Mayor of Jong-no


Reason for the Report

We are Kahoi-dong Bukchon residents. We report that the owner of Kahoi-
dong 31-34 [Lee Dong-Ki] and Mrs. Park Chan-Sook, a builder, are doing
illegal construction work. Because of their illegal work, we and our
neighbours have all suffered damage. These people we mention
demolished the original hanoks in October 2001 and then without any
permission they built a new house that is much bigger and taller than
before.

Reported Facts


1) The people reporting the facts are Bukchon Kahoi-dong resident and
they are reporting about the owner of Kahoi-dong 31-34, Lee Dong-ki
and the builder working on that site Mrs. Park Chan Sook, and also
about the Jongnoguchung officials mentioned above.

2)
a) In October 2001, Mr. Lee Dong-Ki asked the builder, Mrs. Park Chan-
Sook, to demolish the hanok at Kahoi-dong 31-34 and to rebuild a
bigger and taller building. This new building also did not keep the
required space between Mr. Chung’s house and the new one. They did
this without getting any permits for the work. Therefore Mr. Chung Tae-
Bong and other neighbours sent the letter about the illegal site to
the Jongnoguchung.
b) The Jongnoguchung replied with a letter saying that Construction
Laws Nos 8 and 9 were being broken; therefore the owner of Kahoi-dong
31-34 should stop the work, follow proper procedures, and get permits
before doing the work.
c) Despite this, the building work carried on without permission
without any interruption and the builders even raised the basic ground
level for the new building.
d) The Jongnoguchung said that they could not, in fact, stop the
illegal work because if they followed Construction Laws 8 & 9, then it
would be very difficult to proceed with the “Hanok Preservation
Project” for “Registered Hanoks” [Comment: the only buildings that
were allowed to become registered hanoks were new constructions where
older hanoks had been demolished, usually without permission] .
Because of this, the Jongnoguchung said that Seoul City told them they
should ignore these laws for “Registered Hanoks,” especially when the
“Registered Hanoks” were being built following the complete demolition
of old hanoks as part of the official Bukchon Preservation Plan.
e) In effect, Seoul City is giving official protection to illegal
construction work.
f) We showed the letter from the Jongnoguchung that said the work on
31-34 was illegal to Mr. Lee Dong-Ki and his builder, Ms. Park Chan-
Sook. They told us to go ahead and make any reports to any
authorities we wished, but that they could do whatever they liked and
that this was all ok with Seoul City because this was a “Bukchon Plan
Registered Hanok Project”

3) As a result of this, we have all suffered damage, and so we report
these facts to you, the police. Seoul City gave this problem to the
Jongroguchung who then gave it back to Seoul City, and so on. With
this kind of irresponsible behaviour by civil servants, this illegal
construction site is very well protected and work carries on without
bothering about laws or permits. We appeal to you to investigate this,
to see that the laws are upheld, and that we are awarded damaged.

Attached to the complaint to the police were:
1. Complaints to the Jongnoguchung
2. Reply from the Jongnoguchung

[Comment:
The original complaint to the Jongnoguchung was signed by about 30
residents. Since Jade and I were away, Jade’s mother signed on our
behalf
All the people who signed the letter of complaint were later
subjected to severe harassment and some sold their properties as a
result. The fact that Jade’s mother signed might have suggested that
she was the legal owner of our house, which she was not. She was
severely intimidated as we made more protests. Her health suffered,
and she died earlier this year. Mr. Chung Tae-Bong held out for a long
time but eventually his wife sold their house because she became
afraid for her husband’s life. You can hear Mr. Chung talking in the
Kahoidong film
The police ignored this complaint, just as they ignored every
complaint filed thereafter about the activities of construction
workers on “registered hanoks”]



Jongno’s reply to the original complaint, citing the buildings that
were illegal

Jongnogu
Document No: Jutak 58554-712
Date: 2001-12-04
Public Information: Public
From: Chung Tae-Bong, Kahoi-dong 31-27 and 33 other residents
Title: Reply to Civil Complaint Letter

1. Thank you for your letter
2. We have checked three additional houses. These are not permitted as
Construction Building sites and break Construction Laws Nos 8 and 9.
This means that the owners did not get permission for their work and
did not report it to the local administrative authority. Therefore we
have ordered them not to carry on with the work. They must get proper
permissions, certifications and make a proper report of their work
first. They must also make any corrections that are required.
3. As this area is a special hanok village project in Bukchon there
are also extra permissions from the Jongnoguchung and Seoul City
required to make sure the work is well organised and properly carried
out. This will involve some discussion between the two
administrations. Please understand that we will do our best.


Illegal Construction at 2001-12-04
Location Owner Investigation Order
Kahoi-dong 31-30 Jo Ju-Rib Original Building demolished.
Basement & Foundations built Stop work, Follow the law, get
construction permissions. Make Reports
Kahoi-dong 31-34 Lee Dong-Ki Original Building demolished
Foundations Built ditto
Kahoi-dong 31-40 Jo Sun-Eui Outside of Building detached work in
progress.
Behind the wall, brick and stone detached brickwork ditto
Kahoi-dong 31-41 Jo Sun & 1 other Original Building demolished
Floor & basic stone setting work done. ditto


Comment
All these four addresses are within the S1 Preservation district
which, according to the Bukchon Plan, comprised old hanoks in very
good condition. Two of the original hanoks are cited in Volume 2 of
the plan, together with architectural drawings etc as good examples of
the district’s hanoks.

David