About 200,000 Households in Seoul... Earning Only 20,000 to 30,000 Won a Week, a Forced Choice [Life in Semi-Basements] ①

"All I can do is pray it won't rain"
About 5% of all households are semi-basement or underground
To save on housing costs... About 202,741 semi-basement households in Seoul

"All I can do is pray that it won't rain too much this summer."

This was the wish of Park Kkotnim (pseudonym), an 82-year-old woman I met on April 17 in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul. It was after the torrential downpour in August 2022. When a neighbor who, like Park, lived in a semi-basement room lost their life due to flooding, she thought, "I want to avoid such a death." Two years have passed since then, but there is still no water barrier on the window of her semi-basement room. No district office staff have come to check on her. All she can do is pray.

The most distressing part of her semi-basement life is the humidity. It's not simply the arrival of summer because of the heat. She only feels that summer has truly come when the heavy, moisture-laden air settles and the smell of mold spreads everywhere. When the suffocating feeling, as if suddenly submerged in water, rises up to her chin, she knows a torrential downpour is coming. Flooding is even more terrifying than the oppressive humidity. She wakes up several times during the night to check if rainwater is flowing down the wallpaper and pouring into her room.

Park ended up living in a semi-basement room when she could no longer do regular work. In her younger days, she worked in restaurants, preparing food and washing dishes. She sacrificed her back and knees for a living, but was never able to save money. As she aged, her back and knees gradually deteriorated. When her back became increasingly bent, she could no longer find work in restaurants. The pain eventually made it difficult for her to get around at all.

Still, life went on. To afford her medication, she had to cut costs. The largest expense was housing. The only place she could afford to lay her head was a semi-basement room. "I only earn 20,000 to 30,000 won a week, so I have to save every penny," she said. "I have no family, and I don't know how much longer I'll live, so for now, a semi-basement is the most suitable place for me."

Like Park, those who have settled underground to reduce housing costs are estimated at about 202,741 households (underground and semi-basement homes, as of 2021) in Seoul alone. This accounts for 5% of Seoul's total 4,046,799 households. In a city where news of apartments selling for over 10 billion won per unit and 300 million won per pyeong is reported daily, 5% of residents live under the weight of humidity, monsoons, and poverty.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration's "2025 Summer Climate Outlook," the probability that this summer's precipitation will be similar to or greater than average is 40% each. The forecast specifically warns that, due to developed low-pressure systems and atmospheric instability in the summer, sudden, localized torrential downpours are likely to occur. In 2022, an entire family of three living in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, lost their lives due to intense, short-term rainfall. In July 2023, a similar disaster occurred when heavy rains flooded the Osong underground roadway in Cheongju, resulting in 14 deaths.