Hyemin Lee (Illustration by Hyemin Lee/Stripes Korea)

Semi-basement homes (banjiha in Korean) weren’t originally meant to be ordinary housing. In the 1970s, amid security tensions with North Korea, basement spaces became required in certain buildings as emergency shelters. As Seoul grew rapidly and faced a housing shortage, these underground spaces gradually turned into low-cost rental homes. Legal changes in the 1970s and 1980s allowed basement-level living spaces, making banjiha a part of Korea’s urban housing scene. Today, banjiha homes remain an affordable option, but they also come with serious risks such as flooding, mold, poor ventilation and limited sunlight.

(Illustration by Stripes Korea)