[Anchor]
Monthly rent prices around college neighborhoods in Seoul have been surging recently. Students are being pushed into increasingly poor-quality housing farther and farther away from their campuses.
Reporter Im Jihyeon covered the story from the field.
[Reporter]
A studio apartment in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
Measuring just 7.6 square meters, the remaining space is almost completely filled when an adult male lies down. Despite being about half the minimum living area for a single-person household, the rent is 300,000 won per month with a 5 million won deposit.
The shower filter in the cramped bathroom has turned yellowish.
[Kim Jae-guk / Real Estate Agent: (Because it is so small), how can anyone take a shower here... They have to leave the door open while taking a shower. (Even when showing the room), my heart aches.]
When opening the window, a subway train roars past every five minutes.
Yet, the unit was leased less than a week after being listed recently.
In another studio apartment without even a kitchen, the door of the small refrigerator can only open halfway.
[It bumps into the bed?]
Rooms where the refrigerator door can open fully lack private toilets and shower rooms.
Heading to a studio apartment with a 2 million won deposit and a 300,000 won monthly rent, you have to walk up a steep hill like this for more than 10 minutes, as you can see.
[College Student: The area near the foot of the mountain is relatively cheaper. As I looked for the cheapest places possible, I ended up moving farther and farther away (from the center). It feels like being pushed out to the margins.]
Compared to last year, monthly rent near Seoul National University rose the most at 26%, followed by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies at 15.1% and Yonsei University at 10.4%.
The average rent across all college neighborhoods in Seoul increased by 8%, significantly adding to the burden of housing costs.
[Ahn Jae-hong / Job Seeker: I chose (this kind of home) focusing only on the price and a place to sleep. It takes a while for hot water to come out. Five to seven minutes?]
Implementing alternatives such as building more university dormitories or utilizing local public rental housing is not easy.
This is because available land and rental housing are scarce, and local rental business owners strongly oppose them.
[Seo Dong-gyu / Chairperson of Mindalpangy Union: There are cases where they oppose it, claiming that building them "threatens the livelihood of landlords." It leaves people to figure it out on their own by raising deposits or monthly rent.]
With soaring prices across various goods compounded by a growing housing cost burden, the living spaces of college students are becoming increasingly substandard.
(Video Editing: Kim Jun-hee | VJ: Kim Hyung-jin | Design: Kang Yoon-jung)
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