"Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Privatization of Land Safety Management Agency Leads to Poor Oversight... Causes Collapse Accidents"

Audit Board: "Not a Single Accident Investigation Committee Inquiry Conducted"

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has been found by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to have caused various collapse accidents by transferring the duties of the Korea Infrastructure Safety & Technology Corporation (KISTEC) to private companies for management and supervision, and conducting inadequate oversight.

In particular, MOLIT and local governments are required to form an accident investigation committee as stipulated in the 'Facility Safety Act' to investigate accidents when facility collapses occur, but it was revealed that they never conducted such investigations even once, missing opportunities to prevent accidents.

On the 4th, the BAI announced in its audit report on the "Operation Status of Facility Safety Inspection and Diagnosis System" that "since the introduction of the accident investigation committee system under the Facility Safety Act in 2008, no accident investigations have been conducted through the committee," and "numerous cases of poor management were identified in accident investigations, emergency safety measures, and the management of safety inspections and diagnoses by private companies."

This audit was conducted to improve the causes of inadequate inspections and diagnoses following repeated accidents, including the collapse of Jeongja Bridge in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do in 2023, where facilities inspected and diagnosed by private companies collapsed, resulting in fatalities.

According to the BAI, since MOLIT introduced the accident investigation committee system under the Facility Safety Act in 2008, it has reduced the scope of accidents subject to investigation, as defined in the enforcement decree, through internal operating regulations. As a result, the accident investigation committee, which has the authority to investigate and announce accidents, has never conducted an investigation, making it difficult to take legal and administrative follow-up actions against poorly performing construction and inspection/diagnosis companies.

The BAI pointed out, "Although MOLIT was notified of the accidents at Jeongja Bridge in Seongnam-si and Dorim Overpass in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, by local governments, it instructed KISTEC to conduct internal investigations without legal authority to investigate or announce," and added, "KISTEC should have used the accident investigation data to improve safety inspection and diagnosis standards, but it failed to analyze the need for revisions or make any changes, thereby losing opportunities to prevent similar accidents."

Furthermore, MOLIT received recommendations from the Office for Government Policy Coordination and others to designate security or hazardous facilities, which are difficult for private entities to diagnose, as dedicated facilities to be directly inspected by KISTEC, while opening the rest to the private market. However, it was confirmed that MOLIT did not follow these recommendations.

As a result, 143 security facilities including the Government Complex Sejong and six major defect facilities such as Nakpo Pier at Gwangyang Port were not designated as dedicated facilities, while three facilities such as Bundang Tunnel, which private companies could inspect, were instead designated as dedicated facilities.

Notably, MOLIT neglected to take emergency safety measures such as usage prohibition and resident evacuation under the Facility Safety Act for 11 E-grade apartment complexes under the jurisdiction of eight local governments, housing 342 residents, despite the need for immediate cessation of use and evacuation.

Additionally, due to negligence by KISTEC and local governments, 95 cases (21.3%) of major defects in facilities occurring in 2023 were not reported to the Integrated Facility Information Management System, resulting in the responsible parties failing to carry out emergency safety measures and maintenance. Numerous facilities were also found to be either unregistered (68 cases) or incorrectly registered (291 cases) in the system.

The BAI stated, "MOLIT failed to properly manage the computerized system that allows verification of companies that had received poor evaluations in inspection and diagnosis services during the bidding process, leading to cases where some companies submitted false documents and won contracts," and emphasized, "post-management of poorly performing inspection and diagnosis companies must also be strengthened."

Yonhap News

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