"Season two of Netflix’s Squid Games is out and there is a horrifying origin story tied to the hit tv show: Brother’s Home housing facility in Busan, South Korea. This is the story of the “Real Life” Squid Game."-- CeCe Burger , 7th grade
CW: CSA , Graphic descriptions of violence, abuse against children and other sensitive topics.
The Origin of Brother’s Home
Season two of Netflix’s Squid Games is out, and while I would never write about it on my own accord, there is a horrifying origin story tied to the hit tv show: Brother’s Home housing facility in Busan, South Korea. This is the story of the “Real Life” Squid Games.
Back in the 1950’s, Korea was still recovering from the devastation of the Korean war. The war that left thousands unhoused and mourning thousands of deaths. In the early 1960’s, South Korea’s third president, Park Chung Hee, sent out military troops to “cleanse” the streets of major South Korean cities.
Cities like Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju started building “Vagrant Detention facilities.” In 1961, a law was set that let Social Welfare Services start taking in “vagrants” off the streets; this was only supposed to include people that were 18 to 65. Almost monthly these big white and blue patrol vans would cruise around big cities and collect what they believed were stains on society.
The Origin of Brother’s Home
Season two of Netflix’s Squid Games is out, and while I would never write about it on my own accord, there is a horrifying origin story tied to the hit tv show: Brother’s Home housing facility in Busan, South Korea. This is the story of the “Real Life” Squid Games.
Back in the 1950’s, Korea was still recovering from the devastation of the Korean war. The war that left thousands unhoused and mourning thousands of deaths. In the early 1960’s, South Korea’s third president, Park Chung Hee, sent out military troops to “cleanse” the streets of major South Korean cities.
Cities like Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju started building “Vagrant Detention facilities.” In 1961, a law was set that let Social Welfare Services start taking in “vagrants” off the streets; this was only supposed to include people that were 18 to 65. Almost monthly these big white and blue patrol vans would cruise around big cities and collect what they believed were stains on society.
People like panhandlers, disabled, orphaned or unaccompanied children, were put at the hands of local police. However, these people often had families, and very concerned loved ones wondering their whereabouts.
After detaining “vagrants,” police were supposed to notify care takers or families and inform them of their loved ones’ location. We know now this was a rare thing. If you were put into one of these legal kidnapping vans you'd be driven to one of 36 housing facilities across Busan, one of the biggest facilities being Brother’s Home.
Founded in 1960, Brother’s Home was originally known as Brother’s Orphanage. It was only turned into a housing facility in July 1975 after signing an agreement with the city of Busan.
In the early 1980's, the city was rushing and scrambling to “clean” the city up before the 1988 South Korean Olympics that were being hosted in Seoul.
On April 10th, 1981, upon receiving a report from military security on the amount of panhandlers and unhoused people still on the streets even after the introduction of housing facilities, the then President Chun Doo Hwan ordered Prime Minister Nam Duck Woo to "make sure no panhandlers are on the streets of Seoul" before the Olympics.
After detaining “vagrants,” police were supposed to notify care takers or families and inform them of their loved ones’ location. We know now this was a rare thing. If you were put into one of these legal kidnapping vans you'd be driven to one of 36 housing facilities across Busan, one of the biggest facilities being Brother’s Home.
Founded in 1960, Brother’s Home was originally known as Brother’s Orphanage. It was only turned into a housing facility in July 1975 after signing an agreement with the city of Busan.
In the early 1980's, the city was rushing and scrambling to “clean” the city up before the 1988 South Korean Olympics that were being hosted in Seoul.
On April 10th, 1981, upon receiving a report from military security on the amount of panhandlers and unhoused people still on the streets even after the introduction of housing facilities, the then President Chun Doo Hwan ordered Prime Minister Nam Duck Woo to "make sure no panhandlers are on the streets of Seoul" before the Olympics.
