South Korean officials say at least 500 people have been evacuated after a fire erupted in a capital city slum, located near some of Seoul’s most expensive real estate.
Seoul authorities say no deaths or injuries have been reported.
Hundreds of fire fighters and emergency personnel responded to the blaze in the Guryong Village district.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but some of the homes in the area were reportedly built with cardboard and wood, making the dwellings vulnerable to fires and flooding.
The village was established in the 1980s as a settlement for people who lost their homes in low-income districts during the rapid development of the capital ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
A spokesperson for President Yoon Suk-yeol said the leader, in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum in Davos, was alarmed by news about the fire.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse.
