{"id":29852,"date":"2026-02-20T04:56:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=29852"},"modified":"2026-02-20T04:56:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:56:39","slug":"inside-seouls-closet-homes-youtube-tour-reveals-reality-of-gosiwon-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=29852","title":{"rendered":"Inside Seoul\u2019s \u2018closet\u2019 homes: YouTube tour reveals reality of gosiwon living"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">When Drew Binsky stepped into a gosiwon in <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Seoul<\/span>, the doorway alone offered a clue to the life inside. The entrance measured barely 61cm (24 inches) across \u2013 narrow enough to require a slight turn of the shoulders to pass through.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Binsky, an <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">American<\/span> travel <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">YouTuber<\/span> with millions of subscribers, documented his experience in his video \u201cInside Korea\u2019s smallest apartment,\u201d posted on February 1. The video tours several gosiwon facilities across Seoul and drew more than 1.9 million views within days of its release, bringing renewed international attention to one of the city\u2019s least visible forms of housing.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cBehind the bright lights and advanced technology, many people are building their lives in rooms smaller than a closet,\u201d Binsky said in the video after visiting a tour guide living in a gosiwon in Seoul\u2019s Eunpyeong district.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Gosiwon \u2013 among Seoul\u2019s cheapest and smallest housing options \u2013 were initially occupied mainly by students preparing for the highly competitive <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">gosi<\/em> law exams, before gradually becoming homes for people from a wide range of backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Residents usually pay around 360,000 won (US$250) per month. Utilities such as wireless internet and air conditioning are typically included, along with shared access to basic food such as rice, instant noodles and kimchi. According to figures cited in the video, roughly 150,000 people in Seoul live in gosiwon.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Drew Binsky crouches inside a gosiwon bathroom. Photo: YouTube\/Drew Binsky\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/02\/10\/deb841ca-c202-4551-8bcc-5e4db5f0c0fc_ed0947ba.jpg\" title=\"Drew Binsky crouches inside a gosiwon bathroom. Photo: YouTube\/Drew Binsky\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1ixmelf e1gf69pb1\">Drew Binsky crouches inside a gosiwon bathroom. Photo: YouTube\/Drew Binsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Binsky also draws on his own experience living in compact housing in <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">South Korea<\/span> while working as an English teacher in 2013. He recalls being struck by a bathroom design that merged the sink and shower into a single fixture \u2013 a space-saving arrangement that sometimes left him soaking wet after accidentally turning on the shower instead of the sink tap.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/asia\/east-asia\/article\/3343051\/inside-seouls-closet-homes-youtube-tour-reveals-reality-gosiwon-living?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Drew Binsky stepped into a gosiwon in Seoul, the doorway alone offered a clue to the life inside. The entrance measured barely 61cm (24&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[9716,15999,9340,2007,709,535,6520,1262,1909],"class_list":["post-29852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-closet","tag-gosiwon","tag-homes","tag-living","tag-reality","tag-reveals","tag-seouls","tag-tour","tag-youtube","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}