Long-Standing Apartment Management Dispute Leads to Arson Disaster

[Anchor]

Behind this incident lay a long-standing dispute among residents over the execution of apartment management fees. Friction had been ongoing, and it was revealed that the resident in their 70s who started the fire had also recently gone on a weapon rampage.

Continuing with TBC reporter Park Ga-young.

[Reporter]

The apartment building where the arson occurred consists of 204 households.

Because it is a small complex, it was not legally required to operate a resident representative council.

The suspect, A, was reportedly very unhappy about this.

Residents stated that he had been continuously causing friction for years, claiming that the apartment budget was being executed in a haphazard manner.

[Resident: In the past, the bylaws weren't even properly established, and there was no manager. Because there was no manager, they couldn't operate properly according to the bylaws. That person (the suspect) mainly kept picking at it.]

In January, A even filed a complaint with Gyeongsan City, leading to an official audit.

[Gyeongsan City Official: Residents and others requested an audit, so we conducted one. The findings included inadequate methods for disclosing management fees and improper disclosure items.]

A's actions became increasingly aggressive.

Complaining about the voting method for electing a new executive board, he threw a 20-liter water bottle to smash the ballot box and did not hesitate to threaten residents with a weapon.

[Resident: Two elderly women were sitting outside trembling, so while passing by on my motorcycle, I asked what was wrong, and he had held a knife and tried to hit the elderly person with his fist.]

Unable to tolerate it any longer, the resident representative reported A to the police for obstruction of business, which unfortunately turned into a tragedy.

Knowing that a resident representative meeting was scheduled for this morning (the 23rd), A headed to the management office carrying thinner.

The deep-seated conflict over apartment management that had kept residents living in anxiety for years ultimately ended in the tragic disaster of arson.

(Video by Lee Jung-woo, TBC)

Park Ga-young, TBC

※