The Democratic Party Considers Legislation to Strengthen Structural Safety to Prevent 'Sunsal Apartment' Incidents

Kim Jeongjae "Promotion of Amendment or Enactment of Laws Related to Buildings"

The People Power Party's 'Apartment Large Panel Defective Construction Fact-Finding and Public Safety Task Force' has decided to review the enactment or revision of construction-related laws to prevent issues such as missing rebar and other defective construction problems.

Chairman Kim Jeong-jae stated on the morning of the 16th at the National Assembly after the TF meeting, "We are focusing on revising or enacting laws related to buildings up to now."

Chairman Kim pointed out that dozens of construction-related bills are currently scattered. He said, "(Construction-related laws) are scattered in several pieces. For example, public buildings constructed by LH fall under the Construction Technology Promotion Act, private housing under the Housing Act, and commercial buildings under the Building Act, each subject to very different regulations," adding, "There was a proposal to prepare to enact a law that includes all these aspects to strengthen structural safety for buildings."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Whether to propose a comprehensive law addressing building safety or to amend existing laws will be further discussed. Chairman Kim said, "We will have time to discuss whether to enact such a law or to submit amendments one by one to the dozens of related laws, to determine which is more efficient."

They are also considering measures to strengthen penalties if defective construction is detected. In response to related questions, Chairman Kim replied, "Including everything, penalties should be strengthened going forward, but we will discuss the specifics further before commenting."

Additionally, the TF received a report on the progress of on-site investigations into 15 apartments ordered by LH where missing rebar was found, from the Fair Trade Commission on the same day. The Fair Trade Commission is investigating whether unfair subcontracting practices caused the defective construction and whether supervisory service contractors colluded in bidding.

Chairman Kim explained, "(The Fair Trade Commission) has currently started and is conducting on-site investigations into unfair subcontracting transactions involving 13 construction companies for 15 apartments. If illegal activities are confirmed, they plan to impose strict sanctions."

He continued, "They plan to investigate whether supervisory firms designated the expected successful bidders among themselves or pre-determined bid prices. Among the 15 defective apartments, LH directly supervised 5, and only 10 had supervisory service contractor selection bids, so the investigation will focus on these 10. If any collusion with the client is found during the investigation, it will be reported to the police and other investigative agencies."

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