Apartment Exterior Wall Collapse, Last Year's 'Gwangju Collapse Disaster' Same Construction Company... "Another Foreseeable Man-Made Disaster" (On-Site Video)

Residents "Construction Continues Despite Snow and Rain"

At around 4 p.m. on the 11th, the exterior wall of a high-rise apartment under construction collapsed in Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju.

The collapse of the exterior wall of an apartment in Hwajeong-dong, Gwangju, is increasingly being seen as a preventable disaster caused by human error.

According to the Gwangju Fire Headquarters on the 11th, an accident occurred at the Hwajeong I-Park apartment construction site, located at 23-27 Hwajeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju, where HDC Hyundai Development Company is carrying out construction. The exterior wall of the apartment collapsed.

Residents near the construction site unanimously describe this accident as a "predictable accident."

They reported that debris from the construction site occasionally fell onto parked vehicles nearby, and plywood panels dropped, indicating safety issues. However, neither the construction company nor the local government took any measures.

They also noted that construction continued even on Sundays, showing clear signs of an attempt to unreasonably shorten the construction deadline. Residents said they frequently witnessed construction continuing despite adverse weather conditions such as rain and snow, and before the concrete had properly set.

Political circles in the local community have also pointed out that this accident was a "predictable human-caused disaster."

The People Power Party’s Gwangju Election Committee stated in a commentary on the same day, "This accident is a typical case caused by poor construction," and added, "Construction accidents due to poor workmanship keep recurring, but this is a typical human-caused disaster caused by negligence in supervision by both the local government and the construction company."

The committee said, "The video footage of the collapse shows that it looks like part of the apartment, rather than just the exterior wall, collapsed," and added, "It is unbelievable that such a poorly constructed apartment was built."

The Hwajeong Hyundai I-Park, where the accident occurred, is a complex of seven buildings with a total of 847 households, consisting of four basement floors and 39 above-ground floors, currently under construction at 23-27 Hwajeong-dong. The construction company is HDC Hyundai Development Company, which was also responsible for the collapse disaster during demolition work in the Hakdong 4 District redevelopment project in June last year.

With the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act just two weeks away, this incident is expected to strengthen calls for stricter management and regulation of safety at construction sites.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum attended the '2022 Construction Industry New Year's Meeting' held at the Construction Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 6th, and in his greeting said, "Our country's industrial accident death rate has been among the highest in the OECD for 21 years, and unfortunately, more than half of the industrial accident deaths occur at construction sites," adding, "We call ourselves a top 10 global economic power and an advanced country, but we cannot allow ourselves to remain backward in industrial accident safety."

Regarding the Serious Accident Punishment Act, Prime Minister Kim emphasized, "If a serious accident occurs, it means the site was already flawed," and said, "'If all safety rules were followed and an accident still happened,' then there would be no punishment. But is that really the case? 'It's because they didn't know the construction site,' or 'Construction sites are inherently dangerous'?that might have been true in the past. But now, the public will not tolerate that."

On the 11th, rescue teams are searching for missing persons at the site of a high-rise apartment in Gwangju where the exterior wall collapsed during new construction.

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