Flower bouquets, tangerines, coffee and other small gifts are left outside the Gukil Gosiwon (a low-cost single-room accommodation) in Jongno, Seoul, Monday, for the seven tenants who died in a fire there Friday. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon



By Lee Suh-yoon



Flowers and snacks were piled up outside the charred three-story Gukil Gosiwon building, Monday, in a silent memorial to seven tenants who died in a fire there.



The fire at the gosiwon (a low-cost single-room type of accommodation) in central Seoul once again reminded people of the unsafe living conditions facing most of its destitute residents.



Fire hazards are common in these makeshift housing facilities. Inside, tiny rooms line both sides of a narrow dim corridor. Kitchens and bathrooms are shared facilities and each room is only three to four square-meters in area, barely enough space for a person to stretch their legs. Many do not even have windows.



Gukil Gosiwon, like many others, had only one main exit and no sprinkler system.



"People should not have to live in such cages," Yun Sung-no, a member of the Korea Union of Tenants, told The Korea Times outside the building, Monday.



Yun said one of the survivors of the fire moved to another gosiwon right in front of his former one.



"Can you imagine how traumatic that is?" he asked as he pointed to the third floor of another commercial building directly facing the soot-covered windows of Gukil Gosiwon.



There are around 5,800 gosiwon in Seoul. The name comes from the Korean word gosi, a state examination to become a public servant — a secure and coveted job in Korea — as these medium-term housing facilities first appeared to host budget-tight students who want to live near their preparation academies.



The victims on Friday, however, were not young exam-takers but day laborers in their 50s to 70s, one of the most destitute demographics in the slowing Korean economy.





Restaurants line the first floor of the Gukil Gosiwon. The fire is suspected to have started on the third floor. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon