"Come Down" "No"…Apartment Residents Smoking Dangerously on Window Sills

Stepping on the Window Frame and Exposing Body Outside
"Ignored Even When the Security Guard Yelled to Come Down"

A resident was caught smoking in a dangerously precarious position, standing on the window frame installed on the exterior of a high-rise apartment, sparking controversy.

On the 24th, a post titled "OO (region name) live... researching ways to smoke without the smell entering the house" was uploaded to an online community along with a photo. The photo shows a man standing on the window frame of a high-rise apartment smoking a cigarette. The man was standing on the window frame with more than half of his body extended outside the window. Outside the window, there was only a low railing installed, making the situation look dangerous at a glance. Judging by the photo, the smoker's location was at least the 4th floor.

A resident dangerously smoking while standing on the balcony railing of a high-rise apartment [Image source=Social Networking Service (SNS) capture]

The poster, Mr. A, said, "The security guard was shouting for him to come down, but he said 'No' and stayed like that," adding, "It's incredible." The post was selected as a best post but has since been deleted. Netizens who saw this mostly criticized the smoker, commenting, "Do you really want to smoke that badly?", "Are you willing to risk your life for just one cigarette?", "Don't they care about the neighbors above and below?", "Even like that, the cigarette smell still gets inside," and "Just quit smoking."

Meanwhile, there was a recent fire caused by smoking on a veranda in a studio apartment. Around 9:40 p.m. on March 6, a fire broke out in a studio apartment in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. The fire authorities determined that the resident failed to properly extinguish a cigarette on the veranda, which then spread to nearby items and caused the fire. There were no casualties, but part of the veranda and some household items were damaged.

Additionally, last year, two men in their 40s who were smoking on a pension veranda fell, resulting in one death and one serious injury. The accident occurred on June 25 last year at a pension in Mado-dong, Sacheon-si, Gyeongnam. The two, who were coworkers, were leaning on the railing of the second floor smoking when the railing suddenly collapsed, causing them to fall.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "Annual Status of Noise and Smoking Complaints Between Floors," complaints related to smoking between floors reached 35,148 cases in 2022, about a 20% increase compared to 29,291 cases in 2020. Article 20-2 of the Apartment Housing Management Act stipulates that residents must make efforts to prevent causing harm to other residents due to smoking inside units such as balconies and bathrooms. If a resident affected by secondhand smoke reports it to the management office or other management entities, the management can recommend the smoking resident to stop smoking. However, since the management entity does not have the authority to force residents to stop smoking, disputes of various scales continue to arise.