Moving in South Korea today often means hiring a pojang isa company. The workers arrive with their own boxes and packing materials, pack most of the household belongings, transport them, and then unpack and arrange the larger items in the new home.
Moving day was very different when I was young. Families did much more of the packing themselves. Clothes and bedding could be wrapped in bojagi, while household basins such as hamjibak were useful for carrying smaller items. Sturdy cardboard boxes left over from buying ramen by the case became moving boxes, and thick rubber straps or rope helped keep everything together.
The furniture and boxes were loaded onto trucks, and if it rained, large sheets of plastic or waterproof covering were spread over the load. These were ordinary parts of the moving days I experienced while growing up.
Large Wardrobes Used to Dominate Moving Day
One of the biggest challenges in a Korean move used to be the wardrobe. When I was young, large freestanding wardrobes occupied a major part of the main bedroom in many homes around me. Mother-of-pearl furniture, or jagae-jang, was particularly familiar. Many couples began married life with large wardrobes as part of their bridal furniture, and even after an older one wore out, another large wardrobe might replace it.
These pieces were big, heavy, and difficult to maneuver through doors and stairways. The mother-of-pearl surface also had to be protected from scratches and damaged corners. Refrigerators were much smaller than many of today’s models, so a huge wardrobe or bedding cabinet could easily be one of the most troublesome objects on moving day.
Separate bedding cabinets, or ibul-jang, were also more useful when families regularly folded up floor bedding after sleeping. That older relationship between warm floors, floor sitting, and sleeping is part of the everyday history behind Korea’s ondol heating culture.
The furniture inside Korean apartments has changed considerably since then. In many newer apartments, the primary bedroom is designed with an en suite bathroom, a powder area, and a dressing room or walk-in closet. Other bedrooms may also have built-in wardrobes. As beds have become standard and storage has increasingly been incorporated into the apartment itself, a separate giant wardrobe or bedding cabinet is no longer as necessary as it once was.
As a result, the largest objects on moving day have changed too. Instead of the massive wardrobes I remember from the past, today’s moving crews are more likely to struggle with large refrigerators, big-screen televisions, sofas, beds, and other modern appliances and furniture.
This change in furniture is also part of the much broader transformation of apartment culture in Korea. Modern apartment layouts have gradually incorporated more storage and specialized spaces into the home itself. Dedicated spaces for air-conditioning outdoor units are another example of how apartment floor plans have changed, something I discuss in my article about how South Korea is adapting to hotter summers.
Pojang Isa Changed Who Does the Packing
The biggest change in Korean moving culture was not simply a better truck or a faster way to lift furniture. It was the idea that the moving company could also take over much of the packing and unpacking.
KGB‘s own corporate history records that its predecessor, Koryo Express, introduced what the company describes as Korea’s first pojang isa service in 1986. The service gradually became more familiar as professional moving companies expanded and apartment living became increasingly common.
With pojang isa, the crew arrives with reusable plastic crates, protective coverings, wardrobe boxes, and other packing materials. Kitchen items, clothes, books, and household goods are sorted and packed, while appliances and furniture are wrapped separately for transport.
At the destination, the large furniture is placed where the resident wants it, and the crew usually handles a certain amount of unpacking and basic organization depending on the service that was booked. It saves an enormous amount of physical work, although it does not mean that every object will magically return to exactly the same position it occupied in the old home.
The two photos below are from my family’s move in 2002. The reusable moving crates and the ladder truck in these photos would still look familiar on a Korean moving day today.
My family’s move in South Korea in 2002.
Ladder Trucks Became Part of Korean Apartment Moving
As Korean apartment buildings became taller, moving furniture through stairways became increasingly impractical. Older high-rise apartments sometimes used rooftop gondola systems, lowering a platform from above so furniture could be moved through balconies or windows.
Over time, the sadari-cha, or ladder truck, became a much more familiar solution. A long extendable ladder carries a loading platform from the truck up to a balcony or large window, allowing furniture and boxes to move directly between the apartment and the ground.
