Years of Friction Over Apartment Management Culminates in Arson

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An explosion and fire broke out at an apartment management office in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, injuring eight people. A resident in their 70s set the fire, driven by a long-standing conflict over the execution of apartment management fees.

Park Ga-young from TBC reports.

[Reporter]

The apartment complex 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 habitually dissatisfied with this.

Police and residents note that A had been persistently clashing with management for years, claiming that the apartment's budget was being executed arbitrarily.

[Resident: In the past, the bylaws weren't even properly established, and there was no building manager. Without a manager, operations weren't run properly according to the rules. That person (the suspect) mainly kept pushing and picking at it.]

In January of this year, A even filed a complaint with the city of Gyeongsan, prompting an audit.

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

A's behavior grew increasingly radical.

Unhappy with the election method for selecting a new executive board, A threw a 20-liter bottled water container to smash the ballot box and did not hesitate to threaten residents with a weapon.

[Resident: Two elderly women were sitting outside trembling, so when I rode by on my motorcycle and asked what was wrong, they said he had brandished a knife and tried to punch an elderly person.]

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

Aware that a resident representative council meeting was taking place, A headed to the management office carrying paint thinner.

A long-standing conflict over apartment management that had left residents anxious for years.

It ultimately ended in the tragic disaster of arson.

(Video by Lee Jung-woo / TBC)

Park Ga-young, TBC

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