Man gets suspended jail term for armed threat over upstairs noise

A man in his 50s who threatened his upstairs neighbors with a knife over what he claimed was excessive noise was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, on Tuesday.

Jeju District Court found the defendant guilty of special intimidation, stipulated in Article 284 as threat via collective force or dangerous weapon and punishable by up to seven years in prison or 10 million won ($6,818) fine. The court said it took into consideration the fact that he was forgiven by the victims and that he had changed residence.

The defendant made the threat on Jan. 20 near the elevator of his apartment building and at the front door of the victim's unit, which was directly above his own unit. He took a knife to threaten the victims and cursed at them, shouting, "How many times?"

He told the court that he had been unable to control his anger, which was triggered by the accumulated stress from what he said was years of excessive noise from upstairs.