"Please, Just Let Me Take This Room"... Why Young People Queue Up for Studio Apartments Where You Have to Shower with the Door Open [Reporting File]

You have probably heard a lot lately about how steeply monthly rent is rising. With salaries failing to keep pace, just breathing at home costs a huge amount of money, creating a severe economic burden. In particular, young people struggling with their finances are reportedly being driven into increasingly substandard, remote living spaces far from their schools in search of cheaper studio apartments. Our reporting team went out directly to Sillim-dong, a neighborhood heavily populated by college students, accompanied by a real estate agent.
We first entered a studio apartment in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, with a deposit of 5 million won and a monthly rent of 300,000 won. Measuring 14 square meters, it takes just four to five steps to walk from the front door to the window. It is so narrow that it is difficult even to fit a bed, and lying down brings your feet close to the furniture on the opposite side. The shower filter has turned yellow, and the bathroom is cramped.
[Kim Jae-guk / Real Estate Agent : How can anyone possibly take a shower in a space like this... They have to leave the door open to take a shower.]

Opening the window reveals train tracks, and subways roar past about once every five minutes. Nevertheless, the unit was contracted less than a week after being listed. While monthly rent typically ranges between 500,000 won and 700,000 won, these units are relatively cheap and popular among young people looking to cut housing costs.

Let us look at another home. A bed sits in one corner of the room, and a small refrigerator stands right across from it. Opening the refrigerator door causes it to hit the bed, allowing it to open only halfway.
[It hits the bed, doesn't it?]

To put items inside, one has to sit down, press their body against the bed, and stretch out their arm. This room requires a deposit of 2 million won and a monthly rent of 240,000 won. This place, too, is reportedly contracted within two weeks of being listed. Another place is located right on a hill. After walking up a steep slope for more than 10 minutes, any positive thoughts are short-lived.

[There is no need to go to the gym. You get to exercise reliably like this every single day.]

Sweat quickly forms in the hot weather. The real estate agent showing the room says he only feels a sense of apology toward the youth.

[Kim Jae-guk / Real Estate Agent : My heart aches when I think that since even more people fail to receive benefits (from government housing policies), they have no choice but to flock to places like this.]
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport sets what are called "minimum housing standards." These are the minimum conditions deemed necessary for a person to live. According to these standards, the minimum housing area for a single-person household is 14 square meters. However, all three studio apartments the real estate agent and I toured fall short of these minimum housing standards. Sillim-dong, where I explored, is an area where bar exam examinees and Seoul National University students mainly live on their own. Areas around Seoul National University, including Sillim-dong, saw monthly rent rise the most at 26% compared to last year, while overall college neighborhoods saw increases, including Hankuk University of Foreign Studies at 15.1% and Yonsei University at 10.4%. The average increase across all college neighborhoods in Seoul reached 8%, significantly compounding the housing cost burden on young people.

[An Jae-hong / Job Seeker : I chose a place like this thinking only about the price and a place to sleep. It takes a while for hot water to come out, though. About 5 to 7 minutes?]

[College Student : Places at the foot of the mountain are somewhat cheaper. As I looked for the absolute cheapest places, I ended up getting pushed further away (from city centers). It feels like being pushed out to the margins.] Compared to ordinary studio apartments, university dormitories tend to ease the financial burden somewhat. However, anyone who has experienced college life will likely agree that dormitories cannot be lived in simply by wanting to, because the capacity that dormitories can accommodate is limited. According to University Alimi, the dormitory accommodation rate for universities nationwide last year was about 23%. This means only 1 out of 5 students can get into a dormitory.

[Han Eui-deok / Gwanak-gu, Seoul : I lived in a dormitory during my freshman year, and while it was affordable back then, dormitories do not have that many slots available.]

Experts point out that the reason university dormitories remain severely insufficient yet fail to be built stems from a combination of a lack of will among school authorities and opposition from local communities.

[Seo Dong-gyu / Chairperson of Mindalpangi Union : Compared to the very high amount of funds reserved within university foundations, they are very passive in expanding necessary facilities... There are cases where people oppose building dormitories, claiming it will cause problems for the livelihoods of landlords in the surrounding area.]

However, even if dormitories were built, the homes shown earlier would not simply disappear. Therefore, arguments are being raised that the substandard environments of the private rental market should also become subjects of oversight, much like how public officials crack down on restaurant hygiene.

[Seo Dong-gyu / Chairperson of Mindalpangi Union : Hygiene management and such things are grasped and managed and supervised by administration, aren't they? There is currently a severe lack of measures to manage and supervise the housing environment of private rental housing and compel them to renovate into spaces with a minimum level of livability.]

With employment difficulties causing shortages in income, high commodity prices, and the burden of housing costs, the living spaces of young people are becoming increasingly impoverished.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.