A woman in her 50s who harassed her pregnant next-door neighbor by smoking inside her apartment and on her balcony has been ordered by a court to pay damages.

According to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, Judge Kim Young-hee of Civil Division 3 at the Jeonju District Court ordered the defendant to pay 1.5 million won in compensation to the plaintiff in a damage suit filed by a resident identified as A against his next-door neighbor, B.

In May of last year, A was living in a corridor-style apartment with his wife, who was expecting a baby.

B, who lived next door, smoked inside her home and on the balcony, and the smoke drifted into A's apartment.

Although A repeatedly requested through the management office that B refrain from smoking, B ignored the requests and continued to smoke.

Consequently, A and his wife suffered from secondhand smoke and stress to the point of needing medical treatment, prompting them to seek help from the Corporation.

Representing A and his wife, the Corporation filed a damage suit against B.

The Corporation objectively proved the damage caused by secondhand smoke by citing violations of the obligation to prevent secondhand smoke and cooperate with recommendations by management entities under the Apartment Housing Management Act.

Emphasizing that the risks of secondhand smoke to a fetus's health and the psychological distress are greater for pregnant women than for the general public, they claimed higher damages for A's wife.

Accepting the Corporation's arguments, Judge Kim ruled that "the defendant's actions constitute an illegal act that infringed upon the plaintiffs' right to health and peaceful residential life," ordering the defendant to pay 500,000 won to A and 1 million won to A's pregnant wife.

Hwang Ho-sung, head of the Jeonju branch of the Corporation, stated, "This case confirms that the issue of secondhand smoke is not merely a daily inconvenience or an inter-neighbor dispute, but an illegal act that can incur civil liability for damages," adding, "We expect this to serve as a benchmark for resolving similar disputes in the future."

(File Photo: Yonhap News)