I've lived in Korea for about 3.5 years now, I've been a student for a most part and the last 6 months landed a decent job making about 60-80k/yr which is not bad for a 21 year old. This whole time I've lived in a shitty dormitory-like place near the university I attended for about $400/month. Keep in mind, $400 in Seoul doesn't get you much, not even a personal bathroom, and a cage-sized room.
In Korea, typically if you want to move into a place even remotely similar to a Western sized apartment, you pay up to 100-300 thousand dollars as a deposit and pay a fairly low rent price considering living in one of the most densely populated cities in the word (rent should be about $400-1500)
This is the part that rustled my jimmies. Even a graduate from the best uni that gets a job in the best company in Korea would rarely make 100k/yr for the first 10-20 years. So how in the fuck would an ordinary citizen ever be able to put down 200k before being 60 years old, just for an average sized/average luxury living space?
That's when I realized the only reasonable explanation is every single person living in a normal living space in Seoul (and ordinary people above age 28 do) is getting a bank to loan you the deposit money, which you pay interest for, to RENT a place. How the fuck is this not considered insane?
I understand cities in general are much more expensive. But nobody, even the top 3%, would be able to drop down 300k in their mid 20s/30s to rent a semi-livable place. How is this whole system not considered a fraud and why are the people not rebelling? topkek
