LH Rebar Omission Additional 5 Complexes Also Fully Designed and Supervised by Single Contractor

It has been revealed that the design and supervision of five apartment complexes managed by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), where additional cases of 'rebar omission' were found, were virtually monopolized by so-called former LH officials’ firms.

Photo by Mun Ho-nam, Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). munonam@

According to data submitted by LH to Park Jeong-ha, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, all five complexes with rebar omissions in underground parking lots, which LH had hidden and later disclosed, involved former official firms in their design and supervision.

The five complexes are Hwaseong Namyang New Town B-10BL, Pyeongtaek Sosabeol A7, Paju Unjeong 3 A37, which have completed construction, and Goyang Janghang A4 and Iksan Pyeonghwa (redevelopment project), which are currently under construction. A total of 15 former official firms participated in the design and supervision of these complexes, and among them, 11 firms also took part in the design and supervision of 15 other complexes where rebar omissions were previously discovered.

First, Company A, founded by a former LH official and currently led by a CEO who is also a former LH official, was responsible for the design of Paju Unjeong 3. Company A secured design contracts for two complexes and supervision contracts for three complexes out of the 20 complexes confirmed to have rebar omissions, including Paju Unjeong 3.

Company B, which jointly handled the design with Company A, was also established in 2020 by a former LH official who serves as its CEO. Company C, which supervised three complexes with rebar omissions including Pyeongtaek Sosabeol, also has a CEO who is a former LH official.

Company C participated in the supervision of the Incheon Geomdan apartment complex where an underground parking lot collapse occurred, as well as the Gwangju Hwajeong I-Park where an exterior wall collapse accident happened. Over the past five years, Company C has secured 23 supervision contracts from LH, amounting to 42.8 billion KRW.

The Hwaseong Namyang New Town, supervised jointly by three companies, included Company D, founded and led by a former LH official, and Company E, where a retired LH official serves as an executive. Company E was responsible for the design of two complexes with rebar omissions and supervision of one complex.

Company F, which designed Hwaseong Namyang New Town, is a company that won multiple LH design competitions and ranked fifth in architectural design sales last year. This company also had former LH officials serving as executives.

Company G, which designed Goyang Janghang, also supervised the Incheon Geomdan apartment complex together with Company C. Company G supervised four complexes with rebar omissions, including Geomdan. Company H, which handled the design of one complex and supervision of two complexes with rebar omissions including Goyang Janghang, was also a former official firm. Among the seven companies responsible for the design and supervision of Iksan Pyeonghwa, five are classified as former official firms.

In summary, former official firms have been rotating and massively securing design and supervision contracts for LH apartment complexes, resulting in a large number of defects being discovered. LH applies penalty points when a company signs many contracts to prevent monopolization by specific firms, but this regulation can be circumvented by forming consortia and having a company with fewer contracts act as the lead contractor.

Assembly member Park Jeong-ha stated, "This is an opportunity to root out corruption within LH and transform it into a trusted public corporation."

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