One maintenance office of a Seoul apartment complex is in hot water after it took its investigation into noise complaints one step too far. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – One maintenance office of a Seoul apartment complex is in hot water after it took its investigation into noise complaints one step too far.
According to residents and security personnel, during a recent five-day period, the maintenance office dispatched security guards to investigate the source of excessive noise among suites on floors 9 through 15 in one building. The guards, deployed from midnight to three in the morning on the apartment corridors, were armed with sound amplifying equipment.
The residents were not previously told of the presence of the sound amplifiers, the maintenance office told Yonhap News in a phone interview.
The investigation has ruffled the feathers of not only residents, but the security guards as well. One has already reported one of the maintenance office managers to the legal authorities for violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act. A number of residents are reportedly considering taking legal action.
The maintenance office said its investigation was intended to identify the apartment suite that was the cause of the noise complaint it had received, so that it could resolve the problem in accordance with the process decided by the city government. (Image: Yonhap)
“Throughout the course of the investigation, I ended up listening to the conversations of the residents in each suite, even though I didn’t want to,” one security guard said. “Problems of excessive noise should be resolved through legal and appropriate means, but I think that using a sound amplifier that can result in an invasion of privacy is taking things too far.”
The maintenance office said its investigation was intended to identify the apartment suite that was the cause of the noise complaint it had received, so that it could resolve the problem in accordance with the process decided by the city government.
S.B.W. (sbw266@koreabizwire.com)
