Some residents of the glitzy Tower Palace in southern Seoul are not proud of their skyscraper that overlooks the Han River in the north and the magnificent mountains in the south. When they take a taxi home, they refuse to tell the driver their final destination. Instead, they just give the name of the area where the tower is located - Dogok-dong.
The reason? Residents are fed up with the hostile looks from the cab drivers, who are usually in the lower-to-middle income bracket. As such, they tend to detest the people who live in one of the most expensive and luxurious condominiums in South Korea. A three-bedroom flat at Tower Palace can set you back more than US$1 million; a five-bedroom place, more than US$2 million. The tower has its own gym, indoor golf range and banquet room, to name but a few facilities to keep the rich and famous happy.
Because of their luxurious lifestyle, residents find themselves shunned by society. There is a notion among ordinary Koreans that people who live there must have amassed their fortunes through unethical or even illegal means, for example by land speculation or insider trading.
It may be that some have profited from South Korea's not-so-healthy economic development in the past, when the rich got richer and the authorities turned a blind eye to how wealth was acquired. Indeed, some businesspeople became billionaires by bribing politicians and bureaucrats in return for lucrative contracts.
But the majority of the residents became wealthy through legal means. There are entertainers, athletes and executives who live in the condominium who worked hard to make their fortunes.
Unfortunately, strong resentment within society against anyone who has money tars all the residents with the same brush. In a country where capitalism and a free market economy are cornerstones of the system, such a hostile view is very dangerous. Eventually, it could hurt national competitiveness by discouraging entrepreneurs.