■ 2023 Goshiwon Reportage: Life in 7 Square Meters

As national civil service exams disappeared and the popularity of civil service jobs waned, exam takers left the goshiwons.

Now, people who have gathered in goshiwons for their own reasons are filling those empty spaces.

With a population of approximately 150,000, these small rooms, measuring just over 3 pyeong, serve as stepping stones for their first steps in life, springboards for a fresh start, and places to take their last breaths.

They are also places where people with warm hearts gather, even if there is no place to light a fire.

Therefore, I knocked on the doors of these urban rooms, the only spaces where bodies weary from city life can rest.

A cramped space of just over one pyeong, the 21st-century ‘scrappy room’ – Goshiwon

‘Unable to even afford a security deposit for monthly rent...’

‘To save every penny amidst the deepening economic recession...’

People who have sought refuge in Goshiwons—
Having found their way to the very edge of despair,

They are now nurturing their final dreams in that place.

At the end of 2008,

Amidst the daily lives of these Goshiwon residents, each with their own stories,

there are stories of great hope

created within the smallest space, just over one pyeong.

■ There are no exam takers in Goshiwons.

Goshiwons, which drew public attention

due to the fire accident in Nonhyeon-dong last October,

contrary to their name, there are no exam takers in Goshiwons.

Until the 1980s, they were spaces for exam takers,

but in 2008, amidst the deepening economic recession,

Goshiwons have become the homes of poor working-class people who cannot even find a motel room.

■ Goshiwon Rooms 108 and 109.

The home of Choi Jong-beom, 47 years old this year, and his daughter Jae-young (pseudonym) is Rooms 108 and 109 of a goshiwon located in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul.

The father and daughter moved their home here six months ago.

It was their last resort after paying off their entire 3 million won security deposit to cover ten months of overdue rent.

Just three years ago, Jong-beom, who worked in sales of beauty supplies, was the head of a household that many would envy.

Misfortune struck him in 2005, when he decided to immigrate to the United States following the advice of an acquaintance.

The acquaintance living in the U.S. squandered his entire fortune, which had been sent from Korea in advance, and Jong-beom, unfamiliar with the realities of American life, had no choice but to suffer the consequences.

That marked the beginning of family discord, and Jong-beom suffered from paralysis throughout his body due to mental stress. Eventually, he fled to Korea with only his eldest daughter, Jaeyoung.

He left his younger daughter behind because he couldn't afford the plane fare. It was to survive.

However, with his health deteriorating to the extreme, working as a designated driver was the only job available to him to make a living.

Lately, however, he has been suffering from shortness of breath due to the aftereffects of paralysis more and more often.

Whenever that happens, the person who stays by his ailing father's side is his daughter, Jaeyoung. To Mr. Jong-beom, his daughter Jaeyoung is the reason he lives on.

Jaeyoung is in her final year of middle school this year. Mr. Jong-beom's New Year's wish is to secure a home for his daughter, who will be entering high school next year, as soon as possible.

■ The Family Fence Strengthened at the End of Despair

Mr. Lee Jang-hee is a self-employed individual who worked in the fashion industry until recently.

A year ago, due to bankruptcy, he and his family were forced into a goshiwon (a type of low-cost accommodation).

Amidst the severe economic crisis and the successive bankruptcies of self-employed business owners, Mr. Jang-hee was no exception. It was last January when they handed over their 35 million won deposit to loan sharks and moved into a goshiwon (a type of small, inexpensive rooming house).

However, even then, there was still hope for the family.

The factory was producing goods day and night to meet the continuous volume of orders.

But last October, a problem arose with cash flow. The supply of fabric was cut off immediately, and for the first time in over 20 years of operating the sewing factory, the machinery stopped working.

Furthermore, due to the persistent financial difficulties, they fell behind on not only the factory rent but also the goshiwon fee of 210,000 won a month for four months.

Feeling guilty, the couple left the goshiwon and are living by sleeping in the factory office, but they are now facing a situation where they must vacate the factory as their lease has expired. Even in this desperate situation, the couple does not give up hope because of their daughter, Yujin.

Yujin is a prodigy who never misses the top spot in her school.

Although she lives in a cramped goshiwon room surrounded by stacks of clothes, she has never once complained. ...