Summons of Hysansan CEO in 'Gwangju Collapse Accident' Investigation... Denies Charges

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Ha Won-gi, CEO (Head of Construction Division) of HDC Hyundai Development Company, who is accused of causing 7 casualties at the Gwangju Hwajeong I-Park new construction site, denied his charges during the police investigation.

The Investigation Headquarters for the Gwangju Seo-gu New Apartment Collapse Accident (Gwangju Police Agency) Violent Crime Investigation Unit announced on the 31st that they summoned and questioned CEO Ha the previous day.

CEO Ha is accused of causing the collapse accident that resulted in 6 deaths and 1 injury by reducing the number of quality managers overseeing the overall construction process at the site (negligent homicide in the course of duty).

The Construction Technology Promotion Act stipulates that for construction projects with a total cost of 100 billion KRW or more, or a total floor area of 50,000㎡ or more, at least one top-level technician, one mid-level technician, and one entry-level technician must be assigned.

However, at the Hwajeong I-Park Phase 1 and 2 complexes (8 buildings), a total of 6 construction quality managers were appointed, 3 per complex, but in reality, one person handled all the duties.

The other 5 were found to have concurrently performed other tasks such as process management.

CEO Ha reportedly denied the charges to the police, stating that "it was a measure according to company regulations."

The police view this concurrent appointment of personnel at the site as leading to poor construction site management, which caused the accident.

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