Conflict between neighbors caused by smoking on the veranda

A woman in her 40s, who lives on the first floor of an apartment, has expressed her concern that the conflict, which started with her upstairs neighbor smoking on the veranda, has escalated into serious retaliatory noise.

This story was recently conveyed through JTBC's "Incident Report."

According to the woman, referred to as A, a family that recently moved in upstairs began smoking on their veranda. They would sweep the ash out rather than disposing of it in an ashtray. In response, A attempted to communicate the issue by leaving a note along with a roll cake at the neighbor's doorstep, stating, "As a resident of the downstairs unit, the smell from smoking on the veranda is very overwhelming. I apologize, but please smoke only in designated areas."

However, the upstairs residents returned the cake and note the following morning without any acknowledgment.

Conflict between neighbors expanding into issues among children

A short while later, A encountered the upstairs woman again at her child's elementary school entrance ceremony. Shockingly, A's son and the upstairs woman’s daughter were both in the same first-grade class.

Hoping to foster a friendly relationship as fellow parents, A approached with a smile, but the upstairs woman reacted with a cold expression, briefly responded with "yes," and then walked away.

Subsequently, A received a call from her son's homeroom teacher asking her to come to the school.

It turned out A's son had a dispute with the upstairs woman’s daughter. According to A's son, the upstairs girl's behavior included throwing eraser shavings at him and suddenly yelling in his ear, which he endured without retaliating.

Then, an incident occurred during a soccer game in the schoolyard where A's son accidentally kicked the ball, hitting the upstairs girl on the shoulder.

Although A's son quickly ran over to apologize, the upstairs woman reacted firmly, stating, "That's clear assault. I'm going to file a complaint and hold a school violence committee meeting."

Threats from tattooed neighbors and continued retaliatory noise

A offered an apology and even suggested that she would pay for any damages, but the upstairs woman made an inappropriate remark to A’s son, saying, "I'll give you money too, so would you like to catch the ball? Should I pay you back for what my daughter suffered?"

During the school violence committee meeting, other students testified, "It was really an accident," and the homeroom teacher expressed concerns that A’s son was being bullied.

Later, A ran into the upstairs couple at the playground, facing an even more serious situation.

The upstairs woman provoked A, saying, "Do you feel good about bribing other parents?" and threatened, "Do you know who I am? I can easily stomp on people like you. I was a delinquent."

What was even more shocking was that the upstairs man, covered in tattoos, directly threatened A’s young son.

Since the incident, the upstairs residents have continued to make loud noises late at night, intentionally causing disturbances.

Even when A protested by banging on the ceiling, the noise escalated further, and although the police were called, the situation did not improve. Currently, A's husband is suggesting they move, and the couple is even considering transferring their child to another school.

A lamented, "What have we done wrong that we have to leave our home of so many years?" In response, lawyer Park Ji-hoon stated, "The complainant is dealing with retaliatory noise. It is necessary to gather evidence, but it is realistically difficult to prove."

Psychology professor Park Sang-hee advised, "I think it might be better to take a strong stance or avoid them altogether."

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