'The Apartment Job' controversy: Korea Association of Housing Managers reaches agreement with JTBC

The Korea Association of Housing Managers announced that it has reached an agreement with the team behind the JTBC drama The Apartment Job.

Recently, the Korea Association of Housing Managers (abbreviated as KAHM, hereinafter referred to as the "Association") posted a notice on its official website.

The President of the Korea Association of Housing Managers stated, "The recently premiered JTBC drama The Apartment Job centers on a major fraud case involving 17.8 billion won in long-term repair reserve funds of a large apartment complex."

He continued, "The drama contains sensational dialogue that portrays corruption and suspicions surrounding long-term repair reserve funds as if they are widespread, without any filtering. It also includes distorted depictions, such as a building manager covering up corruption and an accounting clerk manipulating bank account balances to embezzle funds."

He added, "As a result, we are deeply concerned that the drama will lead to groundless distrust and complaints based on misunderstandings from residents at apartment complexes."

Accordingly, the Association held protests even before the drama aired. The Association's president also stated, "To prevent damage to the reputation of licensed housing managers and confusion at the sites, we sent strong letters of protest to JTBC and the production company, met with the officials, and carried out both a one-person protest by the Association's president and group demonstrations before the broadcast."

"As a result, we secured a promise from JTBC to insert a disclaimer stating that the drama's setting is fictional and to minimize expressions that could give viewers a misleading impression of real-world housing management practices. Furthermore, we reached a formal agreement that the final episode will include a message of appreciation honoring the hard work of licensed housing managers."

Prior to the drama's premiere, the Association had staged a series of protests, arguing that The Apartment Job generalized a handful of isolated corruption cases and distorted the image of apartment housing management sites and licensed housing managers by portraying them as corrupt and unethical.

The Apartment Job tells the story of former gangster Hae Kang (Ji Sung), who runs for apartment association president to get the building's money, and together with the residents, works to root out corruption. The drama airs every Saturday and Sunday, and is available to stream on Netflix.

Source: OSEN