Tallest elevator tower opens

Hyundai Asan Tower stands in Icheon, Gyeonggi. Provided by the company

Hyundai Elevator Co. has completed a 205-meter tower to test its elevator cars. It is the tallest elevator test tower in the world, nearly as tall as N Seoul Tower on Mount Namsan, the nation’s biggest elevator maker in terms of sales said yesterday.

The tower, located in Icheon, Gyeonggi, was named Hyundai Asan Tower after the pen name of the late Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai Group, and the laboratory on the structure’s first floor was named the Chung Mong-hun R&D Center after the former chairman of the conglomerate who died in 2003.

Mong-hun was the fifth son of the founder and the husband of the group’s current chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun.

Hyun, Hyundai Elevator President and CEO Song Jin-chul, Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo and others attended a ceremony yesterday to celebrate completion of the building.

Construction cost 75 billion won ($56.3 million) and took 14 months, and the final product is higher than the 173-meter elevator test tower of Japan’s Mitsubishi, the previous world record holder, the company said.

The Korean tower is now equipped with three elevator cars that move up and down at 600 meters per minute and two that travel at 420 meters per minute, Hyundai Elevator said. Two cars set to move at 1,080 meters per minute, the world’s fastest pace, will be added in September.

By Moon So-young [symoon@joongang.co.kr]