Yoon orders probe into poorly-built apartment complexes

Land Minister Won Hee-ryong, far left, and LH President Lee Han-joon, second from left, apologize over shoddy construction of LH apartment complexes on Monday in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered investigative and government agencies to launch a nationwide probe into poorly-built apartment complexes, following recent heavy downpours that exposed negligent architectural design and construction.

The move came as big-name apartment complexes like Xi and LH suffered collapses and water leakage — particularly in underground parking lots — due to a lack of installed reinforcing bars.

“[The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport] should conduct a nationwide investigation into the shoddy construction at underground parking facilities in apartment complexes,” Yoon told Land Minister Won Hee-ryong during a meeting on Monday.

The Land Ministry revealed that 15 apartment complexes, developed by the state-owned Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and constructed by GS Engineering & Construction as well as other domestic contractors, did not have adequate steel reinforcements as required in the construction guidelines.

The ministry carried out the probe into multiple LH apartment complexes, primarily located in Seoul but also in Incheon and Gyeonggi metropolitan areas. At the president’s request, the investigation will be widened to other complexes built and developed by private entities.

As for the faulty buildings, the ministry demanded that the construction companies provide the missing parts and rebuild the problematic areas, pledging to carry out safety inspections by third-party agencies.

“If LH just places the orders to contractors and passes on all other responsibilities in design, construction and management to them, it demonstrates that LH is incapable of building residential buildings,” Won said.

Some of the LH complexes under investigation are in cities including Paju, Gongju, Suwon, and Asan while others under construction are located in Gwangju, Yangsan and Incheon.

The issue of shoddy construction has become the focus of public rage, especially during the summer monsoon season last month as residents suffered through excessive water leaks.

One case involves the Xi apartment complex in Gaepo-dong, southern Seoul, where the rain flooded its underground parking lots and promoted netizens to come up with nicknames such as “Bonelss Xi” or “Water Park Xi.

At an LH apartment building under construction in Geomdan-dong, Incheon, a slab roof from the underground parking lot collapsed in April, prompting the builder, GS E&C, to rebuild the whole apartment complex from scratch.

The incident was due to missing rebar, the Land Ministry said in its inspection report. Steel rebar that was supposed to connect the upper and lower reinforcement was omitted in the design process, and some of the rebar included in the design were not even installed during construction.

GS E&C will need to demolish and reconstruct 17 apartment buildings in the complex, which will house a total of 1,666 units and cost the company about 400 billion won ($314 million).

Aside from the missing steel reinforcement, the inspection team concluded that the collapse was caused by overall failures throughout the whole project, from design and supervision to construction.

To prevent the recurrence of such incidents, the Seoul city government also stepped in. It required 30 construction companies to film their construction sites, although some questioned whether the measure could root out the practice which is viewed as inherent in Korea’s construction industry.

Insiders pointed to a multi-layered construction process where a number of contractors and subcontractors are preoccupied with lowering costs while compromising the quality of the building.

Still, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon struck a positive note.

“I am sure that video filming could become the first step to restore reliability,” he said.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]