apartment dilemmas

if you've looked at my photos (the link is in the right-hand column) then you'll have seen photos of my apartment. Its not a bad apartment, but the problem is the exhorbitant rent I'm paying. I'm paying almost $1000 a month on rent, for a studio apartment (ie, my kitchen is 2 steps away from my bed. not my bedroom, my bed). This high price is because I live in the most expensive part of Seoul. For that same price, I can get a two-bedroom place in another area of Seoul. Or, even better, I can get a similar-sized place for a much cheaper price. Sounds like an easy decision, .... except for

* if they can't find a person to take my apartment, I will have to keep paying rent until they do. This is potentially VERY VERY BAD.
* the cheaper apartment is further away, instead of a 5 min walk, its a 30 min subway, which means getting up earlier (and i already get up a t 5.30am) and getting home later (say at 10.15pm), and the costs of this everyday travel ($20 a week).
* I currently get a measly $140 rental allowance from work, but if i find my own place, I'll get $215. But , I will have to pay a deposit of around W1,000 000 (sorry, i can't be bothered converting that to NZ dollars, because I know it will be too high and scary). But, i'm already paying a deposit on my current apartment (which I'd get back).

*sigh* i don't know what to do. in the long run it will save me money. but is it worth it?

I need to pick up private lessons, but I'm super paranoid about getting caught and then deported. But i taught loads of privates in Daegu and never got caught. And Joe, the businessman I used to teach in Daegu is in Seoul 3 days a week, so i'll continue to teach him starting next week.

Maybe I should stay in this apartment for the rest of this contract (July next year) and then find a new place after that, thus avoiding the risk of having to pay rent on my old place if they can't find a new tenant. Any ideas?