[Population Cliff] ① "Every Other House Is Empty"... Last Month 'Zero Births' in Daegu Naedang-dong Report

Job Losses, Urban Decline, and Rapid Population Drop... Seojin Middle School Nearby Closes as Student Numbers Decrease

A house in Naedang-dong, Seo-gu, Daegu has been left collapsed and unattended. Photo by Kwon Haeyoung roguehy@

[Asia Economy Daegu=Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] "This house is empty, the next house is empty, and the house behind is also empty. Many people have died while living here, and many have moved away. All of these are empty houses."

Recently visited Naedang 2 and 3-dong in Seo-gu, Daegu. Just a slow five-minute walk from the main road leads into narrow alleys lined with decades-old old houses. Looking around carefully, empty houses were everywhere. Locked gates firmly shut from the outside, mailboxes stuffed with yellowed overdue gas and water bills, warning signs against unauthorized entry issued by the police chief, and weeds growing thickly between collapsed houses and walls?these houses showed no signs of having been lived in for a long time.

Kim Bokja (81), who has lived in this neighborhood for 37 years, said, "This neighborhood has the most empty houses in Daegu," adding, "They tried to build apartments but failed, and since the houses are old, many people move to their children’s homes or nearby development areas." Resident Park Samjo (68) said, "That house has been empty since I moved here eight years ago," and added, "The real estate agent bought it and listed it for 35 million won, but since it hasn’t sold, it remains empty."

One empty house observed from the rooftop of a nearby residence had a yard full of trash piles. A discarded shoe, cigarette packs, instant noodle bags, paper cups, cans, and broken flowerpot pieces were scattered around, and mold had grown on the exterior walls. Park said, "Because homeless people often enter empty houses at night to sleep, some owners spent 1.3 million won to install new gates on their empty houses," adding, "I’m worried because the number of empty houses in the village is increasing."

A warning notice from the Chief of Daegu Western Police Station prohibiting unauthorized entry is posted on the gate of an abandoned vacant house in Naedang-dong, Seo-gu, Daegu. Photo by Haeyoung Kwon roguehy@

In the yard of an empty house in Naedang-dong, Seo-gu, Daegu, a single shoe, a cigarette pack, and a cup noodle bag, among other trash, have been discarded. Photo by Haeyoung Kwon roguehy@

Empty houses directly reflect the current state of South Korea, the country with the fastest population decline in the world. According to the Population and Housing Census by Statistics Korea, the number of empty houses nationwide in 2020 was 1,511,306, nearly double the 793,848 recorded ten years earlier in 2010. This phenomenon is not limited to rural and island areas but also affects large cities. Daegu, once the hub of light industry and a major export center in South Korea, has become an aging city where jobs have disappeared, urban decay has set in, empty houses have increased, and the cries of newborns have stopped.

Naedang 2 and 3-dong, visited by the reporter, had no newborns at all last month. As the number of students declined, Seojin Middle School in nearby Pyeongni-dong closed at the end of 2018 after 36 years since its opening. Although Seojin Middle School was renovated this year into the Daegu Student Arts Creation Center, the classrooms visited that afternoon were completely empty without a single student. The current population of Naedang 2 and 3-dong is 9,479 (as of last month), down 3,198 from ten years ago. The average age is 52, up 8.9 years during the same period. At this rate, Naedang 2 and 3-dong could disappear as a part of Daegu’s history in 30 years.