Foreign car blocking apartment entrance Monday morning, windshield covered with multiple parking violation stickers

Apartment Complexes Are Private Property, Making Towing Difficult
Calls Arise for Legal Revisions Regarding 'Illegal Parking'

At the entrance of a parking lot in an apartment complex in Okjeong-dong, Yangju-si, residents experienced inconvenience as a resident left their vehicle parked in front of the parking lot entrance, causing congestion for commuters and daycare shuttle vehicles. On the 29th, Yonhap News reported that around 5 a.m. that day, resident A blocked the entrance of Gate 2 of the apartment parking lot with their vehicle. Police were dispatched after receiving complaints from residents. However, since the roads within the apartment complex are private property, towing measures under the Road Traffic Act could not be enforced.

Vehicle blocking the parking lot entrance [Photo by Reader Provided·Yonhap News]

Because this vehicle blocked the entrance, cars trying to leave for work on Monday morning had to divert to other exits, causing severe congestion on the roads within the complex. The vehicle was removed around 11:30 a.m. that day. A resident of the apartment said, "The owner of the vehicle had received multiple illegal parking violation stickers for double parking in the underground parking lot, and it seems they expressed dissatisfaction with that," adding, "What kind of chaos is this on a Monday morning? It's very selfish."

In February, a similar incident occurred at an apartment in Busan where a foreign car blocked the main gate barrier. The owner had taken up two compact car parking spaces, and when the management office raised the issue, the owner retaliated. When the security guard contacted the owner, they threatened, "If you touch my car, I'll set it on fire," and even after moving the car, parked diagonally across two compact car spaces. A neighbor said, "Despite repeated violations, parking violation stickers, and a one-month ban on entry, the owner was uncooperative," adding, "Who is the law for? The residents' representative committee filed a complaint for obstruction of business, but nothing has changed so far."

Recurring Parking Villains, Why There Are No Effective Countermeasures

Stories about damage caused by blocking the entrance of public housing or commercial buildings with cars continue to appear on online communities, but satisfying reviews are rarely seen.
[Photo source=Online Community]

Stories of damage caused by vehicles blocking entrances to public housing or commercial buildings continue to appear on online communities, but satisfying resolutions are rare. This is because even when police are dispatched, there is little they can do. Under the current Road Traffic Act, police officers or municipal officials can order vehicle removal if parked in a no-parking zone. However, parking lots inside or outside buildings and alleyways are not classified as roads under the Road Traffic Act, so police or local governments cannot enforce penalties or towing. For this reason, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission issued a stance years ago that fines or towing should be possible for illegally parked vehicles on private property. However, this remains only a recommendation.

Of course, there have been cases where vehicle owners were punished for blocking parking lot entrances. In such cases, penalties were imposed under general traffic obstruction or obstruction of business charges, not the Road Traffic Act. In 2018, a woman in her 50s in Songdo, Incheon, who blocked an apartment parking lot entrance in protest of a parking violation sticker, was sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year probation for general traffic obstruction and obstruction of business. In the same year, a man in his 40s in Daegu was fined 3 million won for obstruction of business after blocking an entrance for about an hour due to a parking dispute. Despite these penalties, incidents of blocking parking lot entrances with vehicles causing harm to many continue to occur, prompting calls for related law revisions.

In 2021, the National Assembly proposed amendments to the Parking Lot Act that would allow forced towing and exempt liability for damages caused during the process unless intentional or gross negligence was involved, but these proposals were not passed. As public demand for solutions and legal reforms regarding illegal parking continues, the Democratic Party of Korea included a "Strong Punishment Law for Parking Villains" as part of their platform in the recent general election.