Fast Deals, Big Deposits -- The Korean Way of Trust
Hey cuz,
You ever scroll through Korean listings and wonder: why on earth does a tiny studio need a deposit bigger than a car?
₩10m, ₩20m, sometimes more, just to rent a room that fits your suitcase and a rice cooker. kkk
It feels absurd until you see how things move here.
In Korea, speed is the rule.
A landlord can sign you within the hour--no credit check, no reference calls, just a handshake and a few stamps.
But that speed? It cuts both ways.
When trust moves this fast, the deposit becomes the safety net.
If the tenant turns out to be a late payer or refuses to leave, there’s no quick fix.
Eviction law here is clear, but slow.
Usually, it goes like this:
Two months of unpaid rent, then a lawsuit.
Eviction suit takes around six months.
If things get ugly and forced eviction, another two.
That’s almost ten months of zero income.
So suddenly 1000/100 (meaning ₩10m deposit with ₩1m rent) doesn’t look so crazy, right?
And if the unit’s freshly renovated, fitted with costly fixtures, or simply owned by a landlord who prefers tenants with higher cash reserves, that deposit climbs even higher.
It’s not greed. It’s self-insurance, and sometimes, self-selection (read why different landlords prefer different deal structures).
Different countries solve the same problem in different ways.
In the States, they screen you hard through credit score, job letter, even your pet’s resume sometimes.
It’s a preventive culture. The goal is to avoid risk before it begins.
Korea works differently.
Here, the system assumes everyone’s in a hurry, so it builds a cushion instead.
That’s the big deposit. The landlord’s insurance policy against time, not trust.
It’s a trade-off: less paperwork, faster keys, higher stakes.
But under all that math is the same human logic everywhere:
Everyone’s just trying to manage risk and keep the roof steady.
They just do it in their own language.
Credit checks in one, heavy deposits in another.
So next time you see ₩10m deposit on a listing, don’t panic.
You’re not being scammed.
You’re just entering a country that does trust differently.
Next time we hang, we’ll look at what that trust costs and how it shifts the deposit/rent see-saw.
Maybe catch you by the tteokbokki truck, cuz.
--Cousin JK
