Naksan Beach '5m' Sinkhole... Court Rules "Business Suspension of Negligent Safety Evaluation Firm Justified"

The court has ruled that the business suspension imposed on the safety evaluation company in connection with the ground subsidence accident that occurred near Naksan Beach in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province, in August 2022 is justified.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 13 (Chief Judge Park Jeong-dae) ruled against the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by underground safety evaluation specialist agency A against Seoul City, seeking to cancel the business suspension order.

In August 2022, a sinkhole measuring 12 meters wide, 8 meters long, and 5 meters deep occurred near Naksan Beach construction site in Ganghyeon-myeon, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province, causing part of a nearby convenience store building to collapse.
Photo by Yonhap News

In 2020, Company A conducted an underground safety impact assessment on behalf of the developer constructing a residential-type lodging facility (residence) near Naksan Beach in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon Province, and submitted the evaluation report to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Yangyang-gun. However, during the excavation work at the construction site, groundwater continuously flowed in, causing multiple ground subsidence incidents (sinkholes) in the ground adjacent to the construction site. In August 2022, the ground subsidence led to the collapse of a convenience store building adjacent to the construction site.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Central Underground Accident Investigation Committee investigated the accident and concluded that the underground safety evaluation was conducted inadequately. Accordingly, Seoul City imposed a 1.5-month business suspension on Company A in November 2022.

Company A filed an administrative lawsuit in objection, but the court did not accept it.

The court stated, "The degree of violation is serious, as the investigation of underground facilities was omitted and the safety review was neglected when preparing the underground safety evaluation report, and the ground subsidence incidents occurring adjacent to the construction site were not reflected. It cannot be said that Company A’s fault is unrelated to the occurrence of the accident."

It added, "Since ground subsidence accidents can cause damage to many citizens or result in damage that is difficult to recover from, there is a significant public interest in securing public safety by imposing effective sanctions."

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