Abstract
The purpose of this study was to provide the basic information about the formation background of urban squatter and their housing state in Korea. This study was progressed on the basis of socio-historical point of view from the opening of a port to the after the Korean War. In that sense, this study considered meaning of housing for urban squatter in the Korean housing history. For this study, the formation background of the urban squatter was divided into three periods. The first period was after the opening of a port (1876-1910) when the inflow of Japanese and their plundering from Korea started. The second was Japanese occupation period (1910-1945) which contributed to increase the number of Tomak (mud hut) and made the Tomak-min's village. The third period was Korean war & postwar years (1945-1953). This period was divided into three parts again; after the Korean independence (1945-1950), during the Korean War (1950-1953), and after the Korean War (1953-). The urban squatter was settled in the national land and the public land in each period and experienced the severe housing shortage. The government of the time could not protect the urban squatter from the special national states such as the Japanese rule and the Korean War.