"Do We Have to Keep Living Here?"... Residents Complain About 'Rebar Omission' in Apartment

Unjeong LH Apartment Residents Radio Interview
"If an Earthquake Occurs... Anxiety Like a Time Bomb"

Residents who moved into the public apartment complex with the 'missing rebar' issue in the underground parking lot, commissioned by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), expressed anxiety, saying, "I wonder if I should keep living here."

Moon Jin-gyu, a resident of the Paju Unjeong LH apartment (Chorongkkot Village Complex 3) where the missing rebar was confirmed, said in a YTN Radio interview on the 2nd, "If there is no rebar and an earthquake occurs causing cracks, it is obvious that it will definitely collapse," adding, "From the perspective of residents, it feels like living with a ticking time bomb, and I wonder if I have to live with this anxiety."

He expressed frustration, saying, "There must be people who moved in newlyweds starting fresh, and many who came because they had children, but honestly, living in this condition is naturally anxiety-inducing, and we honestly don't know when it might collapse."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The apartment where Moon lives is a complex that began occupancy in August last year. According to an investigation by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, out of 331 underground parking lot pillars, 12 were found to be missing reinforcing rebar. Although slab reinforcement work has been underway since mid-last month, it is reported that residents were not given any separate explanations or notices.

Moon explained that the emergency briefing was held only on the 1st of this month, the day after the Ministry of Land publicly released the list of apartments with missing rebar on the 31st of last month. He said, "At first, only safety barrier tape related to the reinforcement work was put up. Then, signs only said 'floor paint coating' and 'wall paint repair work,' and suddenly on July 12th, they put up plastic tarps and waterproof sheets," adding, "At that time, I just thought it was normal."

He continued, "At the briefing, LH said they didn't disclose information because they didn't want to cause anxiety, but honestly, from the residents' perspective, we need to know what kind of construction is happening so we can avoid it or take precautions. We only learned all the facts then," he revealed.

He said, "There was no text message or anything; they just posted a single A4 sheet on the bulletin board," adding, "People who left work early asked in the caf?, 'Is something going on today?' and were told, 'There is an emergency briefing at the library,' so we found out through that."

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