Real estate and its increasing cost have been a topic of discussion globally, especially when it comes to megacities – Seoul is no exception. In South Korea, half of the country’s total population lives in areas such as Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi, making housing in these areas costly. The average housing price is more than 10 times the average household’s income in Seoul. Moreover, Seoul’s apartment prices increased by 144% from 2014 to 2024, while the national average is 107%. With the rising demands and the increasing price of accommodation, the government is planning to lift restrictions on greenbelts or development-restricted areas to solve the supply issue. This high cost is putting the burden on middle-class people in South Korea who are facing struggles, as many have taken on large loans to buy homes, causing the household debt to reach 100.5%. 

While the situation is dire for even the middle class, what about the urban poor? This question is often overshadowed by the success of a fast-growing economy and the increasing number of high-rise buildings. However, it prompts us to consider the term “Jjokbang,” a type of housing where the poorest people in Seoul reside. Currently, among approximately 10 million residents of Seoul, the number of homeless individuals is relatively low compared to other megacities in OECD countries, standing at only 2600 people. Yet, this optimistic view conveys only part of the story, as roughly 320,000 people live in substandard housing, including jjokbangs. 

What is a Jjokbang? A glimpse into the history

According to the definition provided by the Ministry of Welfare, a Jjokbang is a “space of 3.3 square meters that does not have necessary facilities such as a toilet, bathroom, kitchen, and an unstable form of housing that is paid for daily or monthly”. The difference between Jjokbang and the more familiar goshiwon is not just about size, even though both can be tiny, such as 5/6 square meters. It’s more about what they are used for and who lives in them—goshiwons are mostly for students or short-term workers, while Jjokbangs are usually home to the poor or elderly. Jjokbang is one of the urban slum housing forms in South Korea, which was first formed in the 1960s. It began to be widely known much later, mainly because of the homeless protection project after the 1997 foreign exchange crisis. Jokkbang functions as the last sleeping place for the poor in danger of homelessness. The residents of Jjokbangs are mainly poor and sick elderly people.              

Photo: Inside of a Jjokbang (Source: Sungdae Newspaper)

Meanwhile, goshiwons, which are relatively recent compared to jjokbang, only appeared in the late 1970s. Goshiwon, as a housing form, mainly started as a place to stay for students preparing for competitive exams, mostly near universities in Seoul. In recent times, goshiwons are also often accommodated by unemployed youths. An elderly shopowner working near a goshiwon says, “I would not call this place a home. The people living here before mostly were unemployed who barely left their rooms or mingled with others.”

As rapid industrialization and industrial structure changes happened during the 1960s, labor forces flowed into large cities from the countryside, and low-wage, simple daily jobs began to appear in larger numbers, creating demand for low-cost housing options. The origins of jjokbang are diverse, including brothels, inns, abandoned barns, and factory dormitories in the 1960s, turning into what we today call jjokbangs. When brothels declined due to the ban on prostitution in 1961, the brothels attempted to change their business to a lodging business, such as a jjokbang. In cases where inns were converted into jjokbang, it was done so that they could be rented for a long period, because the number of people using lodging facilities decreased significantly after the curfew in 1986 was lifted, and the shift of the political situation in South Korea after democratization. After the IMF foreign exchange crisis, Jjokbangs became widely known. With the number of homeless people increasing rapidly due to the economic crisis, they lived on the streets in the summer and returned to the Jokbang when the weather got cold, and the room became understood as a place where the homeless spent the night. 

In Seoul, these places are concentrated in Donui-dong, Changsin-dong, Namdaemun-ro 5-ga, Dongja-dong, and Yeongdeungpo Station, forming a ‘Jjokbang village’. These areas are mostly adjacent to train or subway stations, job markets, job placement agencies, and traditional markets. Many people living there have a history of homelessness or shifting between homelessness and living in Jjokbang. However, as the economic crisis continued, the number of people living in Jjokbang increased from 2,712 in 2000 to 5,726 in 2001 and 6,141 in 2003. In 2023, there were about 3500 Jjokbangs in the Seoul greater metropolitan area and 9,000 Jjokbangs nationwide. The average monthly rent for one of these jjokbang in Seoul was 233,000 won in 2019, making the rent per square meter more expensive than houses in Gangnam, one of the most expensive areas in Seoul, where some of the richest live.

Jjokbang – Is it particularly a Korean phenomenon?

