[Korean Culture & Language] House Divide in Korea



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source: netflix.com

https://www.theweek.co.uk/business/economy/954408/squid-games-the-real-life-crisis-that-inspired-hit-netflix-show

According to theweek.co.uk, South Korea's household debt has soared to above 100% of GDP in recent years, making it the largest in Asia. The wealth of the country's top 20% earners is 166 times that of the bottom 20%. The gap has grown by half since 2017.

With the fast-growing household debt in Korea, words like 하우스디바이드, 영끌, and 빚투 have become popular. The word “하우스디바이드,” read as “house divide,” is known to be inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s ‘House Divided’ speech at the 1858 Illinois Republican State Convention. 하우스디바이드 refers to a phenomenon where someone’s social class is defined by whether they own a house or not. Since it divides the household market into two socioeconomic levels instead of three(without the middle level), someone thought it was like how the United States was divided between the North and the South during the Civil War.

Some say that the word is from the ‘digital divide,’ which refers to the gap between people who have access to current information and communication technology and those who do not.


Photo by JEONGUK - on Unsplash

Because housing prices rocket upwards across the country, only a few people can buy houses. Many Korean couples argue over whether to buy a house or not. Sometimes they 영끌 to buy a house.

A Naver blog illustrates a couple that fights every family reunion. They fight because the couple was going to buy an apartment in Mapo-gu, Seoul, when they were getting married two years ago, but because the husband wanted to study, they had to give up on buying it. The price of the apartment was about $500,000 back then, but now it has risen to $ 850,000.

There is a famous Korean TV show called ‘Love Naggers’. A panel of love experts listens to couples' stories and opines on romantic relationships, from the quirky to the scandalous. So many couples fight over buying houses or even break off an engagement over it and report their stories to the show.

Some older people suffer from the rise of housing prices as well. When the only thing they own is a house with no income, an increase in the housing price only means an increase in the tax they must pay.

With the 하우스디바이드 phenomenon, many people 영끌 or 빚투 to buy a house to raise their social status. Please keep reading to find out what 영끌 and 빚투 means!



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