[Reporter’s Notebook] Department Store Operating Despite Cracked Ceiling

On the 16th, an incident occurred at the NC Department Store Yatap branch in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where cracks appeared in the store's ceiling. Fortunately, there were no casualties caused by the ceiling cracks, and the fire authorities' inspection revealed that the cracks in the ceiling gypsum boards on multiple floors were due to the aging of the building.

However, it was found that the department store continued operations without taking significant measures even after recognizing the situation. They continued business while carrying out repair work, such as installing temporary supports on the ceiling of the women's clothing store on the 2nd floor where the cracks appeared, and although the report was made close to closing time, no evacuation of customers took place.

The department store had a similar incident in 2018 when the gypsum ceiling of a clothing store on the 2nd floor collapsed. At that time, there were no casualties as there were no customers in the store. Later, in 2020, an unexplained fire broke out, causing a commotion as about 70 employees inside the department store evacuated.

Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, demanded necessary measures such as suspension of business from Seongnam City Hall following the accident news. Minister Won, who is accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol on his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), stated on his social media, "Operations should have been suspended and access controlled until safety was confirmed, but business continued in that condition," and strongly criticized, "In the past, the Sampoong Department Store also showed warning signs but ignored them and recklessly continued operations, leading to a major accident."

This incident once again demonstrates that safety negligence is still widespread in our society. In particular, the department store's response, which continued business through temporary measures instead of immediate suspension after cracks appeared, deserves criticism. We must not forget that in safety issues directly related to the lives of the people, overreaction is better than delayed response.

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