The so-called Yongsan Tragedy took place on January 20, 2009 in central Seoul when police stormed a building occupied by protesters in a redevelopment area, resulting in the deaths of five protesters and one police officer. Much of the analysis has focused on liberal criticism of the police for overacting, on conservative criticism of the militant protesters, and on the failures of the urban redevelopment system in Korea. This paper takes a qualitative look at the conflict through the lens of the scene, the local neighborhood-level collection of amenities that constitutes the basis for a shared experience for residents, consumers, and visitors. The paper finds that the neighborhood where the tragedy occurred suffered from a lack of development investment, but strong community bonds. Further, the proximity of the neighborhood to the controversial US Yongsan garrison on the site of the former Japanese garrison likely contributed to heightened militancy and attracted more attention from highly nationalistic opposition groups, including the one that organized the occupation. Set against this are: the proximity of the highly cosmopolitan Itaewon neighborhood; the high latent value of the property so close to the center of Seoul; plans for the future development of the land currently occupied by the US Army after the departure of the garrison. Thus, two scenes occupied the same space, one based on local and nationalethnic authenticity and the other based on rational/state/corporate authenticity, with both differing on almost every dimension, presenting a contrasting view of the conflict from beginning to end. This helps to explain the unusual and tragic end to the conflict that was so different from other recent urban development conflicts in South Korea.