Small rooms, such as Jokkbangs and Goshiwons, are not particular to South Korea, but they can be found in megacities across the world, including Hong Kong’s ‘Coffin homes’, São Paulo’s ‘Cortiços’, and others. One common thing among ‘Coffin homes’ and ‘Cortiços’ is that they are all homes for the poorest urban citizens, which makes them different from similar housing for foreign workers, such as Singapore’s dorms for migrant workers, where the government requirement is to give each foreign worker only a minimum of 4.5 square metres of living space, though the living situation is similar. 

Along with Coffin homes, Hong Kong has another housing system that is similar to Jjokbangs, which are called subdivided flats, where each room is around 6 square metres. According to Hong Kong authorities, there are about 110,000 subdivided flats that have been recorded in the city. But unlike Seoul’s Jjokbang, the Chinese government has taken this deeply rooted housing problem more seriously and ordered the Hong Kong authorities to bid farewell to subdivided flats, coffin homes by 2049. Despite the declaration of such a target, “coffin houses” are persisting in Hong Kong. 

According to Professor Ahyoung Song, who is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work, Yonsei University,

“Hong Kong accepted immigrants from China in the 1950s to meet its labor needs, resulting in a corresponding need for housing. The housing provided at that time can be described as ‘coffin houses’. These were living spaces so small that they could barely accommodate a single person, resembling chicken coops. It’s hard to even consider it housing. Despite Hong Kong’s remarkable economic growth and dazzling urban transformation, these coffin houses still exist today, serving as living spaces for the city’s underprivileged. This situation can be viewed as the result of several factors, including the redistribution of economic wealth, social policy, human rights, and labor rights, all of which are intertwined.”

Photo: Coffin room in Hong Kong (Source: The Guardian)

Cortiço of São Paulo, Brazil, is another form of a similar housing system. Cortiços first appeared in the late 19th century as the population surged, and the number rapidly increased in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the census, 80,000 people lived in 31,800 cortiços, which are typically 12 square meters in size as of 2022, making them crowded and often poorly maintained. City officials have tried more than once to get rid of cortiços — first by banning the building of new ones in the late 1870s and again in the 1910s. They also tried to limit how many people could live in each room to stop the disease from spreading. But since these rules weren’t enforced, cortiços remained around as a main housing option for the poorest people.

Housing policies and government intervention

Coming back to the South Korean issue of Jjokbang, there are cases when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism announced that they would ensure the housing rights of Jjokbang residents through public rental housing. However, such development initiatives often do not see the light as the government complies with owners’ opposition to such redevelopment interests and public housing projects. According to Professor Song,

“Redevelopment requires the consent of the property owners, and it is not easy to obtain the consent of landlords who do not want to lose their profits in the process. As a result, plans often face challenges or are canceled altogether.”

Public housing development in South Korea first gained momentum in the late 1980s. Since the 1960s, rapid urbanization has led to a population boom in Seoul, with the city’s population growing from 2.4 million in 1960 to over 9.6 million by 1985. This growth strained available land and housing. But many public housing plans have historically faced resistance and thus failed to be successful. According to data from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, in 2022, there were 268,957 units of public rental housing in Seoul.  Professor Song says that,

“While South Korea’s public rental housing has grown in quantity, it is difficult to assess whether it is sufficient to address the housing needs arising from the sharp rise in housing costs. What is needed in this process is the supply of affordable and stable housing, but South Korea’s public rental housing is not sufficient to meet this demand. Additionally, while some types of public rental housing are relatively affordable, they are not affordable, making it impossible for low-income households to utilize them. As a result, it is also difficult to evaluate these measures as appropriate for addressing actual housing insecurity.”

Photo: A jjokbang village in Seoul (Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun)

Challenges and the need for change

The residents of Jjokbangs often face dire living conditions, limitations in access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation facilities in a building, etc. These situations affect both their physical and mental health. Many of the residents often pass away untreated, as the health insurance does not cover procedures such as MRIs or surgeries they need, raising questions on whether the government should eliminate these limitations of coverage for people who live on Basic Livelihood Security. Moreover, the mental health of Jjokbang is another grave concern, especially considering that the urban elderly poor in South Korea have a high risk of suicide or dying alone. Thus, South Korea needs to find a housing solution for its most vulnerable population, considering the negative impact of the living situation among Jjokbang residents. 

However, as housing costs soar and people flock to Seoul for opportunities, many are left struggling to find a stable place to live outside of places like Jjokbangs. Without truly affordable and secure public rental options, and the public sector being able to overcome challenges faced from landlords and build more such housing, the system fails to ease the real pressures faced by low-income residents.

Sadia Masharuf
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