‘Resident Conflicts’ Caused by Passive Administration of Wanju-gun Office

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] In Saok Village, Sang-gwan-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk, neighbors have been embroiled in a dispute over the installation of boundary stones for three years, and due to the indifference of the administrative authorities, there seems to be no sign of resolution.

Jang Mo, who lives next door in Saok Village, and Lee Mo had a lawsuit over the installation of a fence in 2017, and the Jeonju District Court issued a 'conciliation recommendation decision' on the matter.

The conciliation recommendation decision stated that Jang Mo should dismantle the stone retaining wall fence he initially built and rebuild the boundary stones.

The costs for dismantling the stone retaining wall and rebuilding the boundary stones were borne by each party. After the court's conciliation recommendation decision, the two neighbors reportedly tried to comply with the court's recommendation.

However, during the process of implementing the court's recommendation, the administrative authorities' lax response ignited the root of the conflict.

When installing the boundary stones supporting Lee's field, which is 3 to 4 meters higher than Jang's field that marks the boundary between the neighbors, Lee, the owner of the higher field, started construction without consulting Jang, who owns the lower field, about the boundary stone installation.

Jang reported this to the administrative authorities, claiming the construction was inappropriate. However, Wanju-gun, the administrative authority, granted installation permission based solely on the drawings and application submitted by Lee. Despite Jang, the opposing party in the lawsuit, repeatedly filing complaints about the unfairness of the construction, the administration issued the construction permit without a single on-site inspection.

As the administrative officer who issued the construction permit was transferred to another department due to rotational duty, the discord between the neighbors has not ceased.

Jang, who is suffering crop damage due to the high fence, lamented, "The upper house seems to have built the boundary stone much higher than the drawing by placing only blocks without doing foundation work during the construction," adding, "The county office has never come out, so they don't know if the construction is substandard, but I have taken photos showing that the foundation work was not done."

Lee, who lives in the upper house and is distressed by the complaints, said, "The construction was done according to the drawings, and I also did the foundation work and took photos," adding, "Since it is a boundary fence, there is nothing special, but due to complaints, even a design was made," and "I have now applied for the completion permit and am waiting."

A Wanju-gun office official said, "Currently, the completion permit application has not been submitted, and the procedure is in progress," adding, "When the application is received, we will determine whether the drawings and construction are appropriate and, if one or two more layers have been added, we will require reconstruction according to the drawings."

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