It does not mean 'apart' as in 'separate', but rather it's short for 'apartment'. An apart is pretty much the ultimate dwelling for someone living in a Korean city. Most aparts are part of huge apartment complexes, some as large as 40~50 buildings strong.
Another related Konglish: condo (pronounced "cone-do")
Condo is short for 'condominium', but the concept for a condo is different in Korea. Koreans usually refers to condo resorts as 'condos'...like a ski or beach resort. So if you tell a Korean that you live in a 'condo' in Toronto, you'll confuse the hell out of the person.
Yet another related Konglish: pension (pronounced like it's written "pension")
If I'm new to this culture, I would have had no idea why 'pension' would be a related word in this post. Pensions are small remote bed-and-breakfast-type lodgings in Korea. After a little research, I found out that 'pension' is used in Europe to describe small hotels usually operated retired pensioners.
One more related Konglish: officetel (pronounced "oh-peace-tel")
A merging of the words 'office' and 'hotel'. I live in one of these: A single building that houses studio-like apartments where each unit can be used for either businesses or residences. My officetel is actually a pseudo-loft; it has a second floor but it is only 3 feet high. Modern officetels usually come with some appliances integrated into the interior (aka "built-in" another Konglish).
Final related Konglish: oneroom (prounced "one-loom")
A studio apartment of lower quality than officetels. Onerooms often invoke images of poverty as I've gotten looks of sympathy when I once mentioned that I might be shopping around for a oneroom.
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