Backlash from people in their 20s and 30s against the "bus house" proposed by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Hwang Hee is spreading online as mocking memes. The idea of converting decommissioned buses to solve the youth housing crunch has even spawned a parody of a luxury apartment, a fictional "scrap bus apartment."
On the 10th, posts satirizing Hwang's bus house proposal have been popping up on social media and online communities.
A representative example is content titled "today's youth bus real estate listings." It labeled prices such as "Hannam the Wheel" at 20 million won for sale, and "ACRO Reverse Park" and "Banporter Xi" at 15 million won each.
It parodies some of Seoul's most expensive apartments: "Hannam The Hill," "ACRO River Park," and "Banpo Xi." It inserts "wheel," meaning a bus tire, turns "River Park" into "Reverse Park," and combines a bus "Porter" with "Banpo Xi."
It was even dressed up like an actual property listing with the line, "As inquiries for this premium property are surging, asking prices are changing in real time, so genuine buyers should move quickly."
Images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are also spreading. In an image titled "I live in Banpo~," a bus marked "Bus House 01" appears against a backdrop reminiscent of Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.
Images have also appeared showing multiple scrap buses lined up as if forming a "youth housing" complex. Instead of buildings, buses are set up with phrases such as "youth happiness" and "youth housing we live in together, together, value," to satirize the policy proposal.
Another AI video features a fictional young person who moved into the scrap bus youth housing saying, "In summer it's a jjimjilbang, and in winter it's a freezer." One video drew 230,000 views just two days after it was posted.
The bus house controversy began when Hwang floated the idea on social networking services (SNS) on the 7th.
Citing the Netherlands' "boat house" case, Hwang proposed converting buses slated for disposal into living spaces and offering them as short-term temporary housing for college-area youth. He put the remodeling expense at about 50 million won per unit and emphasized that even supplying 10,000 units would total around 500 billion won, allowing for rapid delivery.
But the reaction from young people was cold. Critics said, "It's not that there are no homes, it's that we can't afford a place to live," calling it a proposal that fails to grasp reality. In particular, some said it was inappropriate in itself to present scrap buses as a housing alternative to young people burdened by housing costs and home prices.
As the controversy grew, Hwang deleted the post and said, "I hear young people felt offended," adding that "the bus house concept was purely at the level of an idea."
The Democratic Party of Korea also distanced itself from Hwang's proposal. Policy Committee Chair Han Jeong-ae said at a related meeting on the 9th that bus houses were "just about thinking through various ideas," adding, "I see it as a happening." She continued, "We are sincerely sorry and apologetic for the situation that unexpectedly hurt young people."
The backlash among young people is also tied to actual housing conditions. According to the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), the share of those age 39 and under who own the dwellings they live in stood at 27.7% last year, the lowest since the related statistics were revamped in 2017.
In the end, before the idea of using scrap buses for housing could even be reviewed as a policy alternative, it turned into a target of mockery with "Banporter Xi," "Hannam the Wheel," and the like, highlighting only the generational perception gap over youth housing issues.