Torture and Abuse
The Brother’s home facility was not a liveable place, and certainly not a facility. The food was rotten and always intentionally moldy. The menu was said to be the same thing every day: white rice that was cooked and then left in a giant closed tub to mold, then there was the watery moldy potato soup. That was usually it besides the common rotten pickled vegetable.
There were roaches everywhere, it was freezing cold or pounding hot, their uniforms only consisted of a white t-shirt, blue pants and a blue jacket. The blue track suit that everyone was wearing is another massive connection to Netflix’s Squid Games, as the characters in the show also wear the same blue tracksuit. It was mandatory the entire uniform was worn, if a button was missing, too bad. That jacket better be on or you’d be beat.
The clothes were washed once or twice a year, if you wanted clean clothes you had to wash them in the freezing cold salt water you get to shower, that’s if you could do it in the mere 3 seconds each person got to shower. If you were one second late you were beat right there on the moldy shower floor.
Not to mention the fact the entire place was crawling with lice. Even though when you first arrived at Brother’s Home your head would be shaved, or more so hacked at with a razor until it was sort of bald.
The Brother’s home facility was not a liveable place, and certainly not a facility. The food was rotten and always intentionally moldy. The menu was said to be the same thing every day: white rice that was cooked and then left in a giant closed tub to mold, then there was the watery moldy potato soup. That was usually it besides the common rotten pickled vegetable.
There were roaches everywhere, it was freezing cold or pounding hot, their uniforms only consisted of a white t-shirt, blue pants and a blue jacket. The blue track suit that everyone was wearing is another massive connection to Netflix’s Squid Games, as the characters in the show also wear the same blue tracksuit. It was mandatory the entire uniform was worn, if a button was missing, too bad. That jacket better be on or you’d be beat.
The clothes were washed once or twice a year, if you wanted clean clothes you had to wash them in the freezing cold salt water you get to shower, that’s if you could do it in the mere 3 seconds each person got to shower. If you were one second late you were beat right there on the moldy shower floor.
Not to mention the fact the entire place was crawling with lice. Even though when you first arrived at Brother’s Home your head would be shaved, or more so hacked at with a razor until it was sort of bald.
There were lots of guards and leaders of the platoon that citizens slept in, it didn't matter how high ranking in staff you were, if you were working on the facility grounds you got the same thing. A blue tracksuit, and a wooden club that was most likely splattered in dried blood. Most Guards were actually once “residents” of the facility but were promoted to
guard. These people were victims, too, it was a choice of hurting other people or getting yourself killed.
As for activities, if you weren’t being exploited and working in one of the many scams Brother’s Home ran, such as sewing clothes, selling organs and the dead bodies, free construction and so so much more. You would be playing games, yes children's games. Starting to sound more like Squid Games now? While there was no cookie licking or giant robot girls, the games were still torturous. These games were common Korean children's games.
One game required multiple people (usually half or all of the platoon) to build a bridge with their bodies, putting them in a stress position lined up in the dirt. They would hold their human bridge for 40 minutes or more. There were many more games that involved holding uncomfortable positions, but it’s hard to describe them.
Surviving victims of the facility say they still sleep with the lights on because at night ,when all the lights in the platoons were off, that’s when the assaults happened. Most people who were in Brother’s home were SA’d by guards or even by their peers.
guard. These people were victims, too, it was a choice of hurting other people or getting yourself killed.
As for activities, if you weren’t being exploited and working in one of the many scams Brother’s Home ran, such as sewing clothes, selling organs and the dead bodies, free construction and so so much more. You would be playing games, yes children's games. Starting to sound more like Squid Games now? While there was no cookie licking or giant robot girls, the games were still torturous. These games were common Korean children's games.
One game required multiple people (usually half or all of the platoon) to build a bridge with their bodies, putting them in a stress position lined up in the dirt. They would hold their human bridge for 40 minutes or more. There were many more games that involved holding uncomfortable positions, but it’s hard to describe them.