It is particularly useful for bulky items such as refrigerators, sofas, beds, and large televisions. But a ladder truck is still heavy equipment operating high above the ground. It has to be positioned and stabilized properly, and falling loads or an unstable vehicle can cause serious accidents.
A ladder truck cannot be used at every apartment either. A building may be too high, the site may not have enough space for the vehicle, the window or balcony may be unsuitable, or a complex may restrict ladder-truck access.
In those cases, residents use the apartment elevator and usually arrange the moving schedule with the management office in advance. Some apartment complexes also charge a separate fee for using an elevator for a move. A 2019 Seoul survey of 1,971 apartment complexes found that 83.9 percent of the surveyed complexes charged such a fee, although the amount and calculation method varied greatly.
This means that a Korean moving estimate can involve more than the basic fee charged by the moving company. Depending on the apartment, there may also be a ladder-truck charge or an elevator-use fee.
What Pojang Isa Actually Includes Today
A modern pojang isa crew generally handles the packing, loading, transportation, unloading, and placement of major furniture. Depending on the contract, workers may also unpack kitchen items, hang clothes, arrange some household goods, and perform basic cleaning at the end.
The resident still has things to do. Someone usually needs to tell the crew where furniture should go, deal with utilities and building management, check important belongings, and make decisions that the workers cannot make for the household.
The time required also varies. A smaller apartment moving a short distance may be completed quite quickly, while a larger household, a long-distance move, difficult parking conditions, elevator delays, or large amounts of furniture can make the process much longer.
Damage and disputes are possible too, just as they are with moving services elsewhere. Before moving, it is useful to confirm what is included in the quote, whether a ladder truck is required, who pays any building fees, and what happens if furniture or appliances are damaged. Pojang isa is convenient because it removes much of the packing and lifting from the family.
Son-eomneun Nal and Other Moving-Day Customs
Modern moving equipment has not completely erased older Korean customs. One of the best-known is son-eomneun nal, literally a “day without Son.”
In traditional belief, Son referred to spirits thought to move in different directions on different days and interfere with human activities. Days considered free from their influence became popular choices for important events such as moving. The National Folk Museum of Korea notes that days ending in 9 or 0 in the lunar calendar have commonly been regarded as son-eomneun nal, and the custom is still widely recognized today.
Not everyone today believes that choosing such a date will change what happens in a new home. Still, enough people prefer these dates that moving companies can become busier when one approaches.
Another memory I have from earlier moving days is giving the workers a little extra money after the work was finished. It was not a required percentage-based tip, and not every family did it. Some simply paid the agreed price.
But after watching people spend the day carrying heavy wardrobes, refrigerators, and boxes, some families would give them a little extra and say it was for a meal, or provide food and drinks during the day. It felt less like a formal tipping system and more like acknowledging that they had done physically difficult work.
There was also the custom of giving rice cakes to new neighbors after moving in. It was a way to introduce the household and start a relationship with the people living nearby. As apartment life has become more private, that practice is less visible than it once was.
Why Professional Moving Services Became So Common in Korea
South Korea’s rapid urbanization and the spread of apartment living changed the way people moved. As households became busier and large apartment complexes became the norm, hiring a team to pack, transport, and unpack everything became far more practical than relying on family members or doing the work alone.
I think pojang isa became popular because it fits the way many Koreans live today. Moving is still stressful, but handing most of the physical work to professionals has become such a familiar part of the process that, for many families, it now feels like the normal way to move.
About the Author 🇰🇷
I live in South Korea and write about the small details of Korean life and culture that I experience and observe firsthand.
English is my second language, so I sometimes use tools such as Gemini and Google Translate to help with translation and editing. The experiences, observations, opinions, and cultural perspectives in my articles are my own, and I personally review and edit every article before publishing it.
My goal with Korea Core Info is simple: to share everyday Korea from a local perspective and help international readers discover things they might not always find in a typical travel guide.
I hope my stories and guides help you understand Korea a little better — not just as a place to visit, but as a place where people live their everyday lives.