Bathtubs Are A Luxury In Korea, Here Are The Reasons Why

If you’ve ever noticed an oddly placed bathtub in K-Pop music videos, in nearly fifty of them, there seems to be a reason behind it.

Thanks to the first Get Real podcast featuring KARD‘s BM, BTOB‘s Peniel, and former idol Ashley Choi, they revealed how much of a luxury bathtubs are in Korea.

Since the episode centered around the shift from living in dorms with others to living alone, Ashley shed light on how difficult it was to find an affordable residence with a bathtub.

She noted that many places don’t have spacious bathrooms with everything you’d expect them to, “Villas and apartments, they all look pretty similar. They all have small windows, really crappy bathrooms.”

Oftentimes, there was no bathtub to be found. That made Ashley’s search for a home harder, “Unless you live in a big house, you don’t have a bathtub. And, that’s one thing I really wanted ’cause I love taking baths. It’s really hard to find a house with a bathtub.”

While it was expensive to afford a residence in Korea with a bathtub, Peniel revealed it was just as expensive to have one. He pointed out the hidden truth about them, “But, bathtubs are so much money.” Shocked, Ashley wondered why.

In Korea, using a bathtub for a full-on bath didn’t only skyrocket the water bill. It was a double-edged sword, “It’s water plus gas each time you do it.”

When Peniel had first moved into his own house, he learned just how expensive it could be—especially when he took a bath daily.

He made them all laugh from his relatable reaction to his bills, “I moved into the house, and I used to take a bath every day. Then, I saw the gas price. And, I was like, ‘Nope! Nope! I’m never taking a bath again.’”

Based on this, no wonder so many K-Pop music videos have bathtubs sprinkled in them. They’re a sign of luxury, more so if someone doesn’t get to use them in their own personal residences. Listen to the funny bunch discuss just how pricey a simple bathtub can be in Korea.