"Gwangju Collapse Disaster: Subcontracting Layers and Price Undercutting... 'Forced Demolition'"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Testimony has emerged in the trial over the Gwangju Hakdong collapse disaster that the demolition construction costs were drastically reduced due to so-called 'unit price undercutting.'

The Criminal Division 11 of the Gwangju District Court (Chief Judge Jeong Ji-seon) conducted witness questioning on the 8th for Jo Mo (47), the CEO of Baeksol Construction and excavator operator, who is charged with professional negligence causing death, among other charges.

The demolition contract was illegally subcontracted from HDC Hyundai Development Company → Hansol Enterprise → Baeksol Construction.

Baeksol Construction received about 1.1 billion KRW as the payment for the dismantling work and carried out the demolition around early October last year.

The construction payment was made monthly based on the measured demolition area.

When the prosecution asked, "Was there an agreement to return part of the contract amount to Hansol Enterprise?" Jo replied, "The payment was set at about 40,000 KRW per pyeong, of which 6,800 KRW was to be given to a company related to the Hansol CEO, and 5,000 KRW was to be returned in cash to the Hansol CEO."

Calculating this, the actual construction payment Jo received was approximately 900 million KRW.

When asked, "Hansol Enterprise subcontracted from HDC Hyundai Development for 5 billion KRW, but Baeksol Construction, which actually carried out the work, proceeded with about 900 million KRW. Was this the situation?" he answered, "Yes."

The prosecution questioned whether the construction payment was drastically reduced due to so-called 'back margin' and whether this led to insufficient safety measures during the demolition process.

The prosecution inquired about the circumstances of dismantling the rear and some lower parts of the building first, contrary to the dismantling plan.

They asked why a safe demolition method?such as creating embankments outside the building and using a long-arm excavator (long boom) to dismantle the upper floors first?was not chosen.

Jo admitted the mistake, saying, "If we did that, the unit price would be higher and it would take much longer."

He also added that he carried out the demolition work under the instructions of the Hansol site manager and the Dawon ENC site manager.

When asked whether he was aware of ongoing complaints about the risks of the dismantling work, he answered, "I did not know." In fact, in April, complaints were raised about the danger during the demolition of a building similar in scale to the Haksan Building.

Regarding the use of excessive water spraying, which is considered one of the causes of the accident, and why, unlike usual practice, a total of eight water trucks were additionally mobilized to spray water, he replied, "I understand it was decided by the Hyundai Development site manager."

Meanwhile, the defendants in this case include seven construction-related personnel from HDC Hyundai Development Company, Hansol Enterprise, Baeksol Construction, and three companies.

They were indicted on charges of causing the building collapse accident by ignoring the dismantling plan and regulations or failing to fulfill their supervisory duties.

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