Security Guard Beaten with Club... Unending Tenant Bullying, Can It Be Stopped?

Chasing Security Guard and Assaulting with Wooden Stick... Injured with 3 Weeks Recovery
Resident Reported Security Guard's Abuse Three Times Since Past
Expert Says "Labor Structure Improvement Needed, Including Short-Term Contracts"

On the 20th, at an apartment in Nowon-gu, Seoul, incidents of residents abusing security guards, including assaulting a security guard on duty with a wooden stick, continue to occur. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A controversy over "power harassment against security guards" has once again come under scrutiny after it was revealed that a resident at an apartment complex in Nowon-gu, Seoul, called a security guard to his home and assaulted him with a wooden stick. Voices are growing louder calling for improvements to the vulnerable employment conditions of security guards, who find it difficult to respond to repeated power harassment.

Experts emphasized the need for labor structure reforms, such as preventing short-term contracts for security guards.

According to media reports, a man in his 60s, identified as Mr. A, was booked by the police on the 22nd on charges of special assault for calling a security guard who was on duty to his home and assaulting him with a wooden stick. Mr. A is accused of calling the security guard around 6 a.m. on the 20th while intoxicated and swinging the wooden stick to assault him.

It is reported that Mr. A chased the security guard, who tried to flee in shock, all the way to the elevator and swung the stick again. The security guard reportedly suffered injuries requiring three weeks of medical treatment after being hit on the head and shoulders by Mr. A.

Mr. A was found to have committed similar offenses in the past. He was reported to the police three times in total for assaulting security guards: twice in 2017 and once in 2019.

However, all these cases were closed with "no prosecution" due to leniency from the victim security guards. In cases of simple assault, the crime is subject to a "non-prosecution upon victim's withdrawal" rule, meaning that if the victim does not wish to press charges, the perpetrator cannot be prosecuted.

The police stated that they are currently investigating whether there are additional victims by questioning security guards and residents working and living in the apartment complex.

Residents are gathered at the incense altar set up in the security booth where the deceased apartment security guard used to work, to mourn the guard who took an extreme step at an apartment in Ui-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. The photo shows residents gathered in front of the incense altar, taken on May 11 last year. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Incidents of power harassment against security guards continue unabated. In May last year, the late security guard Choi Heeseok, who worked at an apartment in Ui-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, tragically took his own life due to power harassment by residents, sparking national outrage.

Following the Choi case, the government implemented an amendment to the "Apartment Housing Management Act Enforcement Decree" on the 5th of last month, mandating that apartment management regulations must include provisions prohibiting harassment of workers such as security guards.

Accordingly, each city and provincial governor must establish standard management regulations by April 5 that include prohibitions on harassment of apartment workers, reporting procedures, victim protection measures, and bans on disadvantages such as dismissal due to reporting. Furthermore, the resident representative meetings of individual apartment complexes must revise their management regulations based on these standards by May 6.

However, despite the enforcement of this "Security Guard Power Harassment Prohibition Law," power harassment by residents against security guards has not been eradicated. Last month, in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi Province, a man in his 30s, Mr. B, assaulted apartment security guards, causing serious injuries.

On the 11th of last month, Mr. B assaulted security guards Mr. C and Mr. D because they blocked a vehicle belonging to an unregistered acquaintance at the apartment. During the incident, Mr. B spat on the security guards and threw a chair at the security office window, causing a disturbance. The security guards suffered serious injuries, including damaged ribs and a broken nose, due to Mr. B's assault.

A security guard sorting recyclables at an apartment complex in Seoul./Photo by Yonhap News

Some argue that to fundamentally resolve the power harassment against security guards, it is necessary to improve vulnerable employment forms such as fixed-term contracts that make it difficult for victims to speak out even when subjected to harassment.

According to the "National Apartment Security Workers Survey Report" published in 2019, 94.1% of the 3,388 security guards surveyed had contracts of "one year or less." Responses indicating ultra-short contracts of three months accounted for 21.7%.

The current "Act on the Protection of Fixed-term and Part-time Workers" stipulates that after two years of employment, workers can be converted to indefinite contracts. However, workers aged 55 and older are excluded from this law's application due to their age.

As a result, security guards, whose average age is in their 60s to 70s, are forced to endure repeated short-term contracts, suffering from job insecurity and fearing job loss, which creates a structure where they cannot report harassment.

Experts emphasize the need for fundamental changes in the labor structure, such as banning short-term contracts for security guards.

Attorney Kwon Dooseop (representative of the civic group Workplace Power Harassment 119) explained in an interview with YTN's "Open Radio," "More than 90% of all security workers are employed in so-called indirect employment forms. The user is the resident representative meeting, which is the representative body of the residents, and security workers are generally employed by an intermediary company. Because of this, it is difficult for security workers to raise issues when they experience power harassment. If they complain, they risk being fired or facing disadvantages due to severing ties with the company."

He continued, "In the case of security guards, contracts must be renewed at least once a year to maintain employment. They are always at risk of being fired. It is necessary to improve the employment structure by, for example, prohibiting short-term contracts of three months or less at the local government level and strengthening management by local governments that have supervisory authority over resident representatives."

Meanwhile, the government announced on the 17th the "Improvement Plan for the Approval System of Surveillance and Intermittent Workers" to improve the working conditions of security guards. This plan was prepared to improve the poor working environment of "surveillance workers," such as apartment security guards, who mainly perform security duties.

The plan includes guaranteeing workers' break times, applying the Labor Standards Act's working hours to ancillary tasks such as waste sorting, parking, cleaning, and parcel storage, and strengthening monitoring against manipulative practices like deliberately extending break times to reduce monthly wages.

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