A man bends over and walks down the staircase behind the security guard post. The musty smell of the basement pierces the nose. Two lightbulbs are not enough to sufficiently light up the space surrounded by grey cement walls, and the room remains dark. Scattered on the floor, where the light can’t quite reach, are pieces of rat poison.

In the center, stands a bed that a resident had thrown away, and the bed is covered with an electric mattress pad and blanket. There are no other heating or cooling facilities. This is the rest area of B (69), a security guard at A apartment complex in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. B said, “Luckily, my partner found the bed, so we can rest like a person sleeping.” He added, “Before, we got by with just a mattress on the floor.”

On October 21, Paragraph 2 Article 69 of the Enforcement Decree of the Multi-Family Housing Management Act of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which bans residents from having apartment security guards valet park their cars and deliver packages to their homes, was enforced. In line with these measures, the Ministry of Employment and Labor released guidelines for workers engaging in surveillance and security work, including rest area facilities, work type and working conditions on October 25.

For an employer to hire a security guard working 24-hour shifts in rotation with another security guard for a monthly salary of 1.8-2 million won, the employer must receive approval as a surveillance and security business from the local employment and labor office with jurisdiction. This is an exception to the Labor Standards Act. The labor ministry announced, “We will approve the surveillance and security business only when they have a separate rest area with heating and air-conditioning facilities that is not exposed to toxic substances or noise.” However, the ministry added that the rest area does not have to be a separate place if there is sufficient space and facilities.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun covered three apartment complexes in Seoul along with civic groups including the Yongsan Citizens’ Solidarity on October 28 and found that chronic problems that apartment security guards had faced in the past, such as requests for valet parking and poor rest areas remained the same.

For Sim (64), a security guard working in apartment complex C, his guard post is his rest area. Sim spends his breaks on a cot he spreads out after pushing his chair to a side of his guard post, which is about two by three meters large. There is an air-conditioner in the post, but it lacks adequate heating devices, so Sim has to spend the winters relying on an electric heating pad. Bak (68), who works in apartment complex D, also spreads out a blanket under his desk when it’s time for his break. He can only stretch his legs when he puts his feet under his work desk, which gives him about 40cm more space.

For these men, the hardest part of their job is that they are not guaranteed adequate sleeping hours since their work area and rest area are not separated. The post where Sim sleeps is located at the entrance of the apartment complex, where residents frequently come and go.

Constant complaints from residents at all hours also interrupt their break time. Bak said, “Residents come and complain that the people upstairs are jumping or working out or stomping at two or three o’clock in the morning.” Some continued to provide valet parking services, despite that this has been banned. In the case of apartment complex C, parking spaces are sparse, so residents park their cars on the road late in the night. In these cases, the residents hand their car keys to the security guards before going home. Some guard posts get up to five car keys in this way.

About a month ago, a security guard in C apartment complex was responsible for an accident that cost hundreds of millions of won while valet parking a car. Fortunately, the car owner was insured, and the security guard did not have to pay compensation, but the risk of accidents remained.

The land ministry stipulated that the head of a local government can impose fines of up to 10 million won when such multi-family housing facilities fail to implement changes after an inspection and correction orders on any violations of Paragraph 2 Article 69 of the Enforcement Decree of the Multi-Family Housing Management Act. The labor ministry can also withdraw its approval for surveillance and security businesses if they fail to abide by the guidelines, which state the standards for approval, including the work, type of work, rest facilities, and working conditions. Yet on the field, they are still slow to abide by the enforcement decree and the guidelines.

Park Ju-yeong vice chief of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ legal office said, “When there is no organized trade union or when workers are not familiar with the law, priority is on maintaining employment, so those issues are never raised,” and added, “It is very rare for individual workers to request the labor ministry to withdraw its approval for the security business and the labor ministry to cancel the approval after a field inspection.”