Man whose mother called complex staff to wake him for work found dead at Seoul apartment

By Jung Joo-won, The Herald Business

A man in his 40s died after falling at an apartment complex in Jeongneung-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, on Friday morning.

According to police and fire department officials, a report came in at around 12:42 a.m. Friday that a person had fallen to the ground on the first floor of the building. Rescue workers who responded found the man dead. "He was already deceased when we arrived," a fire department official said, adding that no specific cause had been identified.

Closed-circuit television footage from the building's management office reportedly showed the man riding an elevator to the 15th floor — the top floor of the building — shortly before the incident.

One resident said she returned home around 1:30 a.m. to find multiple police and fire trucks at the scene. "The parking lot was packed with emergency vehicles, and crews were hosing down the area as part of the cleanup," she said.

The man was known to staff at the complex. A building management official said the deceased's mother had frequently called the management office asking staff to wake her son and get him off to work. "Employees went to his unit on several occasions to wake him up," the official said.

Police are investigating the cause of death. "No signs of criminal activity have been found so far," a police official said.