Upstairs Neighbor's 'Duldulduldul'... "Interfloor Smoking Neighbor Retaliated with an Electric Massage Gun"

Retaliation Methods Evolve in Neighbor Conflicts
Cases of Retaliation Using Woofer Speakers
Government Initiates Measures on Interfloor Noise Issues

A resident of an apartment requested neighbors to refrain from smoking on the balcony, but when the request was ignored, they 'retaliated' using an electric massage gun, a story that has become a hot topic online.

Anma Gun [Photo by Bobae Dream]

On the 24th, an online community, Bobae Dream, posted an article titled 'Eradicating Smoking from the Lower Unit.'

The author, Mr. A, said, “There is a man smoking on the balcony of the lower unit where I moved in a year ago,” adding, “Even during meals, the smell of cigarettes, the smell in the children’s room?I endured it and went downstairs, only to hear things like ‘Cigarettes are sold by the government, so take it up with them. I smoke in my own home, so you should close your windows. Should I go outside to smoke?’ and other nonsense, confirming he was a jerk, so I started retaliation.”

He continued, “If I respond with violence, the backlash would be unbearable, so when I smell cigarette smoke, I turn on the massage device inside a basket and go out for a while. (When the massage gun is placed on the floor and operated) the whole floor vibrates, and after doing this twice, there has been no cigarette smell for a week,” he said.

Unlike noise complaints between floors, which have legal standards such as decibel (dB) measurements, there are no precise standards for the scale of damage or penalties regarding ‘inter-floor smoking issues.’ Since there is no separate management agency for inter-floor smoking problems, the building management office can only request residents causing secondhand smoke damage to stop smoking.

Mr. A added, “I tried to talk politely to live together well, but people don’t change. He said, ‘I’ve smoked for 40 years; do I have to quit because of you?’”

Netizens who shared similar complaints responded with comments like “Thanks for the idea,” and “They smoke at home because they don’t want to go outside, but if it harms others, they shouldn’t do it.”

A netizen who claimed to be a member of the apartment residents’ representative committee advised, “Due to many complaints and conflicts between units over smoking, we held a resident vote to designate the building as a ‘non-smoking building.’ If you take the result with more than half the consent to the local government, you can apply for non-smoking building designation under the National Health Promotion Act.”

According to the Apartment Housing Management Act, ‘residents and users of apartment housing must make efforts to avoid causing harm to other residents by smoking inside units such as balconies and bathrooms,’ but there is no legal enforcement such as fines.

Under the National Health Promotion Act, apartment non-smoking zones can be designated in hallways, stairs, elevators, and all or part of underground parking lots, but ‘residential spaces within units’ cannot be designated. However, in ‘mandatory management apartments,’ if residents agree on management regulations, penalties may be imposed for violations.

Cases of Retaliation with 'Woofer Speakers' for Inter-floor Noise

Cases of private retaliation for neighbor complaints such as inter-floor noise and smoking frequently become hot topics online. In May, a case was reported where a person dissatisfied with inter-floor noise searched for ‘inter-floor noise revenge music’ on YouTube and played noise toward the neighbor’s house 10 times using a woofer speaker. The court regarded this as stalking behavior and fined the couple 7 million won each. The ‘massage gun retaliation’ could also lead to Mr. A facing fines or other penalties.

Meanwhile, as incidents related to inter-floor noise increase, the government is preparing countermeasures. The Ministry of Environment has begun reviewing whether it is necessary to regulate products and advertisements that encourage ‘retaliation’ against upstairs neighbors causing noise. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is forming an ‘Inter-floor Noise Policy Council’ involving 10 organizations from industry, academia, research, and government to strengthen communication and cooperation among related agencies.

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