Surviving victims of the facility say they still sleep with the lights on because at night ,when all the lights in the platoons were off, that’s when the assaults happened. Most people who were in Brother’s home were SA’d by guards or even by their peers.
Punishments
What happens if you did step out of line? What if you showed emotion or didn't answer loud enough when a guard confronted you, what if you yelled too loud? Or cried too loud? There were punishments so much worse than beatings. One of the many peeling white buildings was a “psych ward” where the citizens who didn’t submit to authority went. Purchase records show that more than 250,00,000 of the antipsychotic drug Chlorpromazine was bought amongst others, all in one year. These people weren’t crazy, they were drugged beyond belief until they actually developed psychosis issues. All to “stay in line.”
Other crimes included child trafficking, organ trafficking—the owner made money anyway he could, no matter how many people it hurt. The owner was Park In-Geun
What happens if you did step out of line? What if you showed emotion or didn't answer loud enough when a guard confronted you, what if you yelled too loud? Or cried too loud? There were punishments so much worse than beatings. One of the many peeling white buildings was a “psych ward” where the citizens who didn’t submit to authority went. Purchase records show that more than 250,00,000 of the antipsychotic drug Chlorpromazine was bought amongst others, all in one year. These people weren’t crazy, they were drugged beyond belief until they actually developed psychosis issues. All to “stay in line.”
Other crimes included child trafficking, organ trafficking—the owner made money anyway he could, no matter how many people it hurt. The owner was Park In-Geun
Park In-Geun’s Trial
Not much is known about In-Geun’s early life, or really known about him at all. He was said to be a very cold hearted man that only cared about money. Surviving “employees” of his say that In-Geun killed 40 to 50 people single handedly.
In 1987, the Prosecution Service, National Assembly members of the New Korean Democratic Party, started an investigation after multiple complaints of abuse and missing people. In-Geun was charged with embezzlement because mind you, this was still a government facility! He was also not surprisingly charged with illegal confinement.
This is where things just get depressing and shows the government will go to stupid lengths to protect rich people. The two charges got In-Geun 10 years in prison and a $680 million fine. Ten years already wasn’t enough time for a monster but after an appeal it was lowered to 4 years. Park In-Geun would go on to serve only two and half of those four years. He died not long after he was released due to natural causes and old age.
The facility was destroyed, and the military just covered everything up. That's why finding information on it is so hard, they don’t want to look bad.
There’s not a very happy ending to this, families are still left destroyed and traumatized and I really only scraped the tip of the iceberg with this place. There's so much more history and so much more pain that can’t fit into one article. So, is Brothers Home an inspiration to Netflix’s Squid Games? Possibly. While directors and writers have never said anything about it there are details you just can’t ignore.
Not much is known about In-Geun’s early life, or really known about him at all. He was said to be a very cold hearted man that only cared about money. Surviving “employees” of his say that In-Geun killed 40 to 50 people single handedly.
In 1987, the Prosecution Service, National Assembly members of the New Korean Democratic Party, started an investigation after multiple complaints of abuse and missing people. In-Geun was charged with embezzlement because mind you, this was still a government facility! He was also not surprisingly charged with illegal confinement.
This is where things just get depressing and shows the government will go to stupid lengths to protect rich people. The two charges got In-Geun 10 years in prison and a $680 million fine. Ten years already wasn’t enough time for a monster but after an appeal it was lowered to 4 years. Park In-Geun would go on to serve only two and half of those four years. He died not long after he was released due to natural causes and old age.
The facility was destroyed, and the military just covered everything up. That's why finding information on it is so hard, they don’t want to look bad.
There’s not a very happy ending to this, families are still left destroyed and traumatized and I really only scraped the tip of the iceberg with this place. There's so much more history and so much more pain that can’t fit into one article. So, is Brothers Home an inspiration to Netflix’s Squid Games? Possibly. While directors and writers have never said anything about it there are details you just can’t ignore.
