"I Won't Let the Upstairs Neighbor Get Away With It": Inter-Floor Noise Disputes Turn Deadly... 350,000 Phone Consultations in 10 Years

An average of 110 complaints a day filed this year
Disputes have also escalated into violent crimes, including knife attacks and murder

As disputes over inter-floor noise continue to escalate into brutal violent crimes, including assaults and murders between neighbors, complaints filed with the government’s inter-floor noise counseling service have topped 350,000 over the past decade or so.

Data submitted by the Korea Environment Corporation to Hwang Hee, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, show that a total of 355,047 first-stage phone counseling sessions were logged by the Inter-floor Noise Neighbor Center from 2016 through August this year. The annual number of phone consultations has remained above 30,000 every year: 46,596 in 2021, 40,393 in 2022, 36,435 in 2023, 30,327 in 2024, and 32,662 last year. This year, 26,852 complaints had already been received as of August, an average of 110 a day. That figure has already exceeded 80% of the total number of consultations last year.

Following first-stage phone counseling, the center supports conflict mediation through second-stage on-site assessments. During the same period, it received 89,901 requests for second-stage on-site assessments and handled a total of 90,937 cases, including complaints carried over from the previous period. By type of case handled, 71,124 involved additional phone counseling, accounting for 77.1% of the total; 16,602 (18.3%) involved on-site visits and counseling; and 4,211 (4.6%) involved both an on-site visit and noise measurement. Noise measurement is the final step, initiated at the affected household’s request when a simple visit and consultation fail to resolve the disagreement.

The problem is that, amid the government’s limited ability to mediate, complaints about inter-floor noise are escalating into serious violent crimes, including murder. In May this year, a man in his 20s fatally attacked a woman in her 50s, a resident of the floor above him, with a weapon in an apartment elevator in Seo-gu, Daegu. The man, who was indicted and detained, told police that a dispute over inter-floor noise was his motive for the crime. In Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, a man in his 40s who killed a resident in his 70s living upstairs over inter-floor noise in December last year was sentenced to 25 years in prison at his first trial in July this year. Earlier, in November 2021, a man attacked three members of a family living downstairs with a weapon in a villa in Namdong-gu, Incheon, seriously injuring them after a dispute over inter-floor noise. The responding police officers were also criticized for their inadequate response.

“The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and relevant agencies should strengthen follow-up measures to confirm whether conflicts have actually been resolved after complaints are filed,” Hwang said. “Alongside measures to build high-quality housing with better sound insulation, they should swiftly establish an effective mediation and response system that can be activated immediately on site.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.