Bill to Prevent Gwangju Collapse Tragedy That Killed 9 People to Be Introduced

Kim Eun-hye, People Power Party Lawmaker
Prevention of Recurrence of Gwangju Building Collapse
Prison Sentences Possible for Negligence in Demolition and Management
Bill Proposal Under Review

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] A bill to prevent the collapse disaster of demolished buildings in the Gwangju redevelopment area, which resulted in 9 deaths and 8 serious injuries, is being promoted. This is the first bill to prevent building demolition collapse accidents to be promoted in the National Assembly since the accident on the 9th.

According to political circles on the 10th, Kim Eun-hye, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, is considering proposing a partial amendment to the Building Management Act to prevent recurrence of the accident related to the collapse disaster of a five-story building in Gwangju.

The core content is to impose imprisonment of not less than 3 years and not more than 15 years or a fine of not less than 30 million won and not more than 100 million won on those who fail to faithfully perform building demolition supervision duties.

In fact, poor management of demolition supervision was pointed out as the main cause of this Gwangju building collapse accident. Although a supervision company to manage and oversee the building demolition was selected for the building, it is known that the supervision company officials were not present at the site at the time of the accident.

Accordingly, the bill under consideration by Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party includes provisions that the demolition plan of a building can only be written by demolition safety experts such as construction safety engineers, and that demolition safety experts must sign and seal the demolition plan, thereby assigning responsibility.

Meanwhile, on the 9th, during the demolition of a five-story building for reconstruction in the Hakdong redevelopment area of Dong-gu, Gwangju, the building collapsed, burying a city bus and a passenger car passing on a nearby road. This accident resulted in 17 casualties.

Previously, in 2019, in Jamwon-dong, a five-story above ground and one-story underground building collapsed during demolition work, causing three vehicles passing on a four-lane road next to the site to be buried under the collapsed building's outer wall. A woman in a passenger car was rescued about 4 hours after being buried but died, and three others including passengers were injured.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.