Unboxing the goshiwon living: Reflections in the Korean media

A goshiwon, derived from two words in Korean meaning "examination" and "place," is a box-like non-housing unit that first appeared in the 1970s when people from all over Korea gathered mostly in Seoul to get affordable shelter and isolated space to study for national exams with its owners or hired managers also staying in one of the rooms and taking care of the floors or building. In the 1990s, goshiwons became an option not only for students or young adults preparing for exams but also for single-person households who were unemployed, engaged in temporary or daily jobs, and unable to meet their housing needs. Despite lasting government policies on mass housing, the demand for passive income and the continuously increasing housing prices have made goshiwons a matter of non-housing options in the real estate market. Consequently, low-income and unemployed young adults have increasingly opted for goshiwons for longer durations. Officially recognized in the 2010s as a "semi-housing", goshiwons are still associated with inadequate living conditions and dietary habits in contemporary Korean society. This thesis aimed to examine how the experience of goshiwon living was reflected in the Korean media. Online news articles, documentaries, and fictional resources (TV series) were used as data sources; while the Ethnographic Content Analysis and discourse analysis techniques were employed as methodology. The results demonstrated that in Korean media, goshiwon living was reflected as a way for social advancement, a last-chance shelter for the urban poor, and a blind spot for crime and safety.