Complaints over noise in S. Korea spike amid Covid-19

A rooftop barbecue turned into a spat between Mr Alex Kim and his neighbour over noise that his daughter and her friends made jumping and running around.

"It was supposed to be a relaxing evening for everyone up on the roof last year, but our neighbour living right below came up to shush us and even called her housing agent to complain," said Mr Kim, 46, an entrepreneur who lives in a low-rise residential building, known as a "villa", in central Seoul.

"So we complained back about her family keeping their stuff outside the house and blocking the fire exit stairway to the rooftop. We both got scolded by our landlord, who owns the whole building, and since then we haven't been able to enjoy the rooftop space."

Disputes between neighbours over cheung-gan so-eum, or noise between the floors, have grown with the Covid-19 pandemic keeping more people at home since early last year.

Data released by the Korea Environment Corp earlier this month showed that the number of complaints about noise from upstairs neighbours spiked to 42,250 last year, marking a 60.9 per cent rise and drawing concern over the social problems of high-rise living.

Stomping on the floor was the biggest issue (61 per cent), followed by dragging furniture, hammering, slamming doors and loud music.

About 60 per cent of South Korea's 50 million population live in multi-storey apartment buildings and villas, but it was only from 2005 that the law required floors to be at least 21cm thick to allow adequate soundproofing. Most buildings constructed before that have floors of 13.5cm thickness.

South Koreans are known to be sensitive towards noise from upstairs, and in extreme cases, spats with neighbours have escalated into violence and even murder.

In 2016, a 33-year-old man in Hanam city, 21km south-east of Seoul, stabbed an elderly couple living above him, after his complaints about noise - from when they had gatherings or their grandchildren on weekends - went unheeded.

In 2017, a man in south-eastern port city Pohang was arrested for trying to strangle his neighbour in a quarrel over noise, while another in the south-western city of Gwangju was detained for destroying his neighbour's car.

More recently though, cheung-gan so-eum bok-su, or revenge for noise between floors, has been trending online as people resort to buying gadgets, such as woofer speakers, to send noise upwards to torment neighbours upstairs.

However, this can backfire. In August, a court in north-western port city Incheon ordered a couple to pay 29.6 million won (S$35,000) compensation to their upstairs neighbours for using noise-making tools in retaliation during a dispute.

Experts said more building regulations are needed to prevent such disputes. It was only in the last decade that building companies started to pay more attention to sound insulation for floors.

Meanwhile, a Floor Noise Management Centre was set up in 2012 under the Ministry of Environment to manage complaints about noisy neighbours. The centre also provides on-site counselling and helps to measure noise levels.

A centre representative told The Sunday Times that 70 per cent of the complaints are about loud footsteps and running, and they would advise callers to try to talk it out with their neighbours. "The best way is for the two parties to come to a compromise, such as the neighbour above agreeing to wear slippers and the one below agreeing to observe the situation for a month or two," the representative said.

Housewife Lee Soo-kyung, 30, who lives in Seoul, said the security guard in her estate would make a public broadcast and ask the supposedly noisy neighbour to keep the volume down. "It is so stressful to have to move like a mouse even in my own house," she said. "I have to keep reminding my son to play quietly because I don't want to be the next one to get shamed publicly."