A fire in Seoul's Guryong shanty town displaced about 200 people on January 16, 2026. The blaze, which started around 5 a.m., was fully extinguished after eight hours, with no casualties reported. Authorities evacuated 258 residents and set up a temporary shelter.
Guryong village, located on the fringes of Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, is one of the city's last-remaining shanty towns. Formed in the 1980s when low-income residents were displaced by urban development projects, the makeshift houses there are built with flammable materials like thermal cotton and plywood, making them prone to electrical malfunctions and fires.
The fire broke out around 5 a.m. on January 16, 2026, at an unoccupied house in the village. It quickly spread to other parts, prompting a massive response from authorities. A total of 1,258 personnel and 106 pieces of firefighting equipment were deployed to the scene.
The main blaze was contained by 11:34 a.m., and fully extinguished at 1:28 p.m., about eight hours after it started. Officials evacuated 258 people from the area, with around 180 residents presumed to have lost their homes. No casualties have been reported so far.
The Seoul city government established a temporary shelter at a nearby middle school. Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung instructed responders: "Please check empty houses so that there are no casualties, and make sure that no firefighter is hurt while carrying out swift and thorough evacuation and firefighting efforts."
Fire authorities plan to investigate the exact cause, but suspect the rapid spread was due to the flammable construction materials. Guryong, at the foot of Mount Guryong, is the last slum in the Gangnam area and awaits redevelopment.
