This session aimed to increase the satisfaction of UOS students in their own living environments by informing them on laws that protect house leasers. Cheol-won Suh, a lecturer, explained these laws in a simple way by using real cases involving students. One common issue he discussed was how to receive all deposit money from property owners. Other issues included claiming an “implicit update,” and judging whether a contract has been violated. This practical information helped the audience to focus on the session while extending it to their real lives. Suh put emphasis on notifying dong offices changes in address. He also stressed the importance of using an “implicit update,” which means automatically extending the term of a contract.

Han-bi Kim, the director of the Woman’s Welfare Bureau of Close-up, said they opened the session as one of their social contribution activities, wanting to help students protect their rights by themselves. Kim also felt there was a need to inform students of the importance of filing a moving-in report with dong offices. “To prepare for this lecture, we made frequent contact with Suh. Together, we worked hard not to make it worn-out and boring. It was a pleasure to complete it, and we had more participants than I expected.”

However, there was a lack of promotion for the seminar. Close-up started promoting it on the online community from the end of August, but there were not enough notifications posted in buildings. Kim acknowleged that there are many improvements needed in promotion, such as attaching posters not only to notice boards in the Student Hall, but also in the buildings of each college. Hye-joo Yoon, an attendee of the seminar said, “This was a productive time to get some useful tips in living and understanding my own rights. I hope there are more presentations like this for the welfare of UOS students.”

By Hye-joon